Back at City Stadium for the last time until July 19. The Hillcats hit the road tomorrow for eight days, and the blog will take a midsummer siesta. Before we know it, the ACC and Big South football media days will be upon us.

Back to baseball, though. Today’s Hillcats-Blue Rocks lineups. Records are for the second half, stats are avg.-HR-RBI-SB.

WILMINGTON (10-5)

Jarrod Dyson cf (.333-0-7-4)

Christian Colon ss (.162-1-7-0)

Eric Hosmer 1b (.354-7-50-11)

Nick Francis rf (.252-3-18-2)

Wil Myers dh (.438-0-6-0)

Salvador Perez c (.251-3-29-1)

Rey Navarro 2b (.227-3-21-4)

Adam Frost 3b (.233-3-6-2)

Patrick Norris lf (.237-1-29-15)

LHP John Lamb (4-2, 1.55 ERA, 9 G, 9 GS, 52 1/3 IP, 44 H, 9 ER, 13 BB, 65 K)

LYNCHBURG (5-9)

Josh Fellhauer rf (.259-5-29-6)

Cody Puckett 2b (.273-10-29-12)

Felix Perez cf (.340-4-20-1)

Carlos Mendez 3b (.293-0-19-4)

Neftali Soto 1b (.261-11-47-0)

Brodie Greene ss (.277-1-5-0)

Kevin Coddington c (.276-0-7-0)

Shane Carlson dh (.255-0-3-0)

Efrain Contreras lf (.234-3-12-3)

RHP Jordan Hotchkiss (5-2, 2.47 ERA, 23 G, 7 GS, 62 IP, 46 H, 17 ER, 15 BB, 49 K)

A few quick-hit notes:

* Lynchburg is now 4-18 against Wilmington and Winston-Salem this season. Once the Hillcats are done with the Blue Rocks, they head down to Winston-Salem for three games with the Dash.

* Hotchkiss had allowed 11 earned runs in his first 27 outings before giving up six against Winston-Salem in his last start.

* Lamb is the No. 7 prospect in the Royals organization according to Baseball America. He’s got an interesting backstory. He slid to the fifth round in the 2008 draft because of an odd circumstance. In his senior year of high school, he got rear-ended. That night, he had a workout scheduled with a major-league scout. When he tried to throw the ball at home for the scout, he felt some pain in his arm. Turned out he had fractured the elbow in his pitching arm in the crash. He didn’t pitch his senior year while recovering and he slipped to the Royals in the fifth round. The Royals love Lamb’s demeanor, as he pitches with the poise of a veteran. Not bad for a kid who will finally turn 20 on Saturday.

—Reds player development director Terry Reynolds has been in town the last few days to observe the team.

***

Since this is the last blog for a while, I’ll wrap up the look at the Reds’ top 30, per Baseball America. Today, we’ll tackle the top 10 prospects:

* No. 10, Zack Cozart, SS
2010 stats
—with Triple-A Louisville: .255, 11 HR, 42 RBI, 19 SB
The verdict: Cozart was an All-American at Ole Miss and a second-round draft choice in 2007. He’s never hit for average in the pros, as his best season was .280 for Lo-A Dayton in 2008. He skipped High-A altogether and spent a year in Carolina before heading to Louisville. He’s shown a lot more power this year, as he’s just three homers away from his career high. And he entered this season with 16 career steals, so the 19 steals is an interesting number. The Reds would still like to see Cozart develop some better plate discipline before giving him a shot in the bigs.

* No. 9, Brad Boxberger, RHP
2010 stats
—with High-A Lynchburg: 4-6, 3.19 ERA, 14 G, 13 GS, 62 IP, 57 H, 22 ER, 20 BB, 70 K
—with Double-A Carolina: 0-0, 12.79 ERA, 5 G, 6 1/3 IP, 11 H, 9 ER, 8 BB, 7 K
The verdict: Mixed. Boxberger was outstanding in April and the early part of May and earned Carolina League All-Star honors. He began to slide in mid-May and has been a disaster at Carolina. I’m no player personnel guy, but I didn’t think he was ready for the move up, not with the way he was struggling to get High-A hitters out in June. I understand the reasoning, though. Since Boxberger is in his first pro season, the Reds want to limit his innings and give him a chance to work in multiple roles. The walk number in Carolina is stunning. Sending him back to High-A would be a confidence crusher, though, so I suspect the Reds will give him plenty of opportunities to work things out in Zebulon.

* No. 8, Matt Maloney, LHP
2010 stats
—with Cincinnati: 0-1, 4.76 ERA, 1 G, 1 GS, 5 2/3 IP, 7 H, 3 ER, 1 BB, 3 K
—with Triple-A Louisville: 6-5, 3.50 ERA, 15 G, 15 GS, 82 1/3 IP, 79 H, 32 ER, 20 BB, 68 K
The verdict: Maloney has been a pro since 2005 and made seven starts for the Reds last season, along with this year’s start against the Mets. He’s a back-of-the-rotation guy at best, a player who racks up strikeouts with average stuff and sublime location.

* No. 7, Travis Wood, LHP
2010 stats
—with Cincinnati: 0-0, 3.86 ERA, 2 G, 2 GS, 11 2/3 IP, 8 H, 5 ER, 5 BB, 9 K
—with Triple-A Louisville: 5-6, 3.12 ERA, 15 G, 15 GS, 98 IP, 83 H, 34 ER, 23 BB, 97 K
The verdict: Wood regained his velocity and added a cut fastball to his repertoire last season, helping him win Southern League pitcher of the year honors. He was solid in two trips to Triple-A and has been serviceable so far with the Reds. Wood is 23, so he has plenty of upside still.

* No. 6, Yorman Rodriguez, OF
2010 stats
—with Rookie Billings: .375, 1 HR, 14 RBI, 1 SB
The verdict: Rodriguez has been out since June 29. He’s the system’s best athlete, and his arm and speed are plus tools. Plate discipline is the biggest thing Rodriguez has to get under control. There’s time, though. Rodriguez won’t turn 18 until August.

* No. 5, Juan Francisco, 3B
2010 stats
—with Cincinnati: .167, 0 HR, 1 RBI, 0 SB
—with Triple-A Louisville: .288, 8 HR, 29 RBI, 1 SB
The verdict: Francisco led the Reds’ system in home runs in each of the past two seasons but has only eight home runs with the Bats this year, though to be fair, he missed a month. His strikeout numbers are way down, which is a big plus for a guy who once struck out 161 times in a season at Low-A Dayton. Scott Rolen’s huge season in Cincinnati hasn’t helped Francisco’s upward mobility. There was some talk of working with him in left field this year, but he’s only played the position five times.

* No. 4, Chris Heisey, OF
2010 stats
—with Cincinnati: .277, 5 HR, 7 RBI, 0 SB
—with Triple-A Louisville: .241, 4 HR, 13 RBI, 2 SB
The verdict: Baseball America calls Heisey “a cheap five-tool player,“ because “none of his tools are overwhelming, but all of them are at least fringe-average.“ Heisey moved up once Chris Dickerson got hurt and has been a solid performer for the Reds.

* No. 3, Mike Leake, RHP
2010 stats
—with Cincinnati: 6-1, 3.38 ERA, 16 G, 16 GS, 101 1/3 IP, 105 H, 38 ER, 39 BB, 67 K
The verdict: The dude skipped the minors. I mean, come on. Funny, B.A. thought Leake might start his pro career in Lynchburg. To be fair, no one foresaw Leake earning a rotation spot in spring training.

* No. 2, Yonder Alonso, 1B
2010 stats
—with Triple-A Louisville: .267, 3 HR, 13 RBI, 4 SB
—with Double-A Carolina: .266, 6 HR, 33 RBI, 6 SB
The verdict: Alonso, a 2008 first-rounder out of Miami, is the purest hitter in the system, but he currently has nowhere to play in Cincinnati, mostly because Joey Votto is playing out of his mind. Alonso’s power has taken a hit after suffering a broken hamate bone, and he’s hitting well below his .295 career average this year.

* No. 1, Todd Frazier, OF/2B/3B
2010 stats
—with Triple-A Louisville: .237, 12 HR, 37 RBI, 3 SB
The verdict: The batting average is a bit disconcerting, considering he had never hit lower than .281 as a pro. Normally a doubles machine, Frazier has just 15 of them this season, but his homer total is just two shy of a career high. Frazier has played nothing but corner infield and left field this season. Rolen’s contract expires after this season, meaning perhaps that Frazier will have an opportunity next year in Cincy.

AROUND THE ORGANIZATION

Thursday’s scores

MLB—Philadelphia 4, Cincinnati 3 (12)
Joey Votto went 2-for-5 and hit his 22nd home run.
Reds’ record: 49-38, 1st in NL Central, 3 games ahead of St. Louis

AAA—Toledo (Tigers) 9, Louisville (Reds) 4
Juan Francisco had three hits and drove in a run for the Bats.
Bats’ record: 42-47, 4th in IL West, 11 1/2 GB

AA—Carolina (Reds) 6, West Tenn (Mariners) 2
Devin Mesoraco went 3-for-4 with a home run, a triple, 2 RBI and 3 runs scored. Mesoraco now has 18 home runs this season between Lynchburg and Carolina, matching his total from his first three seasons.
Mudcats’ record: 9-8, 2nd in SL North, 1 GB

HiA—Wilmington (Royals) 11, Lynchburg (Reds) 3
The Hillcats allowed a season-high 21 hits.
Hillcats’ record: 5-9, 4th in CL North, 4 1/2 GB

LoA—Dayton (Reds) 4, Bowling Green (Rays) 1
Mark Fleury hit two home runs and a double for the Dragons, who have won five straight.
Dragons’ record: 6-8, t6th, 6 GB

Rookie—Billings (Reds) 4, Missoula (Diamondbacks) 3 (10)
Trey Manz singled in the winning run in the 10th.
Mustangs’ record: 7-11, 4th in PL North, 4 GB

Rookie—Giants 11, Reds 7
Juan Silva went 3-for-5 with an RBI and a run scored for the Reds.
AZL Reds’ record: 6-9, 3rd in AZL Central, 5 GB