Meet a Prospect: Shed Long

The New York Yankees made a trade with the Cincinnati Reds this week that sent right-handed pitcher Sonny Gray to Cincinnati, while 2B prospect Shed Long, a draft pick, and a player to be named later returned to New York. Long was considered the Reds 6^th or 7^th best prospect in a great farm system, depending on what list you check, and could be a considerable talent for the New York Yankees going forward in their farm system… so let’s meet him. This is Meet a Prospect: The Shed Long Edition.

Shedric Bernard Long was born on August 22, 1995 and attended High School at Jacksonville High School in Jacksonville, Alabama. While attending he played baseball for the school’s team and caught the attention of the Cincinnati Reds who drafted the then catcher in the 12^th round of the 2013 MLB First Year Players Draft. Long made his professional debut with the Arizona League Reds almost immediately after signing and finished his first pro season with a .256 batting average with one home run and eight RBI in 24 games played. Long played behind the plate again during the 2014 season before the Reds moved him to second base before the 2015 season with the Dayton Dragons. Long continued to work his way up the Reds organizational ladder until he was added to Cincinnati’s 40-man roster after the 2017 season. Shed spent the 2018 season in Double-A with the Pensacola Wahoo’s where he hit .261 with 12 home runs and 56 RBI in 126 games.

Long is just 5’8” and 180 lbs. Long hits from the left-side but throws from the right in the field at second base. Long has shown surprising power in the minor leagues and has even drawn praise from a Hall of Fame player in Barry Larkin. Larkin, in an interview with Cincinnati.com, said of Long, “Certainly, talent wise, he has big-league talent, no doubt about it.” Larkin went on to mention that Long has to work on the mental aspect of the game, but honestly that could probably be said about any minor league player, especially one that was drafted out of High School.

Here is a short clip from Bobby Nightengale, son of Bob Nightengale, showcasing Shed Long smacking a two-run single in the 3^rd inning of an Arizona Fall League game.

Shed Long, in his third plate appearance of Arizona Fall League, smacked a 2-run single in the 3rd inning. #Reds pic.twitter.com/mJOanaORoU

— Bobby Nightengale (@nightengalejr) October 11, 2018

And here are some stats courtesy of Baseball Reference.

Register Batting

Year	Age	Tm	G	PA	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	SB	CS	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS
2013	17	Reds	24	88	78	9	20	2	0	1	8	1	1	17	.256	.333	.321	.654
2014	18	Billings	29	93	87	6	15	3	0	0	6	2	1	18	.172	.217	.207	.424
2015	19	Dayton	42	173	152	22	43	7	2	6	16	2	3	31	.283	.363	.474	.836
2016	20	2 Teams	132	548	478	69	140	30	5	15	75	21	4	120	.293	.371	.471	.842
2016	20	Daytona	38	159	143	22	46	6	4	4	30	5	1	35	.322	.371	.503	.875
2016	20	Dayton	94	389	335	47	94	24	1	11	45	16	3	85	.281	.371	.457	.828
2017	21	2 Teams	104	439	388	50	109	22	3	16	50	9	4	94	.281	.358	.477	.834
2017	21	Pensacola	42	160	141	13	32	6	2	3	14	3	1	31	.227	.319	.362	.680
2017	21	Daytona	62	279	247	37	77	16	1	13	36	6	3	63	.312	.380	.543	.922
2018	22	Pensacola	126	522	452	75	118	22	5	12	56	19	6	123	.261	.353	.412	.765
2018	22	Scottsdale	19	66	58	6	14	2	1	0	8	3	1	15	.241	.333	.310	.644
Mino	Mino	Mino	457	1863	1635	231	445	86	15	50	211	54	19	403	.272	.353	.435	.788
All	All	All	476	1929	1693	237	459	88	16	50	219	57	20	418	.271	.352	.431	.783

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table

With that said, welcome to the organization, Shed, and welcome to the Yankees family! (pending an extension with Sonny Gray for Cincinnati)

IBWAA VETS COMMITTEE SELECTS MARVIN MILLER IN 2016 HALL OF FAME VOTE

Los Angeles – In its inaugural Hall of Fame election, the IBWAA Vets Committee selected labor leader Marvin Miller with 16 out of a possible 20 votes cast (80%). A 75% threshold is required for election.

 

The IBWAA, which has been voting in its own non-official Hall of Fame election since 2010, established the Vets Committee on November 5, 2015 to consider individuals, who with one exception (see note below) have not be honored with a Cooperstown enshrinement by the BBWAA, or by any of the various Eras Committees tasked with the assignment (the Golden Era Committee, the Pre-Integration Committee, etc.).

 

All candidates, which were nominated by the IBWAA Vets Committee members themselves, were placed on a digital ballot, with voting taking place electronically during December, 2015.

 

The inaugural IBWAA Vets Committee members, serving two-year terms, are as follows: Barry Bloom, Jim Bowden, Craig Calcaterra, Jim Caple, Kavitha Davidson, Stacey Gotsulias, Tom Hoffarth, Will Leitch, Ross Newhan, Harry Pavlidis, Dayn Perry, Tracy Ringolsby, Miriam Romain, John Rosengren, Eno Saris, David Schoenfield, Ted Schwerzler, Jesse Spector, Wendy Thurm and Al Yellon.

 

Note: Barry Larkin has not reached the 75% threshold in an IBWAA election thus far, and as a nominated player, was eligible for Vets Committee consideration in this election.

 

Election results are as follows:

 

Name	Votes	Percentage
Marvin Miller	16	80%
Barry Larkin	14	70%
Minnie Minoso	12	60%
John Scheurholz	10	50%
George Steinbrenner	10	50%
Dick Allen	9	45%
Gil Hodges	9	45%
Lou Whitaker	9	45%
Steve Garvey	7	35%
Tommy John	7	35%
Dwight Evans	6	30%
Tony Oliva	6	30%
Maury Wills	6	30%
Buzzie Bavasi	5	25%
Jim Kaat	5	25%
Dale Murphy	5	25%
Bobby Grich	4	20%
Ted Simmons	4	20%
Don Mattingly	2	10%
Vada Pinson	2	10%

 

Results of the traditional 2016 IBWAA Hall of Fame election will be announced via Twitter on Wednesday, January 6, 2016 at 1:00 p.m. PST. A press release will follow.

 

The IBWAA was established July 4, 2009 to organize and promote the growing online baseball media, and to serve as a digital alternative to the Baseball Writers’ Association of America (BBWAA). Voting for full season awards takes place in September of each year, with selections being announced in November. The IBWAA also holds a Hall of Fame election in December of each year, with results being announced the following January.

 

In 2010, the IBWAA began voting in its own relief pitcher category, establishing the Rollie Fingers American League Relief Pitcher of the Year and the Hoyt Wilhelm National League Relief Pitcher of the Year Awards.

Among approximately 400 others, IBWAA members include Mark A. Simon of ESPN.com; Tim Brown, Yahoo! Sports; Bill Chuck, GammonsDaily.com; Derrick Goold, St. Louis Post-Dispatch; Danny Knobler, Bleacher Report; Kevin Kennedy; Kostya Kennedy, Sports Illustrated; Bruce Markusen, Hardball Times; Matt Snyder, CBSSports.com; Mark Purdy, San Jose Mercury News; J.P. Hoornstra Los Angeles Daily News; Pedro Moura, Orange County Register and Ken Rosenthal, FoxSports.com.

 

Association membership is open to any and all Internet baseball writers, with a yearly fee of $20, or $35 lifetime. Discounts for groups and scholarships are available. Members must be 18 years of age to apply.

For more information please visit www.ibwaa.com.

Contact:

 

Howard Cole
Founding Director, IBWAAbaseballsavvy@aol.com

IBWAA Hall of Fame Ballot

IBWAA RELEASES 2015 HALL OF FAME BALLOT

 

Los Angeles – The IBWAA released its 2015 Hall of Fame election ballot Tuesday, with the names listed below. Balloting will take place electronically between December 1 and December 31, 2014, with the results being released via Twitter on Tuesday, January 6, 2015 at 9:00 a.m. PST.

The IBWAA ballot compares identically to the BBWAA ballot, with the following exceptions:

1. Craig Biggio’s name does not appear on the IBWAA ballot because he was elected by the group in 2014.

2. Mike Piazza’s name does not appear on the IBWAA ballot because he was elected by the group in 2013.

3. Barry Larkin’s name does appear on the ballot because he has not reached the 75% threshold in an IBWAA election.

Per a group decision in 2013, the IBWAA allows members to vote for 15 players, instead of the previous 10, beginning with this election. Players’ names link to their respective pages on Baseball-Reference.com.

Returning candidates: Jeff Bagwell, Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Jeff Kent , Barry Larkin (elected by BBWAA in 2012), Edgar Martinez, Don Mattingly, Fred McGriff, Mark McGwire, Mike Mussina, Tim Raines, Curt Schilling, Lee Smith, Sammy Sosa, Alan Trammell and Larry Walker.

First-time candidates: Rich Aurillia, Aaron Boone, Tony Clark, Carlos Delgado, Jermaine Dye, Darin Erstad, Cliff Floyd, Nomar Garciaparra, Brian Giles, Tom Gordon, Eddie Guardado, Randy Johnson,Pedro Martinez, Troy Percival, Jason Schmidt, Gary Sheffield, John Smoltz

Ballot tabulations by Brian Wittig & Associates.

 

The IBWAA was established July 4, 2009 to organize and promote the growing online baseball media, and to serve as a digital alternative to the Baseball Writers’ Association of America (BBWAA). Voting for full season awards takes place in September of each year, with selections being announced in November. The IBWAA also holds a Hall of Fame election in December of each year, with results being announced the following January.

 

In 2010, the IBWAA began voting in its own relief pitcher category, establishing the Rollie Fingers American League Relief Pitcher of the Year and the Hoyt Wilhelm National League Relief Pitcher of the Year Awards.

Among others, IBWAA members include Jim Bowden, Jim Caple, Mike Petriello, David Schoenfield, Mark A. Simon andDan Szymborski, ESPN.com; Kevin Baxter Los Angeles Times; Tim Brown, Yahoo! Sports; Craig Calcaterra, NBC Sports Hardball Talk; Bill Chuck, GammonsDaily.com; Derrick Goold, St. Louis Post-Dispatch; King Kaufman, Bleacher Report; Kevin Kennedy, Kostya Kennedy, Sports Illustrated; Jonah Keri, Grantland; Vlae Kershner, SFGate.com; Chuck Culpepper and Will Leitch, Sports on Earth; Jill Painter Lopez, FoxSportsWest.com, Bruce Markusen, Hardball Times; Ross Newhan; Dayn Perry and Matt Snyder, CBSSports.com; Mark Purdy, San Jose Mercury News; Eno Sarris and Wendy Thurm, FanGraphs; Tom Hoffarth and J.P. Hoornstra Los Angeles Daily News; Pedro Moura, Orange County Register; Neil Payne, FiveThirtyEight.com, Tracy Ringolsby, MLB.com, Ken Rosenthal, FoxSports.com, Dan Schlossberg, USA Today and Jesse Spector, Sporting News.

 

Association membership is open to any and all Internet baseball writers, with a yearly fee of $20, or $35 lifetime. Discounts for groups and scholarships are available. Members must be 18 years of age to apply.

For more information please visit www.ibwaa.com.