2009 Draft: Complete Reds Draft List

Here's a complete list of all players drafted by the Reds in the Rule IV amateur draft:

Round	Overall	Player	Position	School	State
1	8	Mike Leake	RHP	Arizona State	Ariz.
1s	43	Bradley Boxberger	RHP	Southern California	Calif.
2	57	Billy Hamilton	SS	Taylorsville (Miss.) HS	Miss.
3	88	Donnie Joseph	LHP	Houston	Texas
4	119	Mark Fleury	C	North Carolina	N.C.
5	149	Daniel Tuttle	RHP	Randleman (N.C.) HS	N.C.
6	179	Mark Serrano	RHP	Oral Roberts	Okla.
7	209	Josh Fellhauer	OF	Cal State Fullerton	Calif.
8	239	Juan Silva	OF	Puerto Rico Baseball Academy, Gurabo, P.R.
9	269	Brian Pearl	RHP	Washington	Wash.
10	299	Tucker Barnhart	C	Brownsburg (Ind.) HS	Ind.
11	329	Harold Johnson	RHP	Trinity Christian Academy, Lake Worth, Fla.	Fla.
12	359	Joshua Garton	OF	Volunteer State (Tenn.) CC	Tenn.
13	389	Nick Christiani	RHP	Vanderbilt	Tenn.
14	419	Timothy Crabbe	RHP	Westmont (Calif.)	Calif.
15	449	James Wakzak	RHP	Mercyhurst (Pa.)	Pa.
16	479	Chase Fowler	C	South Forsythe HS, Cumming, Ga.	Ga.
17	509	Devon Marrero	SS	American Heritage HS, Plantation, Fla.	Fla.
18	539	Steven Perez	SS	Gulliver Prep HS, Miami	Fla.
19	569	Mitchell Clarke	LHP	Forest Heights Collegiate Institute, Kitchener, Ont.
20	599	Matt Valaika	2B	UC Santa Barbara	Calif.
21	629	Jonathan Reed	RHP	Memorial HS, Tulsa, Okla.	Okla.
22	659	David Stewart	1B	Grayson County (Texas) JC	Mo.
23	689	Chris Richburg	1B	Texas Tech	Texas
24	719	Derrick Lowery	1B	Young Harris (Ga.) JC	Ga.
25	749	Michael Monster	RHP	Rutland SS, Kelowna, B.C.
26	779	Vernon Manz	C	South Florida	Fla.
27	809	Stefan Del Pino	LHP	Dorman HS, Roebuck, S.C.	S.C.
28	839	Derek Poppert	SS	San Francisco	Calif.
29	869	Jason Brawn	RHP	Corban (Ore.)	Ore.
30	899	Yovan Gonzalez	C	Wabash Valley (Ill.) JC	Ill.
31	929	Adian Kummet	RHP	St. Scholastica (Minn.)	Minn.
32	959	Shane Carlson	SS	UC Santa Barbara	Calif.
33	989	William Stramp	3B	Lubbock Christian (Texas)	Texas
34	1019	Forest Cannon	RHP	UC Santa Barbara	Calif.
35	1049	Oliver Santos	3B	South Carolina-Salkehatchie JC	S.C.
36	1079	Chris Burleson	SS	Southern Maine	Maine
37	1109	Dayne Read	OF	Chipola (Fla.) JC	Fla.
38	1139	Tommy Nurre	1B	Miami (Ohio)	Ohio
39	1169	Paul Barton	RHP	Kwalikum SS, Qualicum Beach, B.C.
40	1199	Mike Robertson	OF	Bellevue (Wash.) CC	Wash.
41	1229	Jake Wiley	RHP	Marist	N.Y.
42	1259	Blair Carson	RHP	Anderson (S.C.)	S.C.
43	1289	Ricky Bowen	RHP	Mississippi State	Miss.
44	1319	Jason Shepherd	OF	Navarro (Texas) JC	Texas
45	1349	Brian Adams	OF	South Forysth HS, Cumming, Ga.	Ga.
46	1379	Timothy Dunn	RHP	Trevecca Nazarene (Tenn.)	Tenn.
47	1409	Jason Hampton	RHP	Rocklin (Calif.) HS	Calif.
48	1439	Kenny Swab	C	Young Harris (Ga.) JC	N.C.
49	1469	Darion Hamilton	OF	Taylorsville (Miss.) HS	Miss.
50	1499	Chris Page	1B	Genesee (N.Y.) CC	N.Y.

One guy that jumps out at me is 17th round pick Devon Marrero, as he would have been drafted much higher if not for signability concerns. If the Reds can get him under contract, then he could be a real steal. His tools make him a very intriguing prospect, but he won't be an easy sign.

Another is Matt Valaika who is the brother of current prospect Chris and also plays middle infield. The Reds like what they have in Chris and are hoping to find something of value in his brother. I wonder if there are any other Valaika's coming through the baseball pipeline.

Billy Hamilton is a very athletic player, but I have questions about his "hit tool." He strikes me as being the type of player that will struggle to translate his raw athleticism into production. Baseball requires such a particularized set of skills that it rarely just bends to the will of the athletically gifted. Hopefully, Hamilton proves me wrong.

As for Mike Leake, the more I think about it, the more I like the pick. Granted, I would have gone with the high upside Shelby Miller, but as is often the case, high upside comes with high risk. The Reds decided to go with a pitcher whose ceiling is *arguably* lower than Miller, Matzek, or White, but whose risk is substantially less. Leake is a very polished and savvy pitcher who has had great success and anchored a rotation that is in the College World Series this year. Leake already has a tremendous understanding of how to pitch, which is what I like to see in my pitching prospects. By and large, I tend to favor "pitchers" over "throwers." Leake *may* not have #1 starter upside, but he is far more likely to have a solid MLB career than most of the other arms in the draft.

Typically, I favor going with the high upside in the top of the first round, because you don't often find elite upside later on, but it's hard to argue with what the Reds have done. Since the Reds already have Johnny Cueto and Edinson Volquez in the MLB rotation, they may not have the pressing need for another #1 starter and the risk that subsequently comes along with it. Add in the lack of pitching depth in the system resulting from an injured Kyle Lotzkar and an ineffective Homer Bailey and what the Reds really needed was certainty. They needed a polished pitching prospect who was very likely to contribute and soon. Leake was that pitcher.

Oddly enough, the general consensus has changed on Leake since he was drafted. Prior to the draft, the pundits were projecting him as a mid-first round pick, but when the Reds drafted him everyone seemed to applaud the pick. There was no talk of it being an overdraft, but rather a good decision on the part of the Reds. And, I happen to agree.