Dragon Tales: Dragon of the Week

Here at the Blog Red Machine we not only want to explore the Cincinnati Reds we also want to look ahead to the future.  Over the course of the season I will periodically go down on the farm and highlight players on the Dayton Dragons A affiliate just up I-75.  One of the recurring themes will be to name a “Star of the Week” for the Dragons and highlight anything interesting or at least out of the ordinary.  On the Dragons website they issued a press release after the brief appearance of Todd Frazier, trumpeting the fact that he is the 47th player from the Dragons rosters of the past to have made it into MLB.  Currently 9 of the 25 members on the Reds active roster are Dragons alumni.  Homer Bailey, who was forced onto the DL today, is also a Dragons alum.

The Dayton Dragons are a fun team to watch.  They are fast, can be sloppy but when they are hitting on all cylinders they play a breathtaking brand of baseball.  About a week ago I talked a bit about Billy Hamilton and his blazing speed.  Over the past 10 games, his speed has begun to reach legendary status in the minor leagues.  Let’s take a look at Billy’s week and reveal my selection for the Dragon of the Week.As I mentioned before, Billy is fast but is not a great fielder and suffers from a .199 BA.  Since the Dragons mini vacation, where they had a day off book-ended by two rain outs giving them 3 consecutive days off the Dragons have played 10 games winning  6 of them, Billy has 7 walks, and 6 hits in 36 plate appearances.  Hamilton stole 14 bases in 15 attempts and while reaching base just 13 times he scored 10 runs.  He leads all of professional baseball with 39 steals in 45 attempts.  Not to sound like the school teacher who is convinced you aren’t paying attention but he has 33 hits and 39 stolen bases on the season.  Last week when I checked no one had more hits than SB in all of baseball.  I pray that Manager Delino DeShields can teach him how to hit.  With that said if I were an opposing manager, I think I would be tempted to fine any pitcher who ever walked him.  He has 20 walks, second most on the team as well as 50 strikeouts also second on the Dragons.  But on to the Dragon of the Week.

Over the past 10 days the clubhouse leaders are as follows:  Dominic D’Anna had 2 HR and 8 RBI’s to lead those categories, Billy Hamilton has 10 Runs and 14 Stolen Bases.  6 different pitchers recorded wins though Daniel Renken had two quality starts that both resulted in Dragons Wins.  Two relievers each recorded 3 Quality Relief Outings, they are Jamie Walczak and Daniel Wolford.

My Dragon of the Week though is Catcher Tucker Barnhart.  Not only did he go 9-20 during the week with 7 Runs and 3 RBIs batting normally from the bottom of the order, he had 3 triples.  Defensively he was spectacular, throwing out 5 of 7 base runners attempting to steal.  He also picked off to base runners once at 1st and once at 2nd.

Congratulations to Tucker Barnhart, the BRM Dragon of the Week!

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