Monday, June 16, 2014, Minor League Updates:

[treetops]

Two years in a row...Jesse Winker wins an all star game Home Run Derby. I love that kid. He just has something about him that says "winner."

It was a reverse home runs derby: http://www.milb.com/news/article.jsp...ticle_80143870
Also Kyle Waldrop was top scorer in the "hitting challenge".

[OGB]

I was hanging out with a Reds player tonight who told me that Jumbo Diaz has everything it takes to be on this club right now. He said he was surprised Jumbo didnt get the call out of spring training to begin with.

[M2]

With the exception of Boulware, this lineup looks like something you'd expect from an advnaced short-season league team like one in the NY-Penn or the Northwest League

Which is exactly why the Reds should get themselves a NY-P affiliate. I sometimes wonder if their lack of a short-season club makes the Reds skittish to draft HS talent.

[M2]

Two years in a row...Jesse Winker wins an all star game Home Run Derby. I love that kid. He just has something about him that says "winner."

I think that something is the kid has a great bat.

[Benihana]

Which is exactly why the Reds should get themselves a NY-P affiliate. I sometimes wonder if their lack of a short-season club makes the Reds skittish to draft HS talent.

Buckley's refusal/reluctance to draft HS bats early is my biggest beef with him. The two times he did it in the first round, he got Mesoraco ('07) and Winker ('12). In the second round, he got Hamilton ('09). That's 3-for-3, and arguably the 3 biggest impact bats that Buckley has EVER drafted (Frazier aside).

So far no busts, as its too early to tell with second rounders Rosa ('11), Rahier ('12), and Franklin ('13). I really wish he would do it more often.

[klw]

I was hanging out with a Reds player tonight who told me that Jumbo Diaz has everything it takes to be on this club right now. He said he was surprised Jumbo didnt get the call out of spring training to begin with.

Any other fun anonymous tidbits? clubhouse drama? was the Skip story true?

[redsof72]

I think that something is the kid has a great bat.

You don't think there were other great bats in the contest, both years? It is an ability to raise one's level to meet the challenge. As the competition gets better, you find something extra. I have seen three guys like that in Dayton: Frazier, Hamilton, Winker. Winker was the youngest of the three.

[M2]

You don't think there were other great bats in the contest, both years? It is an ability to raise one's level to meet the challenge. As the competition gets better, you find something extra. I have seen three guys like that in Dayton: Frazier, Hamilton, Winker. Winker was the youngest of the three.

Sure, but you can only raise your level if you have somewhere else to go. Winker strikes me as a fairly simple guy to categorize: great bat. Not good bat, great bat. There aren't a lot of those. He's doing what great hitters do. He's got the focus, eye, mechanics and ability that separates him. I agree he seems to be special. I just think what makes him special is that he's a 99 percenter with a bat in his hands. I suppose the question is whether he carries that .300/.400/.500 all the way to the majors or, like Jay Bruce and Adam Dunn, if better pitches find a hole in his swing.

What I'm enjoying most about Winker is that throwing him a pitch over the plate definitely seems to be a mistake.