Drew Stubbs and Chris Valaika, Cincinnati Reds Prospects

I had a chance to talk to Drew Stubbs and Chris Valaika in late April when both where members of the Sarasota Reds, High A affiliate of the Cincinnati Reds, of the Florida State League. Baseball America Prospect Handbook (BAPH) has Stubbs ranked as the #5 overall prospect in the organization and Valaika ranked #13. I watched both play for 2 nights and believe the BAPH may have reversed these rankings. On those two nights, Valakia really stood out to me as the better prospect. He seemed to have better at bats both nights. Stubbs came into his pro career with big game experience playing in the College World Series in 2006 with Texas. Valaika had his share of big games as well playing for UC Santa Barbara. Difference being, Valaika was drafted in the 3rd round with Stubbs drafted in the 1st round. Valaika hit .284 with 12 HR and 97 RBI splitting the season between Dayton and Sarasota while Stubbs hit .270 with 12 HR and only 43 RBI playing only at Dayton. Both started this season at Sarasota with Valakia promoted to Chattanooga soon after I saw him and Stubbs being added just recently to the Lookouts. On the season so far, Valakia is hitting .315 with 15 HR and 70 RBI and Stubbs hitting .274 with 5 HR and 47 RBI. The season’s numbers seem to favor my opinion back from back in late April and Baseball America may have changed their mind as well as they selected Valaika for the 2008 Futures game. Now, I am not saying Mr. Stubbs does not have the potential to be a great player, it just looks, to this point, Mr. Valakia is ahead.