The Cardinals prospect, slugging first baseman, Matt Adams has slugged over .520 every stop in 3 years in the Cardinals system. Perhaps, not coincidentally, he skipped the bat-sapping effects of Palm Beach and the Florida State League, starting in Springfield this year after ending last season injured in Quad Cities.
His adjustment to Springfield has had only a small effect on his numbers as he is striking out more so far this young season and walking less compared to his career averages. He has gone from 2/1 K/BB to 4/1. However, more strikeouts and less walks haven’t hurt his overall numbers. Adams wRC+ (which AZ explained last week is Fangraphs stat that is park and league adjusted wOBA) is still 121 where 100 is average. So, Adams is still hitting, including his first career triple this season.
Looking at his batted ball rates, it is not much of a mirage at all. Adams is hitting 22% line drives and only 2.5% pop-ups. It is obvious that he is making good contact. However, with only 22% fly balls and 5 home runs, his shots are leaving the yard at a 15% rate, which is a bit high. His BABIP is .333 which is probably right about level for the minor leagues. Adams’ wOBA according to statcorner is .417 and his Adams’ wOBA adjusted for home park is .397 and his park and batted ball adjusted wOBA is .394. Those numbers make me think that his contact numbers are no fluke this season in AA for the 22 year old.
Looking at his batted ball rates, Adams is even hitting the ball better than last season in Quad Cities in which he had 40 doubles and 21 HRs. Going forward, Matt Adams is a first baseman or a DH that will find his way to the lineup because of his bat. It is encouraging that he skipped a level and continued his quality hitting.
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You know, I really like Matt Adams. I have only seen a few ABs online so I can’t really judge him too well based on what I see but you can’t argue too much with a .316/.343/.582/.925 stat line with 6 homers and 21 RBIs in just over a month of baseball.
I think it is quite possible we could see Adams in AAA by late June/early July and maybe a September call-up. If things fall through with Pujols, we could be seeing Adams getting a shot at 1B next year.
That picture doesn’t just say “bad body” to me; it positively screams it. At the same time, his listed height and weight are the same as for another first baseman I can name who’s been pretty good for the last ten years — although you have to wonder what’s going on with him this spring. Hopefully it’s just a curiously unflattering (and incorrect) picture. His statistical line is certainly encouraging.
Different subject. Wife and I are going to see Memphis play on Sunday in Albuquerque — Mother’s Day out, and all that. Who’s the projected starting pitcher? Anybody other than the starter, his batterymate (whichever one it is), Chambers and Carpenter that I should keep my *very* inexpert scouting eye on? Memphis has been depleted so badly by callups and injuries that I’m not sure there’s much else there that has significant prospects of reaching the Show. Am I missing anyone?
LOL It may be the QC style uni he’s wearing– the knee-highs with the sleeveless top part of the uniform–doesn’t “frame” his “physique” to it’s best advantage, if you know what I mean. Could you imagine what Prince Fielder would look like in one of those QC uniforms??? The overhead at a Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade–without the ropes attached.
I have seen Matt Adams up close and in person and he is a very big guy. Big and thick
Andrew Brown is an interesting prospect. So far at Memphis he has a line of .275/.341/.400/.741 which is not all that impressive but he was in AA last year and batted .291 with 22 homers. So he has some talent and I think so far he is just going through some natural adjustment.
Tony Cruz is also decent offensively for a catcher. Don’t know anything about his defense though.
Unfortunately, that’s all I can say. No one else that really is worth mentioning.
Also, Matt Adams is a big guy. But opposed to Brett Wallace, he looks more top heavy than bottom heavy. Haven’t seen how well he can move, but obviously a 1B though.
Here’s another photo of Matt Adams: http://mikejanesphotography.photoshelter.com/gallery-image/St-Louis-Cardinals-Spring-Training-2010/G0000_qqrCQtoCUg/I00007_8IqryNIwc/P0000VQ.DiRj6Wgs
Andrew Brown has never been able to stay healthy for a full season. Hasn´t shown as much power this year as he is capable of.
he’s got cankles.
Adams definitely does not have a good body. His body reminds me more of Jim Thome’s then Prince Fielder’s, which is good as Thome looked like he “tried” to stay in shape.
Adams is an interesting prospect, from a hitting perspective, and I’m anxious to see if he keeps up his peripherals. I think it is obvious his defense is not good right now and he will always be limited to first base, which poses a problem with #5 hopefully occupying that spot for the foreseeable future. I remember hearing in spring training that the cardinals asked Pujols to spend ten minutes with Adams working on first base defense and Pujols spent a half hour with him.
Along a different line of thought, I’ve heard it said before that having Adams in the system, assuming he provides a year of quality production, gives the cardinals leverage in the Pujols talks. I do not like this argument for one reason: we are not talking about Ryan Howard or Prince Fielder (players with excellent production, yet replaceable). This is Albert Pujols, the greatest hitter of his generation. That’s the problem with the negotiations…Pujols’ comps are immortalized in Cooperstown and 6 feet under. Along this line of thought, Ryan Howard, Adrian Gonzalez, et al do not set the market for Pujols. Albert carries A-Rod value with Jeter’s legacy.
That body screamed Jim Thome to me
know him personally, guarentee it’s just a bad pic!!!!
I would say keep an eye on kozma, cause you are never going to see him in St. Louis
How about afeature on the hottest guy in our system right now. Not Pham, Carpenter, or Castellanos – Alan Ahamdy! Batting .514 in his last 10 games.
I’m a firm believer that so called “bad bodies” can be good major leaguers but I’ve now seen two pictures of Adams that make him look like a pretty extreme case for a 22 year old. I really think he’ll hit but the question is can he move well enough to be a decent 1b? Has anyone here actually seen him enough to comment on that? I don’t think he offers any “leverage” whatsoever in Albert’s negotiations but it would be nice to have a home grown, cheap alternative should Albert walk.
I have played with Matt before. The pictures are deceiving. He is not as big as that picture depicts. It was a terrible choice to use that out of all the pics. Come on guys. Use one from Springfield at least!
Matt is a solid body. He is tall and is not fat like the picture depicts.
read a comment somewhere else recently about Adams having done some conditioning this winter, but the team has an intense conditioning plan for him this winter. the kid maybe just has never had to work hard to get in shape to hit. given some guidance in eating and his working out, he could improve a lot. his bat says it all, he can hit. if he spends the time to work at getting in shape, I think he has a fairly high ceiling.
I saw the same comment. What struck me was that the team was already (it was still ST) planning this for him in the next off season which to me means they really think he has a lot of potential.
I talked with Matt and his dad over the winter. His dad is a good friend of mine and is slightly smaller then Matt. Matt said he is trying to cut some weight but not much. He’s a thick boy, but isn’t in that bad of shape. He’s cutting fat and adding muscle each year and should continue to rake.
137 594 502 81 157 22 2 27 112 2 1 71 80 .313 .409 .526 .935
121 510 464 71 144 41 0 22 88 5 1 33 78 .310 .355 .541 .896
Look at those 2 lines….both in the Midwest League in the same type of parks. The only difference is the top took more walks and had a higher OBP.
The guy on top is Prince Fielder the guy on bottom is Matt Adams. BTW Fielder had already had 30 games in the MidWest League the year before where he only hit .242 with 3 homeruns at 11 RBIs. So Kdizzle and Richard are you saying that the 36 walks more in a season made Fielder that much more of a better prospect than Adams? Fielder was the number 10 prospect in baseball after this season in 03.