The Cardinals are lacking anything resembling depth in their middle infield in the minor leagues and this is no more apparent than at the shortstop position. They have no one in the system that is currently solidly projected to be a major league regular. Tyler Greene at one point was projected that way (and may still become one) but has lost his luster through poor performance and the Memphis to St. Louis shuttle yo-yo. Greene could quite possibly be “Punto’ed” (patent pending) off the major league roster and be back in Memphis for the 3rd straight season. That actually would be a good move for the Cardinals short stop depth as they would actually have a prospect playing shortstop in Memphis.
The other tale of lost luster is former 1st round pick Pete Kozma, who’s story has been told a thousand times, but he has not had the upside of a major league starter since the evening when he was drafted (if even then). Kozma’s play has not done anything to silence his doubters as he has piled up strikeouts at the plate and errors in the field. He still has time to prove people wrong, but the clock is ticking.
Ryan Jackson might be the next best hope for a major league regular just because of his defense and he can pick it. He has never been known for his bat, but he put up a line drive % around 23 last season, which is a good start. If he continues to get solid contact at the plate, his defense will take him to the majors. But as far as projecting him as a major league regular, that is still a long way off.
Sam Tuivailala is a 2011 draftee and highly projectable shortstop out of college. However, he is not a sure thing to stay at short, he might move to third because of his size or to the mound.
Other guys kicking around are Yunier Castillo who was in short season Batavia last year and Ronny Gil (ex-Grabriel Hernandez) . I’ll still always hold out hope for Gil, all his scouting reports and numbers were glowing from the Dominican. He was out last year for false documents (and name). Now that he is all set with his identity and slightly older, he could make an appearance in the US-based system this season. Domnit Bolivar is another, yet smaller name. Cesar Valera is also notable only for the fact that he started at short at Johnson City in his age 18 season.
So all these spilled pixels and names mean the Cardinals are dreadfully thin at short in the minor leagues and have not in quite a long time had a plus prospect at shortstop. Other teams have had big time prospects but for mistakes or players not developing the Cardinals have not had one of their own and they continue the tradition with this motley crew of low upside and imperfectly projectable prospects.
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No doubt thin on sames at the SS position. I do have a question though. is anyone really projected as a MLB regular at a position if they are below high A and don’t have a big name from Latin America or were a premiere draft pick? I think Ryan Jackson is the class of our SS class simply for his glove and his bat is trending improvement. Kozma’s power numbers were impressive but he needs to work on contact alot more. Not sure what we have in Yunier Castillo and Ronny Gil. I think SS is hard to project because some teams are willing to take an all glove no bat guy so someone who wouldn’t have made it on some teams i.e. Brendan Ryan have the opportunity to make it on others.
IIRC, the last SS produced by the system is Jack Wilson – am I missing someone?
Brendan Ryan
Not much to say in this category. The only 2 hopefuls to be even everyday regulars is Kozma or Jackson. Neither are anything close to a sure thing. It sure would be nice to have a SS in the system that got us excited…it has been a long time.
JC how can you already rule out Gil and Gastillo or Valera? The Cardinals have a history of going D only at short and Castillo and Gil may end up better defenders than Kozma or Jackson.
The key to what you said is “MAY”. We won’t know much about any of these other guys you mentioned for 2 years. Playing in the GCL or A Short Season is a far cry from a prospect that we know much about. If they show promise once they his High A or beyond then we can start talking about them. They are just so far away and raw that its hard to have an opinion.
I’m no prospect guru, but Castillo and his 2% walk rate have been ruled out of my book for quite some time now.
Developing major league calibur shortstops seems to be a pretty tricky business. I know that we are weak at that position, as well as 2nd base as well, but wonder how that compares with other organizations across the board? Could definately be wrong here, but it would seem most teams have few truly good prospects up the middle, anyone have any ideas on that?
I’m simply saying that you can’t really knock the depth of an organization at the position if your really only judging a few levels and not the entirety of the talent. I do agree we are light, we don’t seem to have any of the traditional toolsy shortstops that often make the best prospects. Even our young guys from Latin American are more of the defense and speed guys withouto the offensive profile. But hey maybe Ronny Gil could be the next Jose Reyes.
I get what your saying…but when I say as of now there are only 2 possible SS in our system that could be regular SS in the bigs it is based on talent and a body of work. Jackson and Kozma are the only 2 that fall under this category for me. I have a different category called “players of interest” that usually has players that either doesn’t have enough pro experience, pro experience at a very low level or a player that has had a few down years for whatever reason but still has the talent that is intriguing.
Good point and I agree, although I must say Kozma was a probably Big Leaguer from the day he was drafted. If we draft a SS high and he has a “name” then he has to be more than a person of interest based on the high draft pick or a large amount of money on the international market.
There’s an exception to every rule. Carlos Martinez (Matias) comes to mind as a current exception in my book
I agree as would have Wagner Mateo probably and Miguel Sano had we been luck enough to sign him.
I’ve never been a fan of Ronny Gil, not even in his New Edition days.
Good overview of a truly thin organizational position. I would hope that the Cardinals will do everything this year to treat Jackson like the next best hope at SS. If he should be promoted then no other prospect should prevent it or take playing time away from him.
Having said that I’m probably not as negative about Kozma’s potential as most. He’s operated under a cloud since his draft and has been mishandled since. Minor league error totals for shortstops can also be misleading. I know this sounds more like excuses than positives for him but he may be a sensitive sort who could turn it around if he can relax and find his game. I know it’s not saying much in this crowd but I think he does have the best potential for combined offensive and defensive productivity.
I thought Sam tuivailala was a high schooler, and a young one at that, not a college player
You are correct. He came out of Aragon HS in San Mateo, CA. He turned 18 about 3-4 months ago I think. So yes…he is young and will take a few years to know what we have with him really.
Maybe this’ll be the year Jose Martinez gets back, he just turned 25. I guess Jose Garcia and Donovan Solano aren’t really prospects?
Garcia and Solano are organizational depth. Guys that might get a cup but will never stay
I dream of trading for Brandon Wood this spring and the whole gamble somehow working… Doesn’t seem like it would take much of consequence to get him these days.
What does Brandon Wood do for you that Tyler Greene doesn’t?
I’m a slave to all of the “experts.” My feel for his “old” scouting reports is a guy who could be average at SS with a 30-40 HR power bat. He has done nothing like that to date but I would love to role the dice. For me, it would be fun to watch him play 1/3 of the starts at SS and 1/3 of the starts at 3B and see what happens.
I think Tyler Greene’s floor is about the same as Brandon Wood’s but his ceiling is not in the zipcode… We shall see…
I am not that familiar with other organizations. How common is it to not have SS in the system?
SS is the hardest position to have an above avg to star prospect in your system IMO. Just to give you a perspective most 2011 Top 50 or so prospect lists only have a handful of SS on them. Out of those handful of SS on the prospect lists I would say 1 or 2 will be elite SS in the majors. So this isn’t just an issue with the Cards farm system but its a challenge for all organizations to keep solid SS prospects in their system. With that said most organizations have a solid SS in their system every once in a while…we don’t. I would say we are near the bottom of the list of organizations that have had solid SS in thier system over the past 10-15 years.
Teh bar is pretty low also. The silver slugger winner in the AL last year hit .282
Thank you, steroid testing