Memphis 2009 Hitting Stats
Posted on November 2nd, 2009 by erik in Season Wraps, tags: Allen Craig, Bryan Anderson, David Freese, Jon Jay, Tyler GreeneForgive the slowness of wrapping up this series, we still need to look at our beloved Triple-A affiliate. I deleted pitchers and players with less than 100 at bats.
It was definitely a banner year for the Redbirds, who won the PCL Championship.
| Rk | Age | PA | AB | R | H | 2B | 3B | HR | SB | CS | BB | SO | BA | OBP | SLG | OPS ▾ | HBP | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 | Allen Craig | 24 | 521 | 472 | 78 | 152 | 26 | 1 | 26 | 3 | 0 | 37 | 95 | .322 | .374 | .547 | .921 | 6 |
| 4 | Mark Hamilton | 24 | 144 | 130 | 22 | 40 | 11 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 13 | 34 | .308 | .375 | .531 | .906 | 1 |
| 5 | David Freese | 26 | 225 | 200 | 34 | 60 | 15 | 0 | 10 | 1 | 0 | 22 | 51 | .300 | .369 | .525 | .894 | 1 |
| 6 | James Greene | 25 | 388 | 340 | 70 | 99 | 10 | 5 | 15 | 31 | 3 | 38 | 86 | .291 | .369 | .482 | .851 | 5 |
| 7 | Nicholas Stavinoha | 27 | 295 | 259 | 39 | 73 | 17 | 2 | 11 | 2 | 0 | 25 | 48 | .282 | .353 | .490 | .843 | 6 |
| 8 | Jarrett Hoffpauir | 26 | 402 | 358 | 53 | 104 | 22 | 3 | 14 | 4 | 1 | 35 | 28 | .291 | .357 | .486 | .843 | 3 |
| 9 | Brandon Yarbrough | 24 | 141 | 119 | 14 | 34 | 7 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 21 | 42 | .286 | .393 | .387 | .779 | 0 |
| 10 | Brett Wallace | 22 | 243 | 222 | 22 | 65 | 11 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 1 | 15 | 42 | .293 | .346 | .423 | .769 | 4 |
| 12 | Mark Shorey | 24 | 275 | 258 | 20 | 75 | 13 | 0 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 16 | 50 | .291 | .335 | .399 | .734 | 1 |
| 13 | Jonathan Jay | 24 | 564 | 505 | 72 | 142 | 23 | 2 | 10 | 20 | 8 | 34 | 64 | .281 | .338 | .394 | .732 | 12 |
| 14 | Donovan Solano | 21 | 178 | 164 | 22 | 52 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 10 | 27 | .317 | .364 | .360 | .723 | 2 |
| 15 | Brian Barden | 28 | 206 | 187 | 26 | 50 | 11 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 10 | 44 | .267 | .317 | .390 | .707 | 4 |
| 16 | Bryan Anderson | 22 | 174 | 163 | 22 | 40 | 7 | 3 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 10 | 42 | .245 | .293 | .399 | .692 | 1 |
| 19 | Shane Robinson | 24 | 393 | 345 | 46 | 82 | 18 | 3 | 5 | 16 | 3 | 28 | 42 | .238 | .306 | .351 | .657 | 8 |
| 20 | Daniel Descalso | 22 | 172 | 150 | 23 | 38 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 16 | 21 | .253 | .327 | .320 | .647 | 1 |
| 21 | Matt Pagnozzi | 26 | 291 | 253 | 21 | 56 | 7 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 26 | 78 | .221 | .299 | .308 | .608 | 3 |
| 22 | Casey Rowlett | 26 | 166 | 148 | 16 | 32 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 13 | 24 | .216 | .278 | .264 | .541 | 0 |
| 23 | Joe Mather | 26 | 150 | 136 | 12 | 24 | 6 | 2 | 1 | 7 | 1 | 9 | 27 | .176 | .233 | .272 | .505 | 2 |
| 48 Players | 24.8 | 5399 | 4809 | 649 | 1288 | 226 | 23 | 134 | 103 | 23 | 415 | 981 | .268 | .332 | .408 | .740 | 63 |
- Allen Craig is my favorite monster, as is yours, but if there is a red flag with him other than the fact that the Cardinals do not believe he can play third base, it’s his BB/K ratio.
- I must have been in a cave, but I had no idea David Freese had the type of season he had, even if it was an abbreviated one. He’s a year older than Craig, and the Cards do believe he can play third base, which is why there’s talk of Freese starting at third base next year and we saw Craig not even receiving a September call up. I haven’t seen both players play at much length, but my judgment is Craig is the superior hitter, albeit not by a lot. If Freese can play third and be at least average while putting together a .320 OBP and .435 SLG, that’s more valuable than a left fielder who would give you a little better production at the plate.
- Tyler Greene quietly had himself one fine season. Among other things, look at that stolen base/caught stealing numbers. The man has some speed and knows how to pick his spots. With the Boogstache firmly holding on the SS job, it’s nice to know Greene is there as a fallback option and backup. He may fill up a boxscore with steals, doubles, strikeouts and errors; it’s never a dull moment with Greene.
- As for disappointments, look no further than Bryan Anderson and Jon Jay. Jay pulled himself up after a nose-dive of a second half, but it’s hard to see him becoming better than a fourth outfielder at this point. The Cardinal brass bragged about Jay and his potential future batting titles, so that’s not quite the future they had pegged for the quirky outfielder. Anderson was once a Top 100 prospect and has since tanked it hard. Before hitting the DL he was allowing about a stolen base per game and his offense bit the dust. He’s currently hitting for a .630 OPS in 27 at-bats in the Arizona Fall League, for what it’s worth.
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You know, Bryan Anderson still may have a productive major league career, but the Cardinals seriously mismanaged their resources with him. No us in crying over spilled milk now, but they really should have traded him prior to the 2008 season, when his prospect status was still fairly high (and they had just effectively blocked him with the Molina long term deal). I think I read someone say that very thing at the time on this website. Who was that?
Agreed on trading Anderson. Molina’s signing cemented his status as the catcher for the forseeable future. I’m kinda pegging Anderson’s career path as similar to that of George Kottaras. That’s a shot outta left field, I realize; just making an assumption.
The guy I’m personally excited to see more of is T. Greene. Ryan did rightfully establish himself to the point of where it’s his spot now, but while he was up Greene did showcase some serious tools. I wonder if he’ll be a late-bloomer type. I don’t think he should be thrusted into a starting role in the bigs right away; I think he could definetely benefit from a bench role under LaRussa. A spot start here, a pinch running appearance there kinda thing. Get his feet wet for a whole year and go from there.
Interesting that Walrus had an OPS over 100 points higher in Sacramento than he did in Memphis. How much of that is park effect? If the answer is “not much,” what was going on there?
If Mark Shorey isn’t a prospect, I find it hard to get excited about Jay anymore.
Non sequitur for the win.
Can’t let any Allen Craig mention pass without posting his 2nd-half numbers.
Sure, it’s just 200+ plate appearances, but you gotta love a guy hitting .405 with massive power. To wit:
.405/.449/.764
That’s 18 longballs in 195 ABs. Even if we normalize the BABIP to around .335, Craig would’ve had a line around .333/.380/.700.
Free Allen Craig!
So a 26 year old Matt Pagnozzi had a .221/.299/.308 line.
My question is what else does he have to prove in the minors? Call this guy up already. If he isn’t a major leaguer I don’t know who is…other than the 1000 or so players who are better than he is.
The idea that Anderson should be out of St. Louis at age 22 because of Molina’s contract is a bit ridiculous.
Molina is halfway through his four-year deal, which means the Cardinals have him for another two seasons before they have to figure out what to do. In 2012, Anderson will be 25 years old.
When Jorge Posada took over the starting job for the Yankees in 1999, he had already spent one season backing up Joe Girardi as catcher and one other season splitting time with him. Posada was 27 when he became the starting catcher. Why is it that Anderson cannot have the same developmental track?
Anderson had a terrible season, but it’s still one season, his supposedly first full one at the AAA level. He has things to work on with his game, and he’s probably lost a year of development, but I really can’t see how the Cardinals “mismanaged their resources.” The Cardinals are lucky to have an excellent catcher at the major league level and a probably still promising one one level below to replace him when the time comes. There just isn’t any rush, nor should there be.
Craig’s .445 vs .634 slugging split don’t raise any red flags for you Erik? He rakes in hitters parks and is just another guy when the parks play more true.
Why no love for Mark Hamilton? I know he is blocked by Pujols, but his combined OPS has not even gotten him a sniff from anyone. Seems like a breakout candidate for 09 at least….
PS – I am still bitter about the Ferris comps… You know who you are!
Craig also killed left handers. The Cardinals could lose Holliday and DeRosa and still start next season in better shape than they did this one. If they find a good left handed hitter to platoon with Craig in left they should produce much more than the at bats lost to Duncan and Ankiel this year. It’s also likely that Freese will produce more offensively and defensively than the Thurston, Barden, DeRosa parade this year. All he would have to do is hit .280 with 15 HR’s and be a league average 3b. Totally unexpectedly the middle infield is solid, young, cheap and capable of improvement. Ras and Ludwick and even a surgically repaired Albert could be better also. So what I’m talking myself into here is that the Cardinals maybe should put their money into pitching rather than position players. Wouldn’t mind seeing a real closer and another reliable starter as well as some draft choices for Holliday, DeRosa et al coming aboard.
similar sentiments
i worry they will pay a hand cuffing salary to matt for tony
if franklin’s regression comes full circle, the closer spot will kill us
I like both Craig and Freese, and hope the team to give them a fair shot in the next spring training. However, if we put those 2 guys at LF and 3B as regulars, our offense could be even worse than this year in the way of getting on base. Both are not very good at drawing BBs, especially Craig.
I gotta take issue a little with your logic, M25. I’d say it’s a *good* thing that Allen Craig showed much more power on the road than at home. That isolated slugging of .300 included ALL road games, not just Vegas & Albuquerque (fingers crossed on spelling).
I’d still like to see the Cards sign Holliday, but maybe Craig (or Mather?) could supplant Ludwick in ’11, as Ryan L. starts getting really expensive.
I’m going to keep the faith on Bryan Anderson. The 2010 season will be the first time in his career that he’s actually been age-appropriate for his league. I’m optimistic he’ll post an .850-.900 OPS.
FR, I wonder how Freese and Craig would be at drawing walks if their hitting coach was McGwire rather than McRae or a minor leaguer. The big guy does preach patience. McRae, at least, does not.
Erik, you may want to edit the spreadsheet on the post here because it lists a “James” Greene instead of Tyler Greene. No James Greene in the system :)
Something to keep in mind regarding Freese, is that he was not healthy early in the season. He was playing hurt, and struggled mightily because of it. Pre-All Star Break (which include April and May only, as he was out in June and almost all of July) his line was .253/.306/.380. Post All-Star Break (after returning from the injury) he posted a .331/.407/.620 line. So his performance, when healthy, was outstanding.
His line last year, after skipping AA altogether, was very similar to Craig’s line this season. He was also the same age as Craig was this season, so I personally see them as very similar offensive players. I’ve seen them both defensively, and Freese is head and shoulders better than Craig.
Thats the problem Bob he had 54% of his hits go for XBH in Omaha, Colorado Springs and Albuquerque going 28-for-66 with 10 of them HR in those 4 series. He rolls in hitters parks and when hitters conditions are favorable. He hit 2 HR in Portland to the short porch in LF on a day when 8 were hit, He hit 2 in Memphis when 7 HR were hit the list goes on.
I don’t hate on guys for fun or to make people mad, I do it because It tends to be the truth, Those who have know me should recognize the amazing success rate in calling out overrated players who have critical flaws that people are too high on.
Jon Jay can defend CF. He could replace Ankiel on the ML roster as a 4th OF or platoon with Craig and replace him in late innings for defense. Jay is a bit like Schumaker, though without as much arm.