Who will be #9 and #10 Prospects?

[Just Regular]

21 hours ago, John Welch said:

This guy?

The Reds announced Tuesday that they’ve hired Kyle Boddy of Driveline Baseball to serve as the organization’s director of pitching initiatives/pitching coordinator. Boddy announced on Twitter that he will focus almost entirely on working to develop minor league pitchers in his new role with the Reds, but he’ll also remain with Driveline. The Reds also promoted assistant pitching coach Caleb Cotham, adding “director of pitching” to his title. Travis Sawchik of FiveThirtyEight.com reports (via Twitter) that the division-rival Cubs also offered Boddy a position, but he opted for the Reds’ position.

While Boddy will work more with the team’s minor league pitchers than the Major League pitchers, he’ll also “work closely with the Major League pitching department to ensure the pitching philosophies and protocols are consistent throughout the organization,” per the Reds.

Indeed yes.  And probably no coincidence that it is Trevor Bauer's team, not to mention one that has struggled with run prevention across the long term.  

[7Mo]

1 hour ago, OrioleDog said:

Indeed yes.  And probably no coincidence that it is Trevor Bauer's team, not to mention one that has struggled with run prevention across the long term.  

Maybe more importantly is that Derek Johnson is the Reds pitching coach. The same Derek Johnson who left the Brewers and their ERA goes up a run, he goes to the Reds and their ERA goes down a run. 

He's very much in sync with the Driveline/Kyle Boddy approach. 

[bobmc]

On 11/9/2019 at 7:12 AM, Can_of_corn said:

Not easy to sustain either.

Dang you!    And now I hear that he just married - oyyyyyyyyy!  

 

Edited November 11, 2019 by bobmc
the knot

[bobmc]

On 11/8/2019 at 10:38 PM, Luke-OH said:

Not really, he was a command and pitch-ability lefty with only one solid MLB quality pitch (the changeup). I like his feel to pitch and his arm slot added some deception, but he really didn't look like anything more than a swingman type. So basically a 25 year old journeyman/fringe contributor type added 2 ticks of velocity and added a legit plus pitch out of the blue after having little development over the previous few years. That's tough to predict.

 

Could Bruce Zimmerman be that guy?  Chris Holt alludes to the many improvements he made last year and I know you are pretty high on his possibilities, right?  Good topic @Philip!

Holt on Zimmermann: “Man, where do I start? No. 1, his fastball got better. No. 2, his curveball got better. No. 3, his changeup got better. Four, his command and approach to attack hitters got better. He overall took everything that we would throw at him and put it to use to make it actionable on field. Just really proud of that guy for the work ethic and willingness to go out and work to improve all facets of his game. Certainly a guy who does fly below the radar. But certainly a guy who is capable of being an impact guy at the big league level at some point.”

After hearing Holt’s very positive comments on Zimmermann, I asked him if maybe this was the pitcher that came the farthest on the farm this year.

“He came over from the Braves, so largely what we had looked at prior to his arrival, he was throwing a lot of two-seam fastballs and changeups down and away,” Holt said. “Kind of indicative of a little more of a Braves/National League style. He basically was able to take more advantage of a four-seam fastball and his changeup, so it allowed him to use more on plate and use more of the plate up and down in the zone.

“As I said, his curveball got much better and his slider was very, very solid and so overall, yes, he made as much improvement as anyone in the organization. It was a testament to his willingness to go and do work and take accurate information and formulate a plan and put it to use.”

https://www.masnsports.com/steve-melewski/2019/11/checking-in-on-some-top-minor-league-arms-with-chris-holt.html

[Luke-OH]

49 minutes ago, bobmc said:

Could Bruce Zimmerman be that guy?  Chris Holt alludes to the many improvements he made last year and I know you are pretty high on his possibilities, right?  Good topic @Philip!

Holt on Zimmermann: “Man, where do I start? No. 1, his fastball got better. No. 2, his curveball got better. No. 3, his changeup got better. Four, his command and approach to attack hitters got better. He overall took everything that we would throw at him and put it to use to make it actionable on field. Just really proud of that guy for the work ethic and willingness to go out and work to improve all facets of his game. Certainly a guy who does fly below the radar. But certainly a guy who is capable of being an impact guy at the big league level at some point.”

After hearing Holt’s very positive comments on Zimmermann, I asked him if maybe this was the pitcher that came the farthest on the farm this year.

“He came over from the Braves, so largely what we had looked at prior to his arrival, he was throwing a lot of two-seam fastballs and changeups down and away,” Holt said. “Kind of indicative of a little more of a Braves/National League style. He basically was able to take more advantage of a four-seam fastball and his changeup, so it allowed him to use more on plate and use more of the plate up and down in the zone.

“As I said, his curveball got much better and his slider was very, very solid and so overall, yes, he made as much improvement as anyone in the organization. It was a testament to his willingness to go and do work and take accurate information and formulate a plan and put it to use.”

https://www.masnsports.com/steve-melewski/2019/11/checking-in-on-some-top-minor-league-arms-with-chris-holt.html

I actually typed out a response saying that you shouldn’t expect anyone to be that guy, but Zimmermann is as good of a under the radar candidate as anyone. But I decided not to post it because we weren’t to him in the list yet.

[Philip]

7 hours ago, bobmc said:

Dang you!    And now I hear that he just married - oyyyyyyyyy!  

 

She must be really tall herself. He didn’t have to bend down very far.

Wishing them the blessing from Fiddler On The Roof:

”May you both be happy in the future of your choice.

May you never lack a thousand reasons to rejoice.”

[bobmc]

21 minutes ago, Philip said:

She must be really tall herself. He didn’t have to bend down very far.

Wishing them the blessing from Fiddler On The Roof:

”May you both be happy in the future of your choice.

May you never lack a thousand reasons to rejoice.”

She was an intercollegiate athlete - Vball maybe and now is a coach?  I love this fotog's photo with both hands showing their rings (Tradition!).  I echo your sentiments - seem like really genuine folks and he is the guy we love to watch compete.

 

[Luke-OH]

She was a pro soccer player.