It went down to the witching hour, right at the midnight deadline, but the club signed its No. 1 draft pick, first baseman Yonder Alonso, to a major league contract, after the club said it preferred not to give him a major league deal.
The junior first baseman from the University of Miami was selected with the seventh pick overall in Major League Baseball's first-year player draft. "Both sides are happy we could come to an agreement," said Chris Buckley, the Reds' senior director of scouting. "Yonder is a polished college player and an advanced hitter who performed at the highest level. He's one of the top players ever to come out of Miami, which has produced a lot of baseball talent."
Alonso was ranked by Baseball America as one of the best prospects in the country.
As a freshman at UM, he led the club into the College World Series with a team-best 69 RBIs. The next season, he hit .376 and led the Atlantic Coast Conference with 18 homers while driving in 74 runs. That sophomore year, he also ranked second in the ACC with a .519 on-base percentage and a .705 slugging percentage.
CARDINALS 5, REDS 3: RHP Bronson Arroyo gave up two runs in the first on a two-run homer to OF Rick Ankiel and the Reds collected only two hits after the fourth inning to drop their August record to 3-11, plus they've lost 15 of the last 20.
