Sunday, July 21, 2002
Reds Minor League Report
Mottl leads list of strong-armed minor-leaguers
By John Fay jfay@enquirer.com
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Nothing illustrates the glut of young pitching the Reds have at Double-A better than the plight of Ryan Mottl.
Mottl, a 24-year-old right-hander, is 8-6 for Single-A Stockton after going 15-6 for Single-A Dayton last year.
“He's probably going to end up winning more games than anyone in the organization over the last two years,” player development director Tim Naehring said. “We'd like to push him up to Double-A, but it's very competitive with our young pitchers.”
Among the starters at Chattanooga are Ty Howington, Dustin Moseley, David Gil, John Koronka and Josh Hall.
Gil is 23; Howington, Hall and Koronka are 21, and Moseley is 20. All have big-league potential.
“I've been saying since spring that we're 11/2 years from having a whole slew of young arms ready for the major leagues,” Naehring said.
That said, none of the above-mentioned pitchers is likely to get a September callup this year. Naehring just returned from five days in Chattanooga.
“I was satisfied,” Naehring said. “But we have a lot of work to do.”
None of the above pitchers has separated himself from the pack yet.
Howington was the No.1 pick in 1999.Based on that and his performance last year - 8-5 with a 2.30 ERA at three different levels - he's probably the top prospect. But he missed nearly two months because of shoulder tendinitis.
Moseley, the second pick in the first round in 2000; Hall, a seventh-round pick in 1998; and Koronka, the 12th round pick in 1998, all moved up from Stockton earlier this season.
GRULER REPORT: Chris Gruler made his third start for rookie-level Billings. Gruler, the Reds' No.1 pick this year, is 0-0, but he could well be 3-0. He has allowed only one earned run and seven hits in 112/3 innings, but he hasn't qualified for a win because he's on a strict pitch count.
That's not because he had shoulder weakness, which kept him from pitching for 10 days.
“We put all our high school kids on pitch counts,” Naehring said. “There's no reason to rush (Gruler). He's not going to pitch up here this year. Whatever he does this year won't affect our plans for him next year.”
Naehring still hopes to get Gruler to Dayton by the end of the season.
“I'd like to have him here, pitching in front of 7,000 people,” Naehring said.
UNTOUCHABLES: Reds general manager Jim Bowden asks Naehring nearly every day: Would you trade Prospect X for Veteran Y?
“We go over it constantly,” Naehring said.
Thanks to a couple of strong drafts and trades for prospects, the untouchable list keeps growing.
“I'd say we've got seven, eight, 10 guys who are untouchable,” Naehring said. “It's a great situation for the future.”
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Reds Minor League Report
