Things we already know but now see in print — Tyler Greene to Memphis, Jim Rapoport off the DL for Springfield.
I’m still burnt out from the 2007 Rule IV draft but if you want to look to 2009, Saber Scouting takes a look at some of the top HS prospects.
Chris O’Leary takes a look at Jaime Garcia. I won’t claim to know as much as O’Leary but the locked knee worries me more than the leaning backwards. (Would still love to see a quantification of some of O’Leary’s rules.)
Nico Vasquez — best SS prospect in the system? As an aside to reading that article, sometimes I think the Cardinals have better coaches in the minors than they do in the majors. I have a great deal of respect for what Tony LaRussa has done (he’s clearly a HoF manager) but I still question whether he’s the right coach for the Cardinals over the next 5 years.
I know that I was really hard on some of the AAA vets last year (Matt Ginter comes to mind) but for some reason John Wasdin has kinda grown on me this year. Kudos to him for wining pitcher of the week honors for the Pacific Coast League.
MiLB’s Jonathan Mayo checks in on Brett Wallace.
- Tyler Greene was 1-for-5.
- Brian Barton was 1-for-4 with a triple and a walk.
- Rico Washington was 0-for-2 with 3 walks.
- Josh Phelps was 3-for-5 with 2 HRs and 7 RBIs.
- David Freese was 3-for-5 with a HR.
- D’Angelo Jimenez was 3-for-5 with a double and a triple.
- Mark Johnson and Cody Haerther both went 2-for-4 with a walk.
- Mike Parisi and Blake Hawksworth both got shelled. Parisi retired just 4 batters allowing 5 runs. Hawksworth retired 8 batters allowing 5 runs.
- The troika of relief prospects in Memphis were all on though. Jason Motte faced 5 batters and struck out 5 batters. Mark Worrell allowed 1 hit and struck out 1 in his inning of work. Chris Perez struck out 2 and walked 1 in a scoreless 9th.
- James Rapoport doesn’t wait much time coming off the DL going deep in the 5th for a 2 run shot.
- Allen Craig continues to rake going 2-for-4 with a HR. I remain a huge fan of his bat.
- Daryl Jones goes 2-for-4.
- Jess Todd has another rough outing. Over 5 innings he allowed 8 hits and 3 walks for 8 ER. He struck out 6 and had 6 groundouts to 3 flyouts. This is probably nothing more than a data blip but I find it ironic that he’s been clobbered in 3 of his last 4 outings after all the talk of fans not wanting to trade him. He’s not as bad as he looks now and he wasn’t as good as he looked a month ago. He’ll right the ship given time.
- Josh Dew struck out 1, walked 1 and allowed 1 hit in his inning of work.
- Tyler Henley goes 2-for-4 with a walk. Looking beyond his somewhat lacking slash stats, it’s nice to see an ISO > .150 from a bonafide CF and a reasonable strikeout rate. Expect his average to rise as he gets back into game rhythm. I’m hopeful he can take some more walks in time.
- Despite having no power, Donovan Solano goes 3-for-4 and continues to post a good average and OBP for a SS. I’m still skeptical of him long term but as a 20 year old in High-A he’s having a good year.
- Matthew Arburr only had 1 hit in 5 at bats striking out in 3. But when he made contact it went over the fence.
- Brad Furnish got pummelled for 8 runs (6 earned) over 4.2 innings. He walked 4 batters and allowed 2 HRs.
- Casey Mulligan faced two batters and struck out 1. So far so good.
- Pete Kozma 1-for-3 with a walk. While I don’t trust errors, Kozma committed his 18th of the season. That’s a lot of errors. . . good thing they’re largely meaningless, right? Hmmmm. . .
- Brett Wallace was 1-for-4.
- Chuckie Fick took the loss despite having a solid outing. He allowed 3 runs over 7.1 innings striking out 6. He walked 0 and had 13 groundouts to just 3 flyouts.
- Frederick Parejo was 1-for-3 with a walk.
- Jermaine Curtis was 1-for-4 with a HR.
- Xavier Scruggs was 0-for-2 with a pair of walks.
- Ramon Delgado went 5 innings allowing 6 hits, 1 walk and 4 Ks for 1 ER.
- The Maj allowed a 2-run HR over 4 innings striking out 4.
- Brett Lilley was 1-for-1 with a walk and 2 HBP. That’s one way to raise your OBP. He proceeded to get caught stealing twice.
- Joey Hage was 3-for-3.
- Nico Vasquez was 0-for-3 with a walk.
- Osvaldo Morales was 1-for-4 with a HR.
- Scott McGregor goes 5 innings allowing 2 hits and striking out 5.
- Deryk Hooker says hello allowing 1 hit over 4 innings while striking out 7.
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Is Garcia the only pitcher in our system that has the potential to be a front of the rotation guy? It is a bit concerning to me that our best pitching prospect has so many mechanical flaws. Is this common for high level minor league pitching prospects to have this many questions about their mechanics?
it seems like kozma has a lot of errors, but its not really out of line. justin jackson, the other big name high school shortstop taken in the first round last year has 17 errors in the same number of games. kevin ahrens, who was taken 2 spots before kozma has 20 errors at third. john tolisano has 17 at second, mike moustakas has 17, nick noonan has 14, charlie culberson has 32, travis mattair has 21, andrew cumberland has 19 in only 53 games, and ryan dent has 9 in 33 games.
those are all high school infielders taken in the first couple rounds last year.
Nate,
Last I heard, Garcia was only projected to be a “very good #3″ according to Kevin Goldstein. My thoughts are that he has the potential to be the best pitcher in our system right now… Mortensen and Lynn will both likely be #4/#5 starters. Todd will probably be in the bullpen. If he sticks as a starter, he’d probably equal Garcia as a very good #3 starter.
I think Mortenson has the potential to be a better starter than Jess Todd would be. Todd’s mechanics and height might restrain him to the bullpen. Mort has the build and gets a lot of ground balls and decent amount of strike outs, I think he is probably our 2nd best SP prospect.
#1 Garcia #2 Mort #3 Ottavino #4 Todd or Herron with Lance Lynn following.
I know he’s not considered a “prospect”, but Kyle McClellan should be high on that list too, as his future appears to be as a SP. In my mind, I still group him with Garcia, Mort, Todd, etc. even though he is currently part of the Cards bullpen.
I know hindsight is 20/20, but I still can’t get over the fact that the Cards passed on Brett Anderson to draft Brad Furnish.
Grant, I was just about to say McClellan. McClellan has a better fastball than Wainwright (IMHO) and has a a very good slider. He mixes speeds very well.
If we think Wainwright will one day be a true, top in baseball #1, then McClellan certainly seems to be on his way to either a #2 or a lockdown closer.
As far as Nico, he is one of the players I check daily on here for how they did the night before.
I was even going to propose that on nights where he does nothing noteworthy, we should make up interesting situations that happened to him during the day. For example:
Johnson City 3, Danville 0
* Brett Lilley was 1-for-1 with a walk and 2 HBP. That’s one way to raise your OBP. He proceeded to get caught stealing twice.
* Joey Hage was 3-for-3.
* Nico Vasquez was walking down the street, bent over to pic up a nickle he found on the sidewalk and was whistled at by a passing bus full of nuns.
* Osvaldo Morales was 1-for-4 with a HR.
* Scott McGregor goes 5 innings allowing 2 hits and striking out 5.
* Deryk Hooker says hello allowing 1 hit over 4 innings while striking out 7.
Is McClellan’s slider good? I recall (perhaps incorrectly) being impressed with his curveball but not his slider. With all the problems he’s having with right handed batters you’d think his slider would neutralize them more. I know I’d written in the past that it was at least an average pitch.
From my perception we have a few “front of the rotation” types by that I mean pitchers that could lead a ML rotation, not necessarily lead the Cardinals. Lohse would have fallen into this category even before this season. Marquis probably wouldn’t since he would most likely be a 4-5 starter on any team.
Based on that I see Garcia, Mortensen, Todd, Lynn as he best chances and based on recovery from injury and other factors I think Herron and Ottavino still have a shot as well.
HL re: Nico. I think that was Marti’s place in the DFR’s the brief time he was in them, but nonetheless you almost made me choke on my shredded wheat.
Tyler Herron has been sent to Palm Beach.
Shredded wheat?
Square.
/kidding
cardsfan1–good. AA was too much, too soon. maybe because he had similar #’s to garcia in QC they sent him up as fast as they did, but clearly herron wasn’t ready. oh well, hopefully he can rebound.
cardsfan1 – once again thanks for the info. Will there be a coresponding move to add someone at Springfield. It seems like Springfield needs starters. Herron really did seem to struggle at AA, so hopefully he will get his confidence back.
Deryk Hooker has the potential to be more than a back of the rotation type.
Jon Jay to Memphis.
Bookerd- I am not sure who is going to be replacing him, but when I find out, I’ll post
Nick, I agree about Hooker. He had pretty good velocity(87-91), a big curveball and a decent changeup coming out of high school but he also has that great frame for a high school pitcher at 6’4″, 185. He could be throwing 90-93 consistently if he adds about 15-20 pounds.
I’d like to see them give Wasdin a shot in the big league bullpen. Can’t be much worse then Brad Thompson.
Don’t forget Anthony Ferrara, he appears to have front of the rotation stuff if he can stay healthy, and add some velocity when he fills out his frame.
Its good to see Greene move on up but what about Craig? He would be a smooth transition to short and I would like to see his bat in Memphis!
Baseball Handyman has a nice comparison of Daryl Jones and Desmond Jennings.