Reds tab slugging Miami first baseman

PHILADELPHIA -- More than 10 years ago, Yonder Alonso's father gathered his family and defected from Cuba on a small plane with hopes that there would be a day like Thursday.

Alonso, now a junior first baseman at the University of Miami, was the Reds' selection as the seventh overall pick on Thursday in the 2008 First-Year Player Draft.

"I've been following them for a while," Alonso said. "They're a great team. I just can't wait to go meet [Ken] Griffey [Jr.] and [Adam] Dunn."

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A left-handed power hitter who is listed at 6-foot-2 and 215 pounds, the 21-year-old Alonso is currently batting .370 with 21 home runs and 66 RBIs in 58 games for the Hurricanes. Miami is playing in the NCAA Super Regional tournament this week.

A graduate of Coral Gables (Fla.) High School, Alonso played collegiately in his hometown and was an occasional workout partner with Yankees superstar and Miami native Alex Rodriguez.

In 2008, Alonso was a second-team All-American by Louisville Slugger and Baseball America. He was also rated the No. 2 prospect last summer in the prestigious Cape Cod League, a wooden bat amateur league.

"We've been following Yonder probably since the 11th grade," Reds senior director of scouting Chris Buckley said. "Two of my better scouts I've worked with for a long time have been following him for quite a while. It's really his body of work. He had three outstanding years at the University of Miami -- one of the top programs in the country. We like what he did last summer in Cape Cod with the wood bat. He's a high on-base percentage guy. Every time we go in there, the guy performs."

Alonso's father, Luis, was a professional ballplayer in Cuba under Fidel Castro's dictatorship. A communist nation that's under a U.S. trade embargo, citizens have few freedoms, although life for the nation's baseball players often comes with some perks.

Looking to make a better life for his children, Luis gathered the family in a small airplane and defected out of the country. Alonso was a 10-year-old boy at the time.

"Nobody knew about it," Alonso said. "He wanted to do it for me and my younger sister. He just wanted to give us an opportunity to do something in life, actually earn something and not have something over there that can get taken away from you at any time."

Left behind were aunts, uncles and cousins. Alonso came over with both parents and his younger sister.

Alonso will be represented by agent Greg Genske. There have been reports that Alonso and Genske have demanded an $8 million signing bonus and a Major League contract, which would mean Alonso would have to be put on the 40-man roster.

"Hopefully we can get something done with the Reds," Alonso said. "I'm not really ready to talk about that. Right now I'm trying to win a College World Series. We'll see what happens after that."

Cincinnati has not given a big league contract to a first-round Draft pick since 2000, when both shortstop David Espinosa and catcher Dane Sardinha were signed by then-GM Jim Bowden. Neither panned out for the organization.

The Reds already have a left-handed power-hitting first baseman in rookie Joey Votto. Undeterred, the club stuck to its guns about selecting what it viewed as the best player available despite the reported contract demands.

"Ownership and [general manager Walt Jocketty] were totally supportive," Buckley said. "Myself and the rest thought this was the best guy. Hopefully we'll be able to get him out there quickly, but maybe we don't. We're feeling pretty good we'll get him signed. We had contact with his agents. We had to touch base and go over certain things. We wouldn't have picked him if we didn't think we could sign him."

Alonso can also play catcher and third base, but first base is considered his primary position. Scouting reports about his defense aren't overly enthusiastic, however.

In the special Negro League Draft, held Thursday, the Reds took former Memphis Red Sox pitcher Charlie "Whip" Davis, who played from 1950-55. Each Major League club "drafted" surviving former Negro League players, who represented every player who did not have the opportunity to play Major League baseball.

The first day of the Draft went for six rounds, with the remaining 44 rounds planned for Friday. Cincinnati did not have a second-round selection, which went to the Brewers as compensation for signing free agent closer Francisco Cordero.

Three right-handed pitchers -- Zachary Stewart, Tyler Cline and Clayton Shunick -- were taken by the Reds in the early rounds. Continuing a trend from his previous two Drafts, Buckley selected four college kids with his first five picks.

"It happens when you don't have that second-rounder," Buckley said. "A lot of the left-handers, which are a real commodity, get taken. When you take that second-rounder out, we went from No. 7 to No. 84, and that's a long ways to go. A whole lot of your Draft board gets eaten up -- some of your premium guys. We were sitting there and they were coming off one at a time as we were waiting to go again."

Here's a look at the Reds' other Day 1 selections:

Round 3 (84th overall): Zachary Stewart, RHP, Texas Tech University
A reliever who could be a potential closer, Stewart transferred before this season from North Central Texas College. This season for Texas Tech, he was 3-2 with a 4.98 ERA and three saves in 17 appearances. He worked 47 innings and also made three starts.

Round 4 (119th overall): Tyler Cline, RHP, Cass (Ga.) High School
Cline was rated the 24th-best prospect from Georgia in this year's Draft class.

Round 5 (149th overall): Clayton Shunick, RHP, North Carolina State University
In 15 games, including 13 starts, for the Wolfpack, Shunick was 7-5 with a 2.16 ERA and one complete-game shutout. He had 23 walks and 108 strikeouts over 95 2/3 innings.

Round 6 (179th overall): Alexander Buchholz, SS, University of Deleware
A .366 hitter in three collegiate seasons, Buchholz was a first-team preseason All-American pick. He batted .319 with five home runs, three triples, 11 doubles and 34 RBIs. He can also play second base and third base.