Cincinnati Reds Press Clippings January 4, 2016 THIS DAY IN REDS HISTORY 1940 - In a trade of pitchers, the Cincinnati Reds send Lee Grissom to the New York Yankees for Joe Beggs, who had to clear waivers from all seven American League teams. This is due to the new rule voted last month barring the AL pennant winner from any trades within the league. Beggs will go 12-3 for the Reds, while Grissom will be sold to the Brooklyn Dodgers on May 15th. MLB.COM Opportunity with Reds in front of Rodriguez Prospect has chance to land outfield spot in Spring Training By Mark Sheldon / MLB.com | @m_sheldon | CINCINNATI -- The stars appear to be lined up just right for longtime Reds outfield prospect Yorman Rodriguez ahead of Spring Training. Cincinnati is rebuilding and willing to take a long look at the club's young players. There is definitely an opening in left field, and there could be another one in right field if Jay Bruce is traded. And Rodriguez, 23, is out of Minor League options. "From a maturity standpoint, he's just older. He's got way more at-bats now. He's a guy that can do a lot of things in the outfield," Reds manager Bryan Price said on Dec. 5. "He was starting to get to his power, stealing a few bases, playing much better defense. So I think he's the type of guy that if this kid comes in, has a good winter ball, shows us something in Spring Training, you see him at least as a platoon player on your club in this situation." Being out of options doesn't make Rodriguez a lock, however. Others like Adam Duvall and recent acquisition Scott Schebler will be in the mix competing for spots, too. "I'm not a believer in giving guys spots on teams because they are out of options," Price said. "I've never been any place where that's a good business deal. It doesn't help the team to have a guy that's not a Major League player that's taking up a spot on a Major League roster because you don't want to lose him. I'd like him to come in and have a nice camp and show a maturity that would suggest he should be on our club." In 2008, the Reds signed a then 16-year-old Rodriguez for $2.5 million -- a record bonus for a Venezuelan amateur player at the time. The right-handed hitter made his big league debut as a September callup in 2014 and played in 11 games. He was called up briefly in July of last season but did not play. Over 85 games at Triple-A Louisville in 2015, Rodriguez batted .269/.308/.429 with 10 home runs and 41 RBIs. He did not play after July 28 because of a left calf injury. That foiled a chance for the Reds to give him more significant playing time, especially after left fielder Marlon Byrd was traded to the Giants on Aug. 20. Rodriguez also played 21 games in the Venezuelan Winter League. MLBPipeline.com ranks him as the Reds' No. 18 prospect. Tony Jaramillo, who was Louisville's hitting coach last season before being promoted in November to assistant hitting coach on the big league club, gave Price encouraging reports on Rodriguez. "Tony felt that this kid was turning the corner and was about to become the type of player that we thought when we signed him as a young kid," Price said. Mark Sheldon is a reporter for MLB.com. Read his blog, Mark My Word, follow him on Twitter @m_sheldon and Facebook and listen to his podcast. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs. Griffey's path toward Hall started as wunderkind By Tracy Ringolsby / MLB.com | @TracyRingolsby | + 6 COMMENTS Ken Griffey Jr. was one of those eye-catching high school talents. "What you saw were the tools for him to be a great player," said Dick Balderson, the general manager of the Mariners at the time. "But you can say that about a lot of 17-year-olds you see, they have the tools to be a very good player." There was a difference between Griffey and a lot of 17-year-olds. "He proved to be a Hall of Famer," said Balderson. "He was that legitimate five-tool guy, but even more than that. He had the instinct. I'd say he was a six-tool player. He was not in awe of any situation. He really enjoyed the game." People around the game -- players, executives, scouts, fans and media -- enjoyed Griffey's game. And just how much they enjoyed it should become evident on Wednesday at 6 p.m. ET when the National Baseball Hall of Fame's Class of 2016 is announced on MLB Network and MLB.com. On a crowded ballot, Griffey is the one player who stands out as a virtual lock to be elected to the Hall of Fame by the veteran members of the Baseball Writers Association of America in his first year of eligibility. It's a no-brainer. Griffey finished a 22-year big league career sixth on the all-time home run list with 630 and 15th in RBIs with 1,836. A career .284 hitter, he was a 13-time All-Star, finished in the top 10 in Most Valuable Player Award voting six times, and won the AL MVP in 1997. Griffey was a 10-time Gold Glove Award winner and he won seven Silver Slugger Awards. Oh, and he played center field. Griffey was in the big leagues at the age of 19, having played only 129 games in the Minor Leagues. It wasn't how the Mariners planned it. In his first full pro season, 1988, he was limited to 75 Minor League games because of back issues. He was invited to big league camp the following spring as a courtesy. Griffey, however, forced the Mariners to keep him. Each week that spring, longtime Mariners scout Bob Harrison said in the past, the staff would meet, and when Griffey's name was brought up, the point would be made that Griffey was going to be sent back to the Minors. Finally, with Griffey having dominated during the spring, at the final meeting, the discussion turned to Griffey and the fact he was going back to the Minor Leagues, and the question was raised, "Who's going to tell him?" The answer was nobody. Griffey was only 19, but he was ready, and he never looked back. "The first impression of him was about his athleticism," said Hall of Fame pitcher Nolan Ryan. "He could run and he had great body control. He threw well. He was such a complete player. As he matured not only was he a really good hitter, but he was such a power hitter, too. "He was the most complete player I had seen in a long time. You always thought of him as a Hall of Fame caliber player. It was going to come to do whether something was going to derail his career." Nothing did. Funny thing is, the biggest challenge in Griffey's career was convincing then-Mariners owner George Argyros that Griffey was the right player to draft. Tom Mooney, a third-year scout whose area included Ohio, was in awe from the start. "You'd watch him and he was a man against boys, and he was a 17-year-old high school senior," said Mooney, now a pro scout with Milwaukee. "The game was just so easy for him. No matter when you saw him, he did something each game that reinforced how good he was. He dominated the games. It was not just with his bat, but he threw out runners, played great center field, stole bases and could even bunt." Argyros, however, lived in Southern California, and he had a fondness for college players. He was caught up in pitcher Mike Harkey of Cal State Fullerton, which was close to Argyros' office in Orange County. "Tom was sold on [Griffey] and so was Roger [Jongewaard, the Mariners' scouting director at the time]," said Balderson. "Roger was so experienced and such a good evaluator. And really, there was no comparison between Griffey and the other players in that Draft." 13-time All-Star and 1997 AL MVP Ken Griffey Jr. is one of the top candidates for the Hall of Fame after an incredible 22-year career Six of the top 20 picks that year never got to the big leagues, including Mark Merchant, who went to Pittsburgh with the second overall selection. Out of the 1,263 players who were selected in the Draft that year, only five of the position players appeared in as many as 2,000 games, led by Griffey with 2,671. Only two pitchers won more than 150 games -- Mike Mussina (270), the 273rd player taken in the Draft, and Kevin Appier (169 wins), selected ninth overall. Ken Griffey Jr. follows his father's homer with one of his own, making the duo the first father and son tandem to connect in the same game But there was the Argyros factor, and it became a concern several times. Griffey's score on a standardized psychological test came back among the lowest ever recorded, which set off an alarm with the front office. Mooney checked with the Griffey family, and discovered that Griffey didn't realize the value of the test, and had allowed a younger brother to take it.