16-11 Third Place in MID Western Division of the Midwestern League.
Top Prospects:
Shelby Miller (#1) 4.19 ERA 33 K/ 8 BB
Robert Stock (#9) .521 OPS 18 K/ 12 BB 2 doubles, 3 RBI
Joe Kelly (#18) 3.38 ERA 18K/ 5 BB
Other noteworthy performances:
Scott Schneider 2.33 ERA 28 K/ 9 BB
Niko Vasquez .883 OPS 24 K/ 29 BB 13 RBI
Matt Adams .928 OPS 19 K/11 BB 15 RBI
Deryk Hooker 1.89 ERA 24 K/ 9 BB
Jorge Rondon 1.47 ERA 17 K/ 7BB
Scott Schneider was named the Cardinals minor league pitcher of the month for April when he had an ERA under 1. He came back down to Earth in his first outing in May giving up 6 runs in 4 innings.
Folk Hero Niko Vasquez is 21 and is in his 3rd stint in QC. That being said, considering the poor numbers he put up there last year, his early good start is a good sign. His walks are up which is a big plus.
Robert Stock is struggling with the lowest average and OPS on the team. He has fewer than 10% line drives and a BABIP of .250. He hasn’t made great contact so far this season. I am willing to cut him slack as he has only been hitting full time since getting drafted last summer, but I would love to see some solid contact…like soon.
Jorge Rondon will come back to Earth a little bit as well, but he is getting 55% GB% and allowing less than 10% line drives. Those numbers should regress, but he has averaged 2 to 1 strikeout to walk in his career and should continue with that.
Deryk Hooker also continues to deal as he is actually below his career norms with 3/1 strikeout to walk. Also with Rondon, he has 55% GB and less than 10% LD, both are good signs that both are not allowing a lot of solid contact.
Other quick name players at QC: Ryan Jackson (.820 OPS – hopefully he can keep the offense up because his defense is still rock solid), D’Marcus Ingram (5 steals and 3 triples so far)
The River Bandits have 10 pitchers with a 2 to 1 or greater strikeout to walk ratio. They are second in the league in strikeouts, but 6th to last in ERA. They are also 3rd in the league in OPS and lead the league in OBP.
Stats via Milb.com and minorleaguesplits.com 5/6/10
Entries (RSS)
29BB’s for Niko…that’s incredible!
QC got off on a tear but has cooled down significantly in the last two weeks. Especially the bats. CJ Beatty was called up from Extended Spring Training today he will be taking Shepards spot in the outfield as Shepard was recently hurt.
Wonder if Stock’s transition to the mound will come sooner than some of us thought?
I think it’s a little early to speculate if/when Stock will transition to the mound. As Jeff mentioned, he hasn’t been hitting full time until he was drafted, and his college career average was about 150 ABs a season. Right now, he has only 58 ABs this season (after having a BABIP of .357 in 149 AB at Johnson City last season). Everybody knew that his hitting was going to be a problem, and it’ll probably be something that will take time to develop.
The Cards hoped Stock would be a better hitter. Somebody who played for USC should not be blown away by the Midwest League.
THe game broadcast nationally, they talked about if Stock was sticking at catcher or changing. The announcers discussed a conversation they had with with someone in the organization. The person organization said Stock is very athletic and talented physically behind the plate. Pitching his fastball averages about 89 with a decent slider. Essentially the guy said Stock has the talent to be a major league catcher but doesn’t have the stuff to be a pitcher.
Stock made this week’s “not so hot” list at BA. This is the category for high draft picks struggling in the minors.
Stock is good defensively. The question is bat. He had one good summer in the wood bat Cape Cod League and one dismal one. He struggled as a junior at USC. The Cards must have reasoned, its hard to hit in in the Pac-10, he could improve. Stock hit at Johnson City, but for an everyday player out of a top collegiate league, this is not surprising. Stock needs to heat up in the Midwest League or step down to Batavia. On a positive note, many teams liked Stock as a pitcher, so he has this fallback opportunity.