INTERVIEW WITH TERRY REYNOLDS

TReynolds.WMA -> audio file

Reds Senior Director of Player Development Terry Reynolds today joined me for a phone interview to discuss the recent additions to the 40-man roster.  (The audio file is attached above, apologies for the sound quality). 

 Here's the transcript:

BETTER OFF RED: Hi folks, thanks for logging on.  I'm Jamie Ramsey and today's guest on Better Off Red is Reds Director of Player Development Terry Reynolds.  Terry, welcome to the blog.

TERRY REYNOLDS: Hi Jamie, happy to be here.

BOR: Terry, on Friday the Reds made some moves to the 40-man roster to accommodate the upcoming Rule 5 Draft.  Before we talk about the players added to the roster, can you talk in layman's terms what the Rule 5 draft is and why the Reds added these names to the roster?

TR: Well, the Rule 5 Draft gives all teams an opportunity to search the rosters of all 29 other clubs and determine if there is anyone on there who has been playing baseball in their organization for basically more than 6 years.  (Someone) who at this time has been left on a roster below the Major League roster, which (another) club would have an interest in acquiring.  So it gets a little complicated but you're trying to find a gem basically in somebody else's system.

BOR: Ok, so the Reds on Friday added to the 40-man roster RHP Enerio Del Rosario, OF Chris Heisey, RHP Logan Ondrusek, RHP Jordan Smith, IF Chris Valaika, LHP Philippe Valiquette and LHP Travis Wood.  Obviously the more recognizable names from that list are Heisey, Wood and Valaika.  Heisey is one of those guys who's getting a lot of publicity lately.  And depending on whom you ask, folks either really like his game or are just kind of mildly impressed.  What can you tell us about him?

TR: Chris is a guy that Jeff Brookens in our scouting department deserves a lot of credit for.  He was a 17th-round draft pick out of a small school in Pennsylvania and this guy has really good tools.  He can run, he can throw, he can hit, he can play all 3 outfield positions.  (He has) enough speed to play center, enough arm to play right.  He's a smart player.  He's hit and put up good numbers at every level he's played which includes Double-A, Triple-A and now the Arizona Fall League.  He's a good-looking young player that I'm happy we have in our system.

BOR: And I have to admit, we were in a meeting at the beginning of the year in Walt's office and he asked you point-blank, "Give me a name that we should keep an eye on," and you said Heisey and it's paid off, he had a great year.

TR: He's one of those guys you root for, too because without any fanfare he does his job, does what he's told, works hard at his game and tries to improve everyday.

BOR: Travis Wood had a breakout year down on the farm last season, did you see this coming and what happened to enable Travis to enjoy this renewed success? 

TR: Well I think the pat on the back goes to the pitching coaches in player development whether it's Tom Brown or Rigo Beltran or Mack Jenkins or any of the pitching coaches that have dealt with Travis over the last couple of years.  I think it's really just a case of him maturing both as a player and as a person.  He was very young high school player when he was drafted, and each year it's kind of taken him a second year at each level to get his feet underneath him and be successful.  This year, he jumped into Double-A and really tore it up from the beginning of the season, (and he) pitched well when he got to Triple-A.  He's always had the stuff to do it, I think it's a matter of increased confidence and increasing his ability to throw pitches where he wants to throw them.  Did I see it coming?  No, to answer your question, but it sure was a pleasant surprise and hopefully he can keep that going.

BOR: And you mentioned his stuff, is it true - I think I read in Baseball America - that he learned a new pitch?

TR:  He throws a cutter, which has helped.  It just gives the hitter something else to look at and it gives him a little bit more confidence to throw the ball in on the hitter's hands.  And it has been a big help to him.

BOR: Chris Valaika had a really rough start in 2009 and then when he returned from injury showed signs of his old self.  Where do you see his progress at this point?

TR:  I'm going to call last year just a blip on the radar screen for Chris.  He didn't have a good year performance-wise, (and then) he had a broken hand and missed a bunch of time.  Just when it looked like he was coming back to be his old self, it just kind of leveled out at the end of the summer.  My expectation with him is that he's going to come out and have a real good year next year in Louisville.  In talking to him just recently, I know he's very focused on doing that.  For the people who don't know Chris, he's one of those guys that if he tells you he's doing something, he's gonna do it in the offseason and come in ready to go.  I know it was a frustrating year for all of us, but most importantly it was a frustrating year for him and I wouldn't (plan to) see a duplication of that coming next year.

BOR: And for Chris, do you see him more as a shortstop or a second-baseman or a utility-infielder?  What's your take on that, what's his best position?

TR: Well he's played predominately shortstop for us in the course of the minor leagues.  If he can do that, I don't have any reason to doubt that he couldn't come up and play shortstop at the Major League level.  The great thing about Chris is that he can give you some versatility.  If you need him to play second he can do that, he can even play third, he can do that.  I would still consider him primarily a shortstop but he's got the ability to - if needed - can play any one of those 3 spots.   

BOR: Now let's talk a little about the lesser-known players who were added to the roster.  We'll start with Enerio Del Rosario.  What kind of pitcher is he, and what makes him roster-worthy?

TR: He was one of those guys that started out in A-ball this year for us and basically dominated that level.  He made a stop in Double-A and pitched extremely well there.  And then you kind of hold your breath because we had a bunch of guys move 2 levels this year, which is something you try not to do if you can avoid it.  But it was one of those unavoidable circumstances with a lot of guys and Ernie got to Triple-A and I don't know if he gave up a run there in a bunch of outings.  Most nights he was almost unhittable.  He's just one of those guys who really knows how to pitch.  He keeps the ball way down in the strike zone, he changes speeds, he's very aggressive.  I wouldn't say there isn't anything overpowering about the guy, but I would say if you had to have somebody come out there in the 7th, 8th or 9th inning during this summer, he would've been 1 of the 2 or 3 guys in our system you wanted out there on the mound.

BOR: Logan Ondrusek is a lanky hard-thrower.  He's had some recent struggles, but obviously the organization likes what they see out of him.  What's your take on Logan?

TR: Everything I just basically said about Del Rosario is true for Ondrusek, too.  He also started in A-ball, ended up in Triple-A, ended up in the (Arizona) Fall League.  (He) pitched at a tremendous level this summer in all 3 levels he pitched.  He ended up struggling a bit in the fall league and I'd say some of that was due to throwing a lot during the course of the summer, maybe more than he's thrown for us in the past.  And also, the break between the end of the season and the fall league; I think he's one of those guys who the more he pitches consistently without a break, the better he gets.  I think the thing that was different with Logan this year was his attitude.  He believed he could get hitters out, he's always had the stuff to do it and this year he went out there and pitched that way.  

BOR: An interesting name to me is Jordan Smith. He is coming off an injury and didn't pitch much in '09.  And again, obviously the club thinks enough of his ability to protect him by adding him to the 40-man roster.  What can you tell us about Jordan?

TR:  He's a big, strong, right-handed pitcher who's been used predominately by us as a starter in the past.  I think there's talk that we may try him in the pen, come the spring.  But he's got probably the best stuff of the guys we've been talking about on this call.  He's young, he's big and he's strong.  He did have a set-back with an elbow issue during the course of the season but he did not have surgery.  He joined us in Instructional League and it looks like everything is good and he should be 100% ready to go in the spring.  He's one of those guys who can move real fast if he's healthy. 

BOR: Valiquette is a hard-throwing lefty, what impresses you about his game?

TR: Well the most impressive thing is he's a lefthander throwing at anywhere near 93 to 97 mph.  He's French-Canadian without much of a baseball background when we drafted him, so it's been a fairly steep learning curve for Philippe during the course of his career.  It's just every year (his progress has) been incrementally done and last year was by far the best he's pitched as a Red.  (He has) one of those arms, that when the draft comes around in December, he'd be an easy guy for another club to take because you could just put him in the bullpen and throw him out there a couple of times a week, and "Oh, this guy's got a great arm" and hang on to him for a full season.  He's one of those guys, that when it all clicks and that he finally becomes a complete pitcher, he's got as good of stuff as anyone we have.    

BOR: Terry, I'm sure you saw the recent list from Baseball America naming the Reds Top 10 Prospects.  Did you agree with how their take on the players on the list went? 

TR: You know, Jamie I don't really get into who our top 10 guys are or who anyone else thinks they are.  For me it's, what are you doing?  How did they perform this past summer?  What do we think of them as an organization and where can they help us and WHEN can they help us.  All that stuff becomes so subjective.  They get opinions from a lot of people who, they're qualified to give their opinions - I'm not sure.  I'm not going to get into agreeing or disagreeing with Baseball America, but there's always interesting names on the list and there are good players on the list.

BOR: And obviously Todd Frazier was listed as their #1 Reds prospect.  What are your thoughts on Todd?  He's been bounced around at different positions.  Do you think that helps him or hurts his long-term performance as a big league player?

TR: I've said to some people that if I'm the general manager of a club, I'd love to have a guy like this because he gives me so much flexibility.  I mean if you need a left fielder, a third baseman, a shortstop or a second baseman or a first baseman.  If any of those guys break down, this guy can go out and do a good job in any of those spots.  So long-term for him, I think it's been a great thing that he's proven his versatility that he can play at all of those spots.  Now what's his best spot?  I don't know.  He's done a nice job at all of those (positions).  My anticipation is that he'd probably start in left field next year in Triple-A.  But things change on a dime, so I'm not sure that will happen, but that'd be my guess.   

BOR:  Now an important question regarding Mike Leake.  Don't you think he looks a lot like Kirk Cameron from Growing Pains? 

TR: Yeah!  Exactly!  And you know the positive thing about Mike, is he will talk as much as Kirk Cameron.  He is a dandy.  (He's had) as much fun as anyone I've ever been around as a first year guy coming into camp.  (He's been) just fitting in and enjoying things.  (He's) really a pleasure being around and on top of that he can really pitch.

BOR:  He had a great Arizona Fall League session and he seems like he's got a lot of pitches and he knows what he's doing out there on the mound.

TR: Exactly right.  The main thing about him, is he can throw the pitches where he wants to.  The times he gets into trouble are when he tries to do a little too much.  But when he just pitches, he is really good.

BOR: Terry, can you give the audience a few names to watch out for in 2010?

TR: There's some younger guys that they probably haven't heard of that aren't going to be in the big leagues next year but they're going to be fun names to watch in the minor leagues.  Actually all 3 are shortstops: Billy Hamilton, who was a 3rd round draft choice for us last year, played in the Gulf Coast League and is very athletic, very crude but a very talented young shortstop.  He's a high school guy.  Second one would be Miguel Rojas who played shortstop for Dayton last year.  If he doesn't have the best hands of any player I've ever seen, he's in the top 3 or 4.  He has tremendous hands.  He's playing in Venezuela right now in winter ball.  The last one would be, Mariekson Gregorius who's a shortstop for us out of Curacao.  (He's) really now starting to get confidence, starting to learn what being a pro ballplayer is all about.  We've gone from, really kind of looking to have some younger players in the middle of the diamond, to having 3 really good ones.  So it's an exciting time for those 3.

BOR: Where do you see Gregorius playing in 2010?

TR: I would guess Rojas would be in (High-A) Lynchburg, Gregorius would be in (A) Dayton and Hamilton being in (Rookie) Billings but that's strictly an educated guess.

BOR: And that would be 1 step up for each of them from last year, correct?

TR: Yes.

BOR: Finally, Terry, I saw you down in the weight room today and no offense but you were pedaling kind of slow on the bike. 

TR: Well you only got to see the warm-up part of the exercise, Jamie.  An hour and a half later, I was doing a hundred RPMs a second on that thing and I actually just got off the bike 5 minutes ago.  You missed most of the act. 

BOR:  That's quite a workout, Terry.

TR: Well, I saw you doing those 6 pound curls, getting ready for the Thanksgiving weekend...

BOR: As Rob Butcher likes to say - we play for the tie around here as far as exercise goes. 

TR:  If I can stay even, it's been a good day Jamie.  

BOR: Terry, thanks for taking the time out to answer some questions.  I appreciate it.

TR: Alrighty, see ya.