Who are your "breakout" players for 2010?

[JayBruceFan]

Name any Reds minor leagues players that you think will have a "breakout" 2010 season

When I say break out, I mean big number seasons and/or moving up a level or two in the system during the season.


Here are some of mine (List is contingent on none of these players being released by the Reds, which I don't really see happening):

Position Players:

Andrew Means (Crazy Athletic Ability and Very Good Power)

Carlos Mendez (I love this guys bat. Good Glove. If he finds some power, he will have some staying power.)

Devin Mesoraco (4th pro season. He needs to show something to stay around)

Pitchers:
Curtis Partch (Good stuff, Nice velocity. Can make some noise with some consistency)

Shea Snowden (Jamie Moyer Part Deux? Haven't really seen too much of this guy to form an opinion but he looks like a ballplayer. Whatever that means)

Josh Ravin (Good Stuff. Needs to stay healthy)

Donnie Joseph (Lefty Closers are always nice)


Can't wait to see lists from some of the other people with knowledge of the minor leagues

[mth123]

Mace Thurman
Josh Fellhauer
Matt Fairel
Byron Wiley
Mark Pawalek
Jeremy Horst

[OnBaseMachine]

Hitter:

Neftali Soto - he had a down year and while I agreed with the decision to start him in High-A, he was probably better suited to begin in Dayton, and the Reds admitted this too. He'll still only be 21 years old next spring and should repeat High-A. The good news is Soto will be out of the FSL so that should help some. Despite a .644 OPS in the FSL, Soto posted a strong LD% of 22.4, which suggests there was some bad luck involved in his struggles. I expect a bounce back season from him in 2010.

Honorable mention: Devin Mesoraco. His statline didn't look pretty but he walked at a solid clip and showed some decent power.

Pitcher:

Juan Carlos Sulbaran - Like Soto, Sulbaran was probably rushed but I agreed with the decision to start him in Dayton. As a high school draftee, Sulbaran completely skipped Rookie Ball and went straight to Low-A. He was very inconsistent this season but I saw some things I like, most notably his strong strikeout rate (100 K in 92.2 IP). I expect him to be back in Dayton next season and pitch much better.

[TRF]

OBM beat me on Soto.

for pitcher, I'm thinking Klinker. 2009 may have actually been his breakout season, and I'm thinking he zoomed to nearly the top of the Red's pitching prospects list, possibly behind Wood. great K rates at 3 levels this year. He and Wood will make a tough 1-2 punch at AAA.

[dougdirt]

Hitters
Devin Mesoraco - Good peripherals were weighed down by a lower than expected BABIP.
Neftali Soto - Too good of a hitter to have another bad season.
Mark Fleury - His minorleaguesplits.com 'adjusted for normal luck' line was .308/.378/.551. His actual line was .203/.285/.391.

Pitchers
Dallas Buck - Just a gut call. If he can stay healthy he has the ability to put up a real good season.
Mark Serrano - Going to go from good prospect to very good prospect next year.

[nate]

Just a note on Mesoraco, he was on "tech talk" the other day before the game as part of a fielding thing and he didn't look "doughy" by any stretch of the imagination. He seemed pretty fit to me.

[dougdirt]

Originally Posted by nate

Just a note on Mesoraco, he was on "tech talk" the other day before the game as part of a fielding thing and he didn't look "doughy" by any stretch of the imagination. He seemed pretty fit to me.

As I have shown in the past, there simply is no realistic place where that comment came from. If you know where to look, you can find photo's of Devin from the 2008 season from April, July and August and in not one of them is there anything resembling a guy 'who spent too much of his signing bonus on milk shakes' as an anonymous scout said. With that said, Mesoraco is in better physical condition this season than he was last year, but that's going to happen when your body continues to mature in most cases.

[aubashbrother]

Matt Klinker
JCS
Yonder Alonso will beast up and be a contender for MILB POY
Cozart takes another step forward
Soto
Smit
Im with Doug I have a feeling about Buck
Juan Duran

[OnBaseMachine]

I also think Juan Duran will rebound and take a step forward next season.

[Superdude]

Daniel Tuttle. I don't know if he'll dominate or anything, but establishing himself maybe like Sulbaran did this year would be nice to see considering all the low cieling arms in the system right now.

[RedEye]

I'm kind of expecting Yorman Rodriguez to become the Carlos Truinfel of the Reds. Wait... is that what he is already?

[GIDP]

Felhauer and Hamilton

Sulbaran and Ravin

[mace]

I offer none of these guys with conviction (having, uh, not seen them play), but arrive at:

Jordan Hotchkiss

(I'll let him stand alone for a moment as my feature selection. Then . . . )

Alexis Oliveras
Devin Mesoraco
Mark Serrano
Alexander Smit
Daniel Corcino
Neftali Soto
Jeremy Horst
Curtis Partch

I'm not listing Mace Thurman because he's essentially been aces since the day he started.

Also not mentioning some rookie leaguers I like a lot, such as Jacob Johnson, Nathan Driessen, Tyler Cline, Daniel Tuttle, Billy Hamilton. Because they're rookie leaguers. (Somehow, I don't put Billings in the same class as the GCL and DSL.)

[RedsManRick]

I'm curious what happened to our 2009 predictions. I think I went with Mace Thurman, who certainly did not disappoint....

Speaking of which, I can't seem to find his player-specific thread. What's his story. The guy is pitching like a young Billy Wagner or Joe Nathan. Is he a hard thrower? What sort of stuff does he have?

[Mario-Rijo]

I'll keep with my guys Derrick Lutz and Sean Conner.

I also like Mes, Fluery & Tuttle to have good seasons.