We’ve talked about the Total Zone Ratings already now available at minor league splits. You can read more about them here. These are the players who had the best gloves in the system last year, by position.
1B – Josh Phelps – 9 runs, 11 runs per 150 games
2B – Jose Martinez – 3, 5 p/150
3B – David Freese – 8, 12 p/150
SS – Pete Kozma – 11, 19 p/150
OF – Jon Jay 16, 25 p/150
OF – Antonio DeJesus 16, 36p/150
OF – Tommy Pham 10, 19p/150
Rasmus was 9 and 15 per 150, in case you were wondering.
- I’m rooting for Josh Phelps to win the 1B job for the Giants.
- Our depth at 2B is thin, thin, thin.
- Pete Kozma and Freese can pick it pretty well.
- Pham is a four tool stud missing one very important tool – the ability to make contact.
- DeJesus is flying under the radar a bit. Good OBP, great glove and no power whatsoever. Could grow into an interesting bench player.
- Jon Jay is the Chief Justice of Center Field.
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I wonder, if this Skip at 2nd experiment pans out — will the Cards try it w/ any of their OFs, considering the relative depth of the two positions.
Shane Robinson comes to mind as an OF/2B prototype. Hitability, speed/range, arm, in the Schumaker mold.
I should’ve put Shane in rather than Pham. He was a +11 in LF last season, and yes, he makes more than sense to move to 2B.
I’m glad Tommy Pham’s name came up. His defensive numbers as a CF are so far remarkable (an amazing 24 assists v. just 3 errors in barely more than a full season’s worth of games).
It’s asking a lot to be sure, but if over the next 2-3 years he can cut his K rate by a third while moving up one level per year, he would project as a Mike Cameron type centerfielder and that’d be a heckuva nice trade chip. (OK, he needs to increase his walk rate, as well.)
The fact that a guy with so much raw talent–four plus tools, as you said–isn’t among the top 20 Cardinal farmhands, or even top 30, says a great deal about the current state of the minor league system. :)
Glad to see Kozma performing with the glove by most metrics.
it would be very cool if Pham had a Jonesian break out this year…you can never have too many very good CF prospects…i will say it until i am blue-in-the-face or he proves me otherwise but Kozma is a great commodity and i am excited about him…but no matter what he does he will never be fully accepted because of one Rick Porcello, which is sad…
chief justice of centerfield…nice
Thanks for the information. Three of those guys, Kozma, Freese and Jay will probably play some D for the Cards.
Don’t you wonder how guys like Pham are looked at by the major league team? I would think that guys like him would be considered a developmental priority and given special treatment because of their high upside if they corrected their weaknesses. I would think they’d try to identify a guru, a coach or ex player or whoever, to spend most of spring training with Pham with the sole goal of increasing walks and decreasing strikeouts. Maybe send that guy out to Palm Beach or wherever if the prospect falls back into bad habits. Seems like it’d be low for potentially high profit. Maybe they actually do do it but it’s not reported.
Speaking of defense, per Birdland: “Manager Tony La Russa presented the notion that Colby Rasmus could be a left fielder in some combination of the Cardinals’ outfielders. He said it’s not a given that Rasmus is a better center fielder than Ankiel.”
No im pretty sure it is a given that Rasmus is a better CF than Ankiel.
You guys badly need to update this site. Even so, it is very good and informative.
@ Secret Sauce- Rasmus is an outstanding center fielder, but from watching Ankiel I really think that he is a Gold Glove calibur talent out there. The only reason I think Rasmus should be in Center Field is that Rick is older and more of a health risk, but boy is he talented…
@Matt – no i would have to agree with SS, it is a given…Ankiel was rated below average fielder by every metric last year and while he could improve he is not going to improve enough to be considered a great CF. Rasmus on the other hand is a great defensive OF with the potential to be other worldly ala Beltran. i love me some RickRoll but having Ank in LF and Raz in CF and Luddy in RF is best for a team trying to prevent runs.
and what the hell happend to the reply button/link? did i miss something?