when should i start worrying about our top hitting prospects?

[redsof72]

Not concerned about any specific players yet and won't be for a while. I am really concerned that the organization is once again 29th in overall record, right where they were last year. A losing mentality is a hard thing to overcome. You see those late inning blunders from losing teams that cost games. When a teams believes it is bad, they usually find a way to lose. You don't want your prospects developing in that kind of culture. I have said that before. Learning to win is as important as learning any other skill and we are missing out on that one, totally.

[GIDP]

My concern is if they dont hit long enough, once they do start hitting our manager wont give them playing time when they get called up and use the "he was batting .233 in AAA" line to justify it.

[jmcclain19]

Alonso has zero margin for error. He's a 1st baseman, and major league firstbaseman rake - even the poor ones rake better than any other position on the field.

If he doesn't hit, he has no value to the Reds.

Better keep those fingers and toes crossed - but we're going on three seasons now with zero power. We're not past the point of no return yet, but that could be the sign coming up around the bend.

[GIDP]

Alsono slugged .497 for Sarasota in 2009 that was 7th in the league
he also slugged .457 in AA, which if he had enough ABs would have been 23nd

what do you consider zero power?

[gedred69]

I've considered for some time that maybe, Hitting prospects are looked upon favorably by limited terms of success on their Minor League ascension or where they were drafted. Some guys like Bruce are just plain good enough, that they always deserve serious opportunity. How good was Heisey, before last year? I don't remember him standing out. Has Stubbs ever been a better hitter other than a few spurts? Alonzo has hit a wall like Frazier who has always tantilized until AAA. Valaika was more than solid until last year (but was obviously hurt as he has hit well this year). Dorn has always been steady, but has never even had a sniff of an opportunity, which reminds me of an interview many years ago with golf pro J.C. Snead. He was an up and coming .320 hitting 1st baseman in the Minors when he abruptly quit base ball for golf. When asked why, his answer was, "because I played with guys who were good enough but didn't get the opportunity because a coach didn't like them because of their stance, or thought they should hit more for power than Avg. or any number of bad reasons. On the Course it's your ability against everybody else, no one to make bad decisions that affect how far you get" (paraphrased). I'm wondering if the Reds are not doing the job evaluating and bringing the right guys along.

[GOYA]

Valaika was more than solid until last year (but was obviously hurt as he has hit well this year).

Just to clarify, Valaika was not hurt during the poor start he had in Louisville. He just had trouble making the adjustment. His injury was a result of his poor performance, not the other way around.

[TheNext44]

Here are Redszone's preseason prospect rankings:

As of May 9th

Prospect #1 - Aroldis Chapman

Prospect #2 - Yonder Alonso - .724 OPS in AA (!) .387 .419 .807

Prospect #3 - Mike Leake

Prospect #4 - Todd Frazier - .600 OPS in AAA .326 .338 .664; last 10 days: .375 .471 .846

Prospect #5 - Juan Francisco - .607 OPS in AAA. two walks in 80 PAs. sad. .293 .505 .798; last 10 days: .465 .825 1.290 (still only 3 walks though)

Prospect #6 - Yorman Rodriguez

Prospect #7 - Travis Wood

Prospect #8 - Chris Heisey - .737 OPS in AAA. Called up to the bigs due to general ineptitude on the AAA roster.

Prospect #9 - Zack Cozart .356 .474 .830

Prospect #10 - Brad Boxberger

Valaika .387 .466 .853

Dorn .383 .480 .863

Also, Wlad is hitting .366 .571 .937 in the last 10 days.

Our top pitching prospects have played well but four out of our top five hitting prospects are off to very poor starts. Heck, I thought Frazier would be in the bigs by now & Heisey and Alonso would be ready for the bigs at some point this year. When should I start worrying? Are any of these guys going to improve enough to help the big league team this year?

Looks like help should be on it's way soon.

[Will M]

Looks like help should be on it's way soon.

yes. its very good to see these guys start to hit. for the first month of AAA they were as a whole brutal.

i wonder what Dorn has to do to get a shot in the bigs? Nix was a decent 5th outfielder in 2009 but so far this year he hasn't gotten it done (231/306/536). at a certain point he will have to go back to AAA to see if he can get his stroke back (or just be released). despite his en fuego streak i don't think Gomes will hit well enough vs RHP to be the everyday left fielder. vs LHP his offense likely outweighs his defense enough to be our best option. but vs RHP i'd rather have someone else in LF.