Some Thoughts About The Bowling Green Hot Rods Roster

[I started to make this in the Comments of the roster post, but it ran long, so I'll make it a post of it's own. Sorry I haven't been around lately, personal stuff. I'll try to post thoughts on the other affiliates' rosters as time allows.]

I thought Bowling Green would have a great first season last year with Moore, Barnese, Cruz, De Los Santos, and Dyer (along with Andujar and Jarman) in the rotation. But they ended up in 7th place in the 1st half and dead last in 8th in the 2nd half. Of course I also thought Charlotte would struggle with a weak team overall, and they played in the FSL Championship.

Hopefully this year, with better defense, a little better offense, and more great pitching, BG can reward their great fanbase with a winning season. The starting rotation, as Kevin said in the roster post, is made up of some of the Rays top lower-level pitching prospects (Colome, Lobstein, McEachern, and Wilking Rodriguez).

A personal favorite of mine, Julio Cedeno, also made the jump from Princeton to Bowling Green. The 20 year-old third baseman has an interesting bat, he actually hit RH's better than LH's last year. A product of the Rays Venezuelan program, last year was his first in the states after 2 strong years for the VSL Rays. Interested to see how he handles the jump (literally) to full-season ball. His stats:

Year   Age              Tm   Lg  AB   R   H 2B 3B HR RBI BB  SO   BA  OBP  SLG  OPS
2006    16         Dodgers DOSL 142  14  31  3  0  0  15 11  31 .218 .287 .239 .526
2007    17 Devil Rays/Reds VESL 190  27  57 13  2  5  32 16  39 .300 .381 .468 .850
2008    18            Rays VESL 254  38  72 17  4  8  37 25  29 .283 .352 .476 .828
2009    19       Princeton APPY 202  26  55 11  0  5  34 17  52 .272 .339 .401 .740
4 Seasons                       788 105 215 44  6 18 118 69 151 .273 .344 .412 .757

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table Generated 4/5/2010.

Lots to be excited about with the Hot Rods this year, pitching, OF's, the left side of the infield, defense, and speed on the basepaths. Guys I'll be keeping an eye on: Cedeno, Colome, Lobstein, McEachern, Rodriguez, Mark Thomas, Tyler Bortnick, Ty Morrison, and Christopher Murrill.

Jake will be spearheading our coverage of the Hot Rods, and also make sure to follow the Bowling Green Daily News site.