Jay Bruce's name first appeared in my scribes on May 21, 2008.  Back then, dude was killing AAA pitching to a tune of .366 with an OPS of 1.059.  Not to mention he was raking with 37 RBIs and 10 homers with eight steals.  He was prospect numero uno in all of baseball, and thus dubbed "The Natural" by Reds fans everywhere.  Bruce went on to be a mixed bag of treats, knocking in 21 homers in his 413 big league at-bats in the '08 season.  Problem was, that magnificent average and OPS we not to be found, with him hitting .254 with an OPS of .767.

Then came the 2009 season, and his average got even worse.  At .223 Bruce was a fantasy category killer, and his .773 OPS hardly made up ground.  22 homers and 58 RBIs did not exactly raise eyebrows either, at least, not in the fashion that anyone was expecting.  Remember, dude was the number one prospect in all of baseball when he was called up.

2010 tells a much better story, however.  Some may look at his .281 average and .846 OPS and shrug.  Others will notice that his second half was tremendous, hitting for .306 with a .951 OPS.  He finished the year with 25 dingers and 70 RBIs, but crossed the plate 80 times himself.  Bruce hits righties and lefties about the same, and his home and away splits for average are not far off.  His power all comes in Cincy, though, with 19 of his batted balls leaving the yard at home.

Needless to say, at 23 years old, Bruce is figuring it out, and this could be his "breakthrough" year.  How high you should mark him on your draft board is still unclear, but Bruce is someone that should be tabbed in your notebook.  Would I call him a sleeper?  Depends on your league, really, but as someone who is likely to fall to round 9 at the absolute earliest if you can nab him in the mid-teens perhaps.  Where I put him on my draft board will be revealed when my tiers are ready.  Keep checking back, and until then, keep your eye on Bruce.