Cincinnati Reds: Doing It the Homegrown and Home-Brewed Way

Over the better part of the past decade, the Cincinnati Reds have had a plan, a plan to compete and to win. This plan contained one main component—homegrown talent.

You may say that the Reds are like a micro-brewery, growing their own barley and hops (or baseball players), developing their own ingredients (or team chemistry) and blending them and then brewing them just the way they like in order to get that perfect taste (or wins).

And like all beers, some turn out while some do not. Many, like a pumpkin-ale gone bad (or the Houston Astros), can be flat out horrific. Then there are others that are simply calling an ice-cold mug (i.e. "Redlegs Lager").

This is a made-up beer of course, but one that is in development in my personal micro-brewery in my garage (or better known as a "kerjankity" brew setup). As you can tell I have beer on the mind tonight, but let's get back to the point of this article.

The amount of homegrown talent on the current Cincinnati Reds roster is staggering. Even teams with poor scouting get lucky every once in a while, but it takes true talent and skill to develop and manage a farm system that produces nearly a full roster of homegrown talent.

Just looking at the starting lineup you begin to really see the full picture. At catcher you have Ryan Hanigan and Devin Mesoraco, Joey Votto at first, Zack Cozart at short, Jay Bruce and Drew Stubbs in the outfield and Todd Frazier at third/first/and wherever else. Then there's some guy named Chris Heisey coming off the bench. 

When it comes to the pitching staff, the Reds boast three of five starters that are homegrown—Johnny Cueto, Homer Bailey and Mike Leake. The rest of the staff contains Logan Ondrusek, Sam LeCure and Aroldis Chapman—all homegrown.

Now let's look at a few other pickups that can be attributed to the scouting department. The Reds acquired Brandon Phillips and Alfredo Simon for nearly nothing. The Reds gave up a "player to be named later" (Jeff Stevens) for Brandon Phillips and claimed Simon off of waivers.

They used drafted talent to acquire Mat Latos and then they took a shot at Jose Arredondo, signing him off of the scrap heap while he was injured. Did I mention J.J. Hoover, whom they acquired from the Braves during spring training? The kid had a 1.22 ERA at Triple-A and has a 3.00 ERA with the Reds with more K's than innings pitched.

The point that I am trying to get at here is that homegrown refers to more than just the players that you draft, but is about the players that you develop. Having the eye to spot and acquire young talent and then being able to develop that talent is just as important as drafting a player. 

The Reds are excellent at the "homegrown" concept. They are acquiring and developing young talent and in doing so are able to compete with teams that use money to cover up their inabilities to build a contender from within. 

It takes true talent and a true "brewmaster" to develop that perfect chemistry. The Cincinnati front office deserves kudos and a raise of the mug for their efforts—efforts that have been paying off and look to have the Reds set up for long term success.

Cheers!

You can follow Joshua Ramsey on Twitter @JRamCincy