Southern notes: Long enjoys leading role

It may not be as transformative as his position switch two years ago, but Shed Long's latest move also appears to be paying off in a big way.
Pensacola manager Jody Davis moved catcher-turned-second baseman Long to the leadoff spot in the Blue Wahoos' lineup at the end of the season's opening series, and Cincinnati's No. 5 prospect has found a second new home.

Long batted .367 with a .440 on-base percentage in his first 16 games from the top of the order and went into May with an overall slash line of .351/.432/.468.
Instead of being counted on to drive in runs, the left-handed hitter is now scoring them. His 17 runs in 21 games was tied for the second-most in the Southern League.
Long, who hit 16 homers in 2016 and 15 last year, hasn't changed his approach at the plate with the lineup switch, though.

"You have to stay aggressive," said Long, a muscular 5-foot-8. "I'm up there hunting the fastball. When you get it, you do something with it."
Long, however, had plenty of empty plate appearances in his first taste of facing Double-A pitching last season.
Promoted from the Class A Advanced Florida State League after batting .312 with 13 homers over 62 games for Daytona in the first half, Long was 2-for-26 in his first nine games for Pensacola.
"There was some bad luck. I hit a lot of line drives at people," the 22-year-old Alabama native said. "Then you see your average, and you try to do too much. I started trying to get two hits in one at-bat."
Long was still hitting less than .200 for the Blue Wahoos when he hyperextended his right wrist on a slide at the beginning of August. Nearly four weeks on the disabled list followed.
The 13th-round pick in the 2013 Draft went 8-for-22 in his final seven regular-season games, but that still left him with just a .227 average in 42 games with the Blue Wahoos, who shared the Southern League title with Chattanooga.
"My numbers weren't good, but I never got discouraged," said Long, who ended up batting seventh regularly.
Cincinnati wrote off Long's Double-A stats as well, promoting him to the 40-man roster. That meant the first taste of Major League Spring Training. Long saw limited action in Cactus League games, but the experience just whet his appetite even more for someday making it to Cincinnati's Great American Ball Park.

"It was an awesome experience," he said. "It was a blessing just to be part of Spring Training and be around everybody."
Current Reds second baseman Scooter Gennett passed on tips and offered encouragement.
"You could say that I'm next in line, but he was great," Long said. "It was nothing but positive."
Long also got close with Billy Hamilton, the Reds' regular leadoff man.
"We still talk all the time," Long said.
With four steals in five attempts, he certainly doesn't come close to matching the speed of Hamilton, who spent part of his record-breaking 115-steal season with Pensacola in 2012.
As a hitter, though, Long is getting on base at the top of the order.

In brief

Fast late start: Jackson right-hander Jon Duplantier, Arizona's No. 1 prospect, won his first two starts after having his Double-A debut delayed a couple weeks because of a strained hamstring. The D-back's third-round pick in the 2016 Draft worked five innings in each of his outings, allowing a total of eight hits and two runs while striking out 14 and walking just two. The 23-year-old Rice University product, ranked No. 72 among MLB.com's Top 100 Prospects, was a combined 12-3 with a 1.39 ERA in 25 games at two Class A levels a year ago, striking out 165 in 136 innings.
Triple-A at last: Left-hander Stephen Gonsalves found himself back at Chattanooga to start the season despite going 16-4 the previous two years. His third stint with the Lookouts, though, didn't extend into May. Gonsalves, ranked as Minnesota's No. 3 prospect and No. 77 overall, was promoted to Triple-A Rochester after going 3-0 with a 1.77 ERA in four starts. The Twins' 2013 fourth-round pick had a 1.03 WHIP and 25 strikeouts in 20 1/3 innings for Chattanooga. Opponents hit .167 against the 23-year-old southpaw.
Hot start rewarded: Outfielder Austin Dean went hitless in his last two games for Jacksonville but still headed to Triple-A New Orleans with a Southern League-best .420 average. The fourth-round pick by the Miami Marlins struck out just seven times in 22 games with Jacksonville and had an OPS of 1.120 thanks to a slugging mark of .654 and an on-base percentage of .466. Dean, 24, hit .282 in 61 games with the Jumbo Shrimp last year, spending more than half the season on the disabled list.
Change of fortunes: After leading the Minors with a 19-1 record a year ago, Chattanooga right-hander Zack Littell entered May at 0-3. Littell, 22, had a 5.87 ERA in five starts after posting a 2.12 mark over 27 games last season at Class A Advanced and Double-A with the New York Yankees and then at Chattanooga after a July trade to Minnesota. The Twins' No. 15 prospect ranked third in the Southern League with 32 strikeouts in 23 innings and had walked just seven, but opponents were batting .308.