This may not come as a surprise to many of you, but the Cincinnati Reds are not going to make the playoffs this season. Here’s what may come as a surprise, the Reds farm system is not as bad as it used to be.
Sure, most of the Reds faithful are excited for the depth of pitching prospects in the system with names like Amir Garrett, Cody Reed and Rookie Davis tearing it up, but they do have some offense. In fact, it may be time to hand over left field to their top prospect Jesse Winker.
It seems like the Detroit Tigers have been waiting forever for Steven Moya to develop into their everyday right fielder. Actually, in baseball years they have, as it has been seven full seasons now since Moya was signed out of Puerto Rico. The paradox of course is that now that Moya seems ready, they seemingly have no room for him.
I recently went to MLB.com to start to conjure whom I will give my votes to for this season’s All Star Game. It was not as easy as I thought, but for an entirely new reason.
There is no denying that past All Star Games have had many snubs. Most of them revolve around the fact that there has been an abundance of exciting sluggers at first base and a bevy of exciting “five-tool” superstars in the outfield. Occasionally the hot corner would provide some depth that would prove difficult in selecting the right player for the Midsummer Classic.
Not anymore. Now, the depth at shortstop and second base, two of baseball’s traditionally light hitting, unattractive positions has changed the All Star ballot game.
Today, we take a look at the American League second basemen.
The St. Louis Cardinals may have struck gold yet again. While they have become more known for having a keen eye for young pitching, they have been successful with some nice offensive pieces along the way. Harrison Bader is starting to look like a third-round steal in Double-A, as he could very well be raising his stock in St. Louis.
The Cincinnati Reds currently have a trio of young guns atop their top ten prospect list. While Robert Stephenson has shown success already as big leaguer and Cody Reed is lighting up Louisville in Triple-A nearing a promotion to The Show himself, neither may be as exciting as Amir Garrett.
Deep down on the Washington Nationals farm, there is an exciting trio atop the Hagerstown Suns lineup. Victor Robles, Max Schrock and Kelvin Gutierrez are lighting up the Sally in an offensive barrage that has the Suns sitting at 18-9 heading into the final two games of the weekend.
The Hagerstown Trio sounds more like a 1920s jazz group that an upstart gang of prospects. That is exactly what they are. All three are in the top ten in the South Atlantic League in batting average, and they combine to litter the top ten in nearly every other statistical category.
So, who are they?
Luis Severino’s recent struggles have brought up eerie, unpleasant memories for New York Yankees fans. Phil Hughes. Joba Chamberlain. Ian Kennedy. Ivan Nova. Manny Banuelos. Andrew Brackman. The past five years have heard the Yankees brass convincing people that their next ace was on the horizon, that their pitching prospects were indeed elite. The sad truth is that not since Andy Pettitte have the Yankees produced a starting pitcher with any sort of staying power.
It’s always been funny to me as a long time New York Yankees fan when it comes to prospect talk. Yankees fans seemingly automatically think the next big name prospect they hear about is the answer to all of the problems on the big league level. Remember when Jesus Montero was the next Jorge Posada?
The list of great Milwaukee Brewers pitching prospects who panned out in the major leagues in the 2000s starts with Yovani Gallardo and, well, it pretty much ends right there. The Brewers front office did a lot of work this offseason to replenish a barren farm system. In doing so, they may have found that next great pitching prospect, as Josh Hader is off to a hot start in 2016.
So, who is Josh Hader?
This was supposed to be a down year for the Philadelphia Phillies. They were supposed to be transitioning from the years of mistakes that Ruben Amaro, Jr. (who incidentally went from GM to first base coach for the Boston Red Sox) made. They were supposed to be a few years away.
One full month into 2016, only four teams in all of baseball have a better record? What is going on in the City of Brotherly Love?
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