It’s nice to see more and more Reds showing up on lists like this. Jay Bruce has made an appearance on the list before but this week Johnny Cueto *tops* the list:
After going 4-5, 3.33 in the high Class A Florida State League in which he earned a spot start at Triple-A Louisville, the Reds promoted the 21-year-old to Chattanooga where he quickly established himself as one of the best arms in the Southern League–and that’s just over two starts. In 13 innings, Cueto, who signed out of the Dominican Republic in 2004, is 1-0, 0.69 with 19 strikeouts.
Drew Stubbs, though, earns a spot on the “Not-So Hot” list:
A member of the 2005 College World Series champion Texas Longhorns, Stubbs has struggled this year. He was just 4-for-20 last week with no extra-base hits, bringing his season average to .245. In the month of June he has hit .185/.272/.207.
Minor league systems are judged by high-end talent and by depth. The Reds’ system has the high end talent in Bruce, Bailey and Votto. It has some others that appear ready to make the step into that range (Cueto, Valaika). And the system has developed some good overall depth as well. I think this is a product of both the O’Brien and Krivsky regimes. O’Brien brought in most of this talent but it’s developing well under Krivsky.
It would be exciting to see see Redleg Nation Spotlight Players Thomas Pauly, Logan Parker and Matt Klinker on this list someday.