Baseball America Minor League Player of the Year

my boy Jay Bruce :hat

www.baseballamerica.com

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE September 7, 2007

Contact: John Manuel, (919) 682-9635, johnmanuel@baseballamerica.com

REDS OUTFIELDER JAY BRUCE WINS BASEBALL AMERICA'S

MINOR LEAGUE PLAYER OF THE YEAR AWARD

DURHAM, N.C.?Outfielder Jay Bruce, a 20-year-old who mashed his way to 80 extrabase

hits and more than 300 total bases in 2007 on his way from Class A to Triple-A,

became the first member of the Reds organization to win Baseball America's Minor

League Player of the Year award.

Bruce, a first-round pick in 2005 out of a Beaumont, Texas, high school, began his

season at Sarasota in the high Class A Florida State League, mashing 11 home runs

and 27 doubles in just 67 games while hitting .325. After a .333 showing (with four more

homers) at Double-A Chattanooga, he got a promotion to Triple-A Louisville, which was

supposed to be temporary. But Bruce never stopped hitting, smacking 11 more home

runs in just 50 games in the International League.

Overall for the season, Bruce hit .319/.375/.587 with 46 doubles, eight triples, 26

homers and 89 RBIs. He tied for 10th in the minors in hits (166), tied for seventh in

doubles, ranked second in extra-base hits (80) and total bases (306) and seventh in

slugging percentage.

He continues a trend of younger phenoms winning BA's Player of the Year award. Eight

of the last 11 POYs were drafted out of high school?a list that includes Josh Beckett

(2001), Eric Chavez (1998) and Paul Konerko (1997), among others. All of the prep

players, other than Konerko, won the award two years after being drafted.

?You just can?t say enough good things about Jay Bruce,? Reds general manager

Wayne Krivsky said. ?We?re thrilled that Baseball America would honor him with such a

prestigious award. It?s an honor, not only for Jay, but for the entire Reds organization as

we move forward.?

Baseball America magazine, based in Durham, N.C., has awarded a Minor League

Player of the Year award since the magazine's founding in 1981.

Congrats JB! See ya in the show real soon...