Monday, June 1, 2009

Yonder Alonso Promoted to Double-A

The Reds promoted Yonder Alonso from high-A Sarasota to double-A Carolina. For Sarasota, Alonso had a line of .302/.378/.503/.881 with 7 homeruns and a 28/22 K/BB ratio. Sarasota is tough on hitters, so it's an impressive performance even discounting the fact that Alonso is a polished collegiate prospect.

It'll be interesting to see how Yonder fares outside of a pitcher's park like Sarasota. Carolina isn't a hitter's paradise, but it is more friendly to the lumber than Sarasota. The early returns are certainly good, as I write this Yonder is 3-4 with 2 doubles, 2 runs, and 2 RBI in his Carolina debut.

Despite the personal problems of Joey Votto, it's difficult to envision Yonder as being a solution in the immediate future. Still, if he proves up to the task of handling double-A pitching, it shouldn't be long before he forces his way to the MLB level. Whether that will be with the Reds or another organization is the question of the day.

2 comments:

  1. Any plans to write a piece on the struggles of Bruce at the plate?

    He seems to be falling into the trap of Encarnacion from a year ago. Pulling the ball too much, consequently hitting for low average but lots of power. I'm speculating he's putting too much pressure on himself to replace the departed production of the big sluggers.

    He should be taking a page out of Votto and Heisey's book. Stay patient, see the off speed stuff and hit the ball to the opposite field.

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  2. Hey roc,

    Thanks for the idea. I'll take a look at Bruce and see if I can find any significant red flags on him. I have a few suspicions already, but I'll hold off until I dig in a little deeper and see what conclusions the research suggests.

    Anyway, thanks, I'll take a look and and write something up.


    Best,
    Lark

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