I was pretty tepid with regards to the John Gast pick. A lefty with control issues, Gast was uninspiring to me. His velocity was inconsistent in college but he was generally regarded as having a 90-91mph fastball.
Gast had a great start to his pro career at Batavia last season striking out better than a batter an inning with a 4:1 K:BB rate. I’ve read several glowing reports of his work in Spring Training and he’s a name that’s popped up in my e-mail box on a couple occasions now.
Developing some mechanical consistency has improved his control and allowed him to more reliably throw strikes. While I’d temper expectations of him long term (he looks like a mid-to-back of the rotation pitcher best case) I still wonder if there isn’t the opportunity for him to make some noise this year. If he starts out in Quad Cities, with limited exposure via the tandem rotation, he could see an early bump to Palm Beach.
John Gast is someone I’m keeping my eye on in early 2011. Don’t tell the June 2010 version of me that; he’d be appalled.
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Another thing about Gast is that according to multiple reports, he has an utterly evil pickoff move. Don’t run on this guy. Don’t even try. In fact, best not even to think about it.
Probably still not a high-ceiling type, but I agree, let’s keep an eye on him. Wish I could see him at QC.
He never fully recovered from TJ which lead to his decrease in velocity and control issues in college. I am sure one of the things our staff did with him was work on getting his mechanics back to where they should be which in turn helped his control and probably velocity to some degree. I was a fan of the Gast pick as the talent level was there and he coudl prove to be a bigger commodity than where he was selected in the draft. Nice to see him making quite a good impression so quickly which is something I didn’t anticipate.
Considering how much exposure he’s gotten in spring training, I gotta assume the coaching staff likes this kid’s stuff and it would not surprise me if he moves quickly this summer
Matt Carpenter got a shout out in Kevin Goldstein’s Future Shock today.
Have to agree that I had my doubts about Gast when he was first drafted with both his inconsistency and injury histories. These two things led me to believe relief and loogy style relief or low middle relief would be his upside, but so far he has shown much improved command and effectiveness, if he can rebuild his arm strength up and handle starting, we may have a nice mid rotation starter here, and thats not bad for a 6th rounder.
I don’t see how a guy who has stuck this long in major league camp and TLR still gives an outside shot at making the opening day roster could be destined to start in Low A. Even high A seems inconsistent with someone who is pitching at a near major league level. Does where he starts depend on whether they now groom him to be a starter or a reliever? Even if they decide to groom him as a reliever will they have him starting some where just to get in more innings?
He has stuck around because their are fery few lefties in the system, especially releiver.
But he will start that low because he has limited experience.
what happened to freeman? still recovering?
I saw Sam Freeman on the minor league side taking part in some fielding drills and warm ups, didn’t see him doing much pitching, but I never saw anybody in his group pitching that day. I for one still think Freeman has a chance to step in next year and help replace the Trever Miller/Brian Tallet duo. It would be great if both Freeman and Gast stepped up in the minors this year and were able to both take those spots in the pen next year.
I watched the Cards’ game Sunday against the Mets. I hope it’s the worst game I ever see in my life. The Cards were epically bad.
Gast pitched a couple innings and didn’t look great, so I had to keep reminding myself that this is a guy who was at Batavia last year who’s now pitching against a mix of major leaguers and advanced minor leaguers. Also, the umpiring was pretty shaky. Gast has a lot of clockwise movement on his pitches, so I had to remind myself that it’s also spring training for the umps.
His velocity looked pretty good when I remembered to check — 90-91 for the fastball, with the aforementioned movement.
The pickoff move froze one of the Mets. (It may have been Ike Davis; I just remember it was somebody really big, and the other Mets were laughing at him after he did the walk of shame back to the dugout.) He just stood there between first and second base, not even trying to get back to the base until he was already out.
I don’t know if I’ve ever seen anything like it. It doesn’t even look like a pickoff move. It just looks like a pitch, except all of a sudden you realize he hasn’t turned toward home plate and by then the ball is already on the way to first base.
Meant to add: I’d be very surprised if he starts at low A. My guess is that he’ll start at PB, along with Blair, Swagerty, and perhaps Bibona.
“Garcia gets pickoff pointers from newbie Gast”
http://www.stltoday.com/sports/baseball/professional/article_e1370996-4f2f-11e0-9314-00127992bc8b.html
With the systemic dearth of left-handedness, Gast doesn’t even have to be a starter as far as I’m concerned. Southpaws have been hard to come by. If he can maintain momentum and actually develop as a starter, well, that would be the gravy on top of the mashed potatoes. If he only becomes a loogy, well, that’s quite serviceable as well. A loogy with a slick pick-off move would be handy in late innings with men on base.
He’s being kept around in case Tallet or Miller get hurt to be the LOOGY. If he doesnt start with the opening day roster he should start the year in Palm Beach or maybe even Springfield. Probably Palm Beach as they want him to start. He’s already picked off 3 guys already.
Comments about Gast from various baseball prospect books:
2011 Minor League Baseball Analyst, Sixth Edition by Rob Gordon and Jeremy Deloney
Short, power lefty had TJS in HS and initially worked in relief at FSU. Move back into the rotation in ’10 and had mixed results. The Cardinals see him as a starter and had a nice pro debut in the NYP. Durability has been an issue, but he does have a good 90-93 FB, CB, and CU.
Potential was #3 starter/reliever
The Baseball Prospect Book 2011 by John Sickels
SLEEPER ALERT! John Gast has a good arm, with a 90-93 MPH fastball and a strong curve, but his college results never quite matched his stuff. He was selected in the sixth round last year as a result of that inconsistency, but in pro ball he looked much better, dominating the New York-Penn League in six starts. Obviously we need to see more at higher levels, but Gast always had the arm strength to succeed, and sometimes pitchers just need to get away from the aluminum bat to thrive. Keep track of his K/BB and K/IP rations in 2011. If they remain strong, he could break through in a big way. Grade C+.
Baseball America Prospect Handbook 2011
Rated 13 – The Rangers made Gast a fifth-round pick coming out of high school in Florida in 2007, even though he needed Tommy John surgery. He had a 1.18 ERA with 85 strikeouts in 58 innings as a high school senior but couldn’t find that same form in college, compiling a 4.96 ERA in 123 career innings. He came back quickly in a relief role and helped the Seminoles reach the College World Series as a freshman, and flashed his best stuff again early in his junior season, but he wore down as the spring went on and slid to the sixth round. He came back strong after signing with the Cardinals for $140,000, going 6-0, 1.54 for Batavia. Gast has poise on the mound and a mature delivery with deception that adds to his 92-93 mph fastball. He plays off that with a hard curveball that can generate swings and misses, and a changeup that shows flashes of being a plus pitch. He showed great control in Batavia, in contrast to his college career, and command will remain a focus for him. In postseason meetings, several minor league coaches listed Gast alongside Tyrell Jenkins and Shelby Miller as the top arms in the organization. With his level of experience, Gast will get a shot to jump to the Palm Beach rotation.
An SPD article on Gast:
http://www.stltoday.com/sports/baseball/professional/article_766dee9e-56f6-11e0-ba92-0017a4a78c22.html