Rookie
Game 1 Idaho Falls 13, Billings 1, 7 innings
20 year-old Chris Valaika (Reds #3 – 2006) went 1 for 3. On the season the 2nd baseman from UC Santa Barbara is hitting .300./.362/.490.
Game 2 Idaho Falls 5, Billings 4, 7 innings
Valaika went 1 for 4 in game 2 with a home run and 2 RBI.ÂÂ
GCL Twins 3, GCL Reds 2, PPD after 4 innings
LOW A
23 year-old DOTF Favorite Adam Rosales (Reds #12 – 2005) went 1 for 3 with 2 R. Since being demoted to Dayton, the SS from Chicago, IL, is hitting .284/.331/.486.ÂÂ
HIGH A
24 year-old Paul Janish (Reds #5 – 2004) went 3 for 3 with a 3B, 2 BB, 2 R, and an RBI. Since being promoted (and swapping places with Adam Rosales), the SS from Cypress Texas, is hitting .258/.342/.384
25 year-old John Purdom went 3 for 5 with a HR, and 5 RBI. Purdom, a Cincinnati native, is hitting .237/.287/.317
AA
Jacksonville 11, Chattanooga 1
22 year-old Joey Votto, (Reds #2 – 2002) who was just named TOPPS Southern League Player of the Month,  went 2 for 3 with a BB. Votto hitting .327/.404/.583 is first in the Southern League in OPS, SLG, HR, and 2B. He is 2nd in RBI, OBA, and is 4th in BB. Votto also has 15 SB in 20 attempts.
I have really grown to like Scott Hatteburg, but Votto may be ready by next year.
AAA
Louisville 4, Buffalo 3, 11 innings
Once again Mike Burns (1.15 ERA), Brad Salmon (2.70 ERA), and Scott Chiasson (2.49 ERA) went a combined 4.2 IP giving up just 3 H and a BB. Jim “Leatherpants” Bowden was fanstastic at building cheap GREAT bullpens. He did it year after year after year. He did it in the offseason and through the late rounds of the draft.  These three pitchers may not be as talented as Bray or Majewski, but the difference between them and the two players we recieved from Bowden is likely only a few runs a year. For that we gave up two everyday players?  ÂÂ
I don’t know about Salmon and Chiasson, but how do you compare Burns to what we acquired? Burns has proven himself to be the classic AAAA player. He’s had multiple chances to prove himself with the big club, and has been terrible.
He’s pitched 13 innings for the Reds this year. Can you judge a player on 13 IP? That AAAA myth is just that a Myth. I garauntee you can find 13 innings in any pitchers life where he give up a run an inning. He deserves more than 13 IP to prove he sucks. ESPECIALLY when he has a sub ERA at AAA. If he went down to AAA and sucked equally as bad, I would have no problem with your “baseball person” logic.
While Bowden may have been good at pulling together a cheap bullpen, a lot of good those cheap bullpens did the Reds with all of the terrible starting rotations coupled with losing seasons.
Dude I hated leatherpants, I was just stating that he did a good job of building great, cheap bullpens. He certainly never had to trade away to everyday near all*star caliber players for them.