DDN article on Donnie Joseph

[OnBaseMachine]

Hitters beware: He can pitch from behind, too. In Friday night’s 6-2 win over Bowling Green, Joseph was down in the count 3 balls to one strike. A fastball made it 3-2, and with the hitter expecting another fastball, Joseph countered with his dominant pitch.

“Donnie broke out a serious slider and the guy missed it by about a foot,” Benzinger said. “That’s some chutzpah right there.”

The pressure of being a closer — having perhaps just one inning to make an impact and often having to warm up in a hurry — works well with Joseph and his mentality.

Still, Benzinger said, there’s always the possibility he could be used as a starter somewhere along his professional path.

http://www.daytondailynews.com/dayto...ow-683147.html

[mace]

I assume, if his slider's that good, that it's the variety with a lot of vertical drop. If it were more horizontal, I'd think he'd profile as a loogy. Hopefully not. Anybody know?

[HalMorrisRules]

Originally Posted by HalMorrisRules

Joseph was nasty tonight. The pitch he threw to end the game with the strikeout was unhittable. Just dove towards the ground at the last minute.

This is how I described it at the time. So I would definitely say it was vertical.

[redsof72]

Donnie will be one of the biggest climbers on the Reds prospect list going into next season. He is easily the top prospect on the Dayton club.

[lollipopcurve]

72, any thoughts on the top 3 in the Dragons batting order at this point?

[redsof72]

Gregorius and Rodriguez are very raw. Gregorius certainly has the tools. Very good arm, good athleticism. At this point, they are not mentally where they need to be (Rodriguez has forgotten to cover first base on bunt plays a few times, both lose focus occassionally and make careless errors). Benzinger made an interesting comment about Rodriguez: "he's costing us games with his glove that he is keeping us in with his bat." Dragons fans were really spoiled with Rojas last season. Means has gone into a slump. Lets see how he breaks out of it.

[dougdirt]

Originally Posted by redsof72

Means has gone into a slump. Lets see how he breaks out of it.

Hopefully with a bunch of walks. He makes Juan Francisco look patient at the plate. He won't break out of the slump if he continues to strike out 15 times per walk.

[redsof72]

Well, I can tell you this, Means is not going to break out of it with a bunch of walks. When he was hitting .407 about 10 days ago, he was hitting rockets everywhere. He struggles mightily with breaking stuff. He can turn around any 95 mph fastball. One of the 2-3 quickest bats in the organization. When he gets a fastball in the zone and fouls it off, he is in trouble. He has to be able hit the fastball when he gets it. If he starts taking fastballs to try to get walks, he is dead in the water. When he starts to improve on hitting the breaking ball, he will cut down some on the strikeouts and prolong some at-bats and a by-product will be more walks.

They put Means in the middle of the order so he would see more breaking balls. He has been hitting third, but the last couple of days, with Garton doing so well, they have moved Means to the five hole and hopefully he will get a few more fastballs there and get out of this slump.

[dougdirt]

Originally Posted by redsof72

Well, I can tell you this, Means is not going to break out of it with a bunch of walks. When he was hitting .407 about 10 days ago, he was hitting rockets everywhere. He struggles mightily with breaking stuff. He can turn around any 95 mph fastball. One of the 2-3 quickest bats in the organization. When he gets a fastball in the zone and fouls it off, he is in trouble. He has to be able hit the fastball when he gets it. If he starts taking fastballs to try to get walks, he is dead in the water. When he starts to improve on hitting the breaking ball, he will cut down some on the strikeouts and prolong some at-bats and a by-product will be more walks.

They put Means in the middle of the order so he would see more breaking balls. He has been hitting third, but the last couple of days, with Garton doing so well, they have moved Means to the five hole and hopefully he will get a few more fastballs there and get out of this slump.

Walking a lot means he is seeing the ball better. A guy with his bat speed that can see the ball well will absolutely break him out of his slump. He is too aggressive at the plate. He is the anti Drew Stubbs. Stubbs needs to be more aggressive. Means needs to dial it back a notch or three. No one should look at a fastball over the plate by any means, but just because the pitcher is throwing the ball doesn't mean you need to swing at it. Right now, Means is doing a lot of that, and well, he has been doing it since the day he turned pro. He needs to tone the aggressiveness back some. With his strength and speed, I am all for trying to get him to just put the bat on the ball more at this point.