Minor League Discussion

[ghettochild]

lets get this started again guys

[griffeyfan3]

cant wait to see how little E's gonna do..

im going to the reds vs. blue jays tomorrow at louisville slugger....yessss

[AdamDunn#44]

EdE's big Spring excited me. I think he will have a huge year.

I see him hitting atleast .285 BA/.370 OBP/.500 SLG

[ghettochild]

that seems about right claussen, EdE will be great for our future. finally a spect with a promising future

[griffeyfan3]

the local newspaper had an article bout him and they compared him to burroughs and huff.....should be better than them tho

[AdamDunn#44]

http://www.daytondailynews.com/sport...02dragons.html

Tatum takes over behind the plate for Dragons
Third-round pick was rookie league all-star in 2004
By Marc Katz

Dayton Daily News

SARASOTA, Fla. | Craig Tatum is too young to have seen Hall-of-Fame catcher Johnny Bench play for the Cincinnati Reds. He hears a lot about Bench, though.

"Anytime they refer to anything around here, they mention Johnny Bench," said Tatum, who is winding down his first spring training in the Reds' organization and will start the season in Class A with the Dayton Dragons.

Donnie Scott, a former major-league catcher himself, is also a former Dragons manager who now serves as a catching instructor for the Reds' system.

"Donnie talks about Bench a lot," Tatum said. "He says if we want to be someone, he would be a good one to be."

Tatum, from Hattiesburg, Miss., always wanted to play baseball, but he also wanted to go to college, and he broke the family tradition of going to Ole Miss by taking a scholarship offer to Mississippi State.

"My whole family was Ole Miss," Tatum said. "I went to State because I thought it had a better baseball program.

"I redshirted my freshman year because we had a fifth-year catcher. After that, we went to the NCAA regionals twice."

That's when the Reds drafted Tatum, in the third round of last summer's draft.

The 6-foot, 220-pound catcher did so well behind the plate for the Billings Mustangs, he was chosen as the rookie Pioneer Baseball League's end-of-season All-Star despite hitting just .221 with two homers and 21 RBIs in 42 games before tearing his labrum sliding into second.

Luckily, the tear was in his left, non-throwing arm, although it did hamper his swing. It's just now coming back.

"I'm proud of the way I'm hitting now," Tatum said. "I was a big first-pitch swinger, and I couldn't do that last year. (All Reds players in the low minors had to take a strike.) Now, I'm more patient. It's paying off. I'm hitting the ball a lot better. It's growing on me."

Just as Bench hovers over the organization, last year's Dragons' catcher, Miguel Perez, will hover over Dayton for awhile. Even though Perez has a long way to go as a hitter (.237, one home run, 22 RBIs in Dayton), the Reds and scouts from other organizations marvel about his catching abilities. Perez is expected to begin this season at "high" Class A Sarasota.

Tatum expects to wait his turn.

"This is my first year here," Tatum said. "I didn't plan on making it to the big leagues this year."

[AdamDunn#44]

http://www.daytondailynews.com/sport...02dragons.html

Dragons tales

• A team of potential Dragons beat Orioles' farm hands Friday at their cross-town facility, 4-2.

• The Reds' minor-league teams were supposed to finish their spring training with intrasquad games today and games against Pittsburgh farmhands Sunday. Pittsburgh begged off, so there will be two days of "scrimmages" before Dayton and the Class AA Chattanooga and Class AAA Louisville teams head north.

• The Dragons expect to begin the season with 13 pitchers, which does not initially include former No. 1 pick Chris Gruler. He will stay behind for at least a week to get his arm ready for the season. Current No. 1 pick Homer Bailey is expected to highlight the staff, which includes five pitchers who previously have been with the team — Damian Ursin, Rainer Feliz, Camilio Vazquez, Jon George and Carlos Bohorquez.

That means the Dragons will carry only 12 position players, but they expect to bring along an extra catcher — John Purdom, who was with the team briefly last season — to keep in reserve in case either Tatum or Chris Kroski gets hurt.

That's what happened to Kroski last year in Dayton. The only other returnee is infielder Habilito Hernandez.

[Slyder]

EdE's big Spring excited me. I think he will have a huge year.

I see him hitting atleast .285 BA/.370 OBP/.500 SLG

I am glad they decided to give Double E sometime at AAA. No reason to rush him and start him this year and see him struggle. Randa is a great stop gap to let Edwin get plenty at bats and further his development. He should be among the short list of callups if/when someone gets hurt.

[redsrbetter]

cant wait to see how little E's gonna do..

im going to the reds vs. blue jays tomorrow at louisville slugger....yessss

Gonna have to give us some cool updates for that man!

[AdamDunn#44]

Good to see EdE still hitting the cover off the ball. And I guess this means Bergolla is starting at Louisville.

http://www.batsbaseball.com/morenews.cfm?news_id=390

Jason Romano, William Bergolla and Edwin Encarnacion all went 2-for-4 as the Bats lost their last spring game of the season to the Ottawa Lynx, 11-4.

Reds right-hander Eric Milton made his final tune-up start before heading to Cincinnati and allowed four runs in four innings. Jose Acevedo, Chris Booker, Blake Hendley and Todd Coffey all followed Milton allowing the final seven runs. Booker was the only pitcher to not allow any runs in his one inning pitched.

Intrasquad games are scheduled for Saturday and Sunday before breaking camp and heading to Louisville. The Bats host the Ottawa Lynx and Pawtucket Red Sox for an eight-game homestand to open the season Thursday, April 7.

[ghettochild]

i think if bergolla can find some contact he will be a great leadoff hitter

[AdamDunn#44]

Bergolla is actually a decent contact hitter. Only 63 K's in 466 atbats last year. He needs to improve his plate discipline. A few more walks could push him into a pretty good OBP hitter.

[redsrbetter]

Ya I have a good feeling about Bergolla. I can't get him to hit on MVP for PS2 but I still think he could be the eadoff hitter we need in the future. Unless Frell somehow takes the job from DJ soon.

[AdamDunn#44]

Breakout pitcher-Tyler Pelland


Breakout hitters-Tie between BJ Szymanski, Chris ****erson, and Jose Ronda

Minor League Player of the Year Award: 1B Joey Votto

[griffeyfan3]

they have bergolla still in chattanooga.