Draft Preview - Cincinnati Reds

The thirteenth team draft preview on my blog focuses on the Cincinnati Reds and their scouting director Chris Buckley.

Here's an excerpt from the writeup, which features small writeups on 20 players involved with Buckley's work:

I was largely complimentary of Chris Buckley’s 2009 draft when I did the Reds’ draft review. I continue to think it’s a solid method of going about things. Mixing solid collegiate players with high floors with high-upside prep players makes a lot of sense. I like what they’ve been doing, and I like the direction this farm system is heading, simply because Buckley has been putting solid players in the system for four years now. A fifth draft figures to be solid, even if it doesn’t make national headlines like signing seven overslot players does. Buckley had previously run drafts for the Toronto Blue Jays from 2001-2003 before being promoted to Special Assistant to GM J.P. Ricciardi. Buckley has a lot of experience, and those Toronto drafts yielded Gabe Gross, Brandon League, Dave Bush, Aaron Hill, Josh Banks, Shaun Marcum, and Tom Mastny, all solid Major League players, with a special player mixed in. Red fans may not like the relative conservative nature of Buckley’s drafts, but it will yield some results. Looking at some trends in the hitters, Buckley seems to like collegiate bats on the whole, and usually they haven’t had a ton of upside, but they haven’t really been bad at anything, either. The prep names mixed in have been toolsy players with big upside and already present defensive tools. Speed has been a big thing in those few prep names. On the pitching side, there’s also a collegiate trend, but with a few more prep names, and usually they’re names that have scared a few teams away for one reason or another. They’re under-scouted one might say. Overall draft trends look like they contain a good balance between hitting and pitching, and risky and safer picks. I like what Buckley’s doing, and I’m sure the trend will continue in 2010.

Direct link here.

I'm also running a special on the 2010 MLB Draft Notebook, as the next 20 buyers will be entered in a drawing for an autographed baseball from Jameson Taillon. If you'd like to read more about the promotion, go ahead and do so here.

What do you think? What will the Reds do?