Springfield Cardinals: May 7 & 8
Posted on May 16th, 2011 by azruavatar in Matt Adams, Nick Additon, Ryan Jackson, Scouting Reports, Springfield Cardinals, Tommy PhamI spent a weekend in Springfield taking in some local company and a pair of games: one on Saturday and one on Sunday. There are three position players on the Springfield team (Matt Adams, Ryan Jackson and Tommy Pham) that I paid special attention to and I had the chance to get a look at Nick Additon and Kevin Thomas as starters.
Matt Adams
Let me start with the problems. Matt Adam’s footwork around first base is atrocious. Transitioning from the base when he’s holding the runner to a fielding position when the pitcher delivers to the plate is a challenge for Adams and he gets about 3 feet away from the base during that process. It leaves a huge gap on the right side of the infield. He had to field a pop-up in the 6th inning of Sunday’s game and, while there was some wind, it was a bit of an adventure despite being well within range of first base. He needs to do about a dozen side-step drills as lateral movement without turning seems to be unnatural. He’s just not going to get to much at first base as a defender though he looked fine receiving throws.
The good news is that his swing is pretty great. He keeps his hands loaded well and uses a minimalist stride. It’s a nice left handed swing that doesn’t have too much uppercut in it. Adams hit a 400′ homerun in the first inning of Saturday’s game to CF and on Sunday hit a sharp double just inside the left field foul line. He obviously has power in his bat and the power will play up. I worry a little bit about his pitch selection as he was swinging at a lot of pitches — not all of which were strikes — though I don’t have any notes of him looking a true fool on a breaking ball or change. I think the bat is for real but I could see teams finding a weakness in his plate coverage and exploiting it. I’m not sure Adams has the discipline to prevent that. He’s got a real shot at the majors but he’s not a perfect prospect.
Ryan Jackson
Ryan Jackson is something of the reverse of Adams. The questions for Jackson mostly revolve around his swing and his offense. He is very, very busy at the plate. The bat is rocking back and forth before he gets it into a mostly upright, cocked position. More problematic, in my opinion, is the high leg kick where he actually rocks back on his right leg before stepping forward. It doesn’t commit him to the pitch but it seems like he’d have a hard time adjusting to breaking balls from that position — he’s left to flail with his upper half at breaking pitches away.
With the high kick, he also has some head movement that makes me concerned about his ability to pick up on advanced breaking balls though his walk rate has been good thus far in the minors. I’d like to see a quieter swing and a leg kick that doesn’t have him physically shifting his center of gravity backwards.
Defensively, Jackson (right) is just incredible to watch. He fits the classic description of “soft hands”, is fundamentally sound with his footwork/ mechanics and has a strong arm. His range is better than average though not on the same level of Brendan Ryan. Jackson gets a good first step and has impeccable instinct. The highlight of the weekend was diving play to his right during Saturday’s game at the edge of the outfield grass. He doesn’t need to hit much to be an average shortstop overall given his defense.
Tommy Pham
I’m not really sure what to make of Pham at this point in his career. He’s age appropriate for AA but he didn’t look spectacular at the plate this weekend. (In fairness, he looked much better when I saw him in Springfield last year.) His tools have long been his selling point but he’s approaching the age/level where he simply has to produce more. Pham looks sound at the plate with a quiet line drive oriented swing. I just happened to catch him on a weekend when he went a rather unimpressive 2-for-9 at the plate.
In the outfield, he looked good as usual. He covers plenty of ground and has a plus arm throwing some real bullets back to the infield. He started out Saturday’s game with a jumping catch at the wall to rob Angels’ #1 prospect Mike Trout of a near homerun or a double (hard to tell if it was over). I still left with a positive overall impression of Pham but it wasn’t a standout weekend for him.
Nick Additon
The first thing to note about Additon is his mechanics particularly with the lower half of his body. It’s immediately apparent when watching him that his step towards the plate contains what is almost a hop. He really pushes forward with his back leg and doesn’t land with a fully extended lead leg. I would think that he’s losing velocity because of the mechanics. Without a stable base, it would seem hard to get the full torque rotation through this mid-section.
Additon never broached 90mph on a questionable stadium gun (local scribe Kary Booher has commented that it is running hot lately) but Additon almost certainly wasn’t throwing gas. His flyouts turned into line drives around the 5th inning and he was not fooling hitters with his stuff though he did work in the strikezone consistently. I remain surprised by his modicum of success given what I saw on Sunday.
Other Notes:
- Kevin Thomas was initially displaced by Maikel Cleto’s promotion to the Springfield rotation. He’s not long for the rotation as a right handed version of Nick Additon.
- Alex Castellanos got hit by a pitch in his second at bat of Saturday’s game and had to come out for a pinch runner.
- Jackson’s HR on on Saturday was 320′ squeaker that just got over the LF fence.
- Nick Derba managed a 340′ HR on Saturday.
- Niko Vasquez’ hit a nice 375′ HR on Sunday.
- Alan Ahmady is generously listed at 5’11″. He had a rough weekend defensively with bad misplays in the 4th inning of Saturday’s game and the 5th inning of Sunday’s game. He moves well in LF and has at least an average arm but his decision making in the outfield needs some work.
- None of the Springfield relievers made a lasting impression on me. I wasn’t in a position to verify radar readings for any of them but I don’t expect any of them to have extended MLB careers.
- Mike Trout, the #1 prospect in baseball right now, is a bit unassuming at first. The key physical difference between him and other players was the breadth of his shoulders and the size of his forearms. He’s quick in the outfield, which left me questioning the whole weekend whether they were lazy flyballs or if he’s just THAT fast, and can really run the bases quickly. He didn’t do anything that screamed “#1 prospect” over the weekend but he’s obviously gifted physically.
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Good info and thanks for the post.
If you don’t mind, I’ve got a couple of questions, regarding Adams, Jackson and Pham, what current MLB guys do you see each of them having a fair shot at reaching if they continue to progress? Not necessarily their ceiling, but what they would be likely to become.
Wish you would have gotten to see Cleto over the weekend.
To focus this a bit and target it: Did you see or hear anything that could shed light on whether Jackson is as big a goofball as Brendan Ryan is? The comparison looks good to me, but he’ll never stick unless he’s more palatable in an MLB clubhouse.
Why would there even be an assumption that Jackson is anything like Ryan personality wise?
I didn’t say there was — the “comparison” is about their skills, not their personalities. I’m curious whether there is a similarity, is all.
Jackson was highly disliked in college by his teammates. I don’t know the kid personally at all, but there were concerns in college. He could have totally been misunderstood, or just cocky and needed to be humbled, but it was fairly well known that team didn’t get along at all.
I’m a huge Hurricanes fan…
Ryan Jackson is a first class, stand up guy and the LAST one you would ever call cocky if you really knew him. He doesn’t party, he doesn’t do drugs…. If that is unaccepatable to his team mates and makes him “highly disliked” …so be it. He is very hard worker and professional at all times.
Tommy Pham reminds me a little bit of Carlos Beltran with less power.
Pham supposedly has alot of natural power just hasn’t harnessed it yet.
Love these reports, that is strange about Jackson is that the manager mentioned that one of the reasons for his improved hitting is that he changed his approach and was much quieter at the plate and he cut down extra movement. Not sure why he is going back to how he was?
He must have been a whirling dervish at the plate before!
Cardinals have reclaimed Jess Todd who they gave up in the Mark Derosa deal.
He was DFAed by the Yankees and out of options, right?
Pretty cool news. Don’t think he’s an impact player but he’s better than Ryan Franklin right away and hopefully this opens the door to dumping Franklin. I always quite liked Todd (more so as a starter than a reliever, admittedly) and I guess his strikeout potential plays well in our current pen.
This also means that we essentially traded Chris Perez for Tyrrel Jenkins (who was, I think, the comp pick for DeRosa) a couple of years ago, which makes that trade look a lot better in retrospect.
here’s the mlb trade rumours post if anyone’s interested:
http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2011/05/cardinals-claim-jess-todd.html
Hey Monk —
Just an FYI when you use a fake e-mail address with explicit language in it, I have to clear it out of the moderation queue manually.
heh! weird rule, as it’s not published. hopefully this is more palatable!
Not out of options. He is on waivers because no one wants to keep him on their 40 man roster. We have to put him on our 40 man roster since we claimed him.
According to Scout.com, they may move Freese to the 60-day DL to make room for Todd.
Placed Augestein on the 60 day DL instead
It’s nice to have the “The Destroyer” back. Memphis bullpen (and possibly the big club) certainly could use the help.
Huh. Didn’t see that one coming…
seems like a decent pick-up for a team in need of relievers. todd’s peripherals have stayed solid in the high minors, even if his short stint in the bigs has yielded bad results.
Great report Azru. The photos are a nice touch. BTW, what’s up with the Ump in pic #1? He looks like Ralph Macchio in the crane stance from Karate Kid #1.
If he stays even moderately north of the Mendoza line, Ryan Jackson will eventually be a welcome addition to the proceedings in St Louis.
It’s hard to tell , but that doesn’t look like Additon from last year, something has changed. I hope he is not throwing all arm?
I hope that you had a good time and able to get into the clubhouse. :)
The story about Additon holds true. Lossing velocity on his mechanics. He pitched at Memphis the other day and had literally no velocity. I think he topped out at 89 mph.
Jess Todd
He was DFA’d twice. DFA’d by Cleveland… claimed off waivers by NY… then DFA’d by NY… then claimed off waivers by STL… than DFA’s to Memphis…
Adams also looks like he has a huge gutt in the one picture….
I don’t see it. He does look huge however.
He has a gut for sure, you can see it better in this video at 1:12 mark.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hlj9NiSMIAc
Hmmmm…..from what I’ve heard 89 mph would be a pick up in velocity for Additon.
The Hammons Field radar gun has always been known to run very hot. I’m a resident of Springburg…I was at Mulder’s rehab start here, and it had him at 95. I was all excited until I saw other pitchers come into the game of which I knew what they threw, and it wasn’t close to what the stadium gun said.
Normally, I’ll peek at the guns of the pitchers charting, or even better, a scout somewhere in the crowd. JUGS guns are notorious for having a variation of +/- 2-3 mph. Scouts use the better guns which are much more accurate.
Nice to see Adam walking 3 times tonight. I guess he doesn’t absolutely refuse.
Wow we know dude we all look at the same box scores or follow the games too so no need to post the same info in 3 different posts here!
Goes with what I said a week ago. It’s really silly to glom onto some silly statistic and make a big deal about it when all the other statistics scream NO BIG DEAL….dude.
Actually it isn’t because everyone is going to see power spike in the Texas League extra base hits don’t mean much there. He needs to show more of the fundamental game there and he hasn’t been walking and its taking teams completely attempting to avoid him and a few IBB to get his walks up.
Power spike? He’s demonstrated power at every level in the minors. Didn’t he have 22 HR’s last year?
Are we blaming the recent spate of BB’s on intentional walks now? Man, this guy is a moving target.
Heck yes power spike he had 22 HR in 464 AB and now has 10 in 139 AB and hasn’t hit one in 6 games so even with his mini HR drought that’s a pace to go from 22 to 33 with same amount of AB as 2010.
His surge of walks are from teams attempting to not let him beat them and that has featured 2 intentional walks and he’s now one off what he had all year. Nobody is out to get the kid here they are just stating the unbiased truth, it seems as if you’re a big fan of his and don’t want any part of anything that’s not all positive but I hate to break it to you he has some holes in his game or he would be viewed as a stronger prospect.
RichardRich, first of all, your name sounds like a child molester, and second, this site is for prospect fans and 90 percent should be positive. If you don’t like what people have to say go to http://www.futurelilcubbies.com and have fun with those tools…..
I just made that up and it came up as a link fyi….. I don’t know if it’s real or fake, but I’m not gonna click on it (I use a dell and that can’t be good)….. I agree with all of the comment except posting the haha link…. sorry guys
Why does Richard Rich should like a child molester’s name to you? And nothing I typed is negative. Is AZ being negative when he’s giving out his view of things as he saw it when he was in Springfield?
We can have a realistic discussions or we can pretend every guy we have is an stud, I get the feeling a majority here would prefer to hear honest assessments on the guys and are in touch with the reality that a very small percentage of these guys will ever amount to anything big in the majors. I have never understood the way people here and over at scout,com get so upset and call people negative haters or Cubs fans just because they don’t have same view point on every guys we have becoming MLB starters.
Rich, I agree, but I do worry a bit when it goes from pointing out weaknesses in a kid’s game to more strident and (at times) abrasive opinions.
I can’t help thinking that the players and their friends and families are reading these posts, and perhaps wondering why we’re working so hard to run down players who, in their view, are hugely successful. These guys are typically the best athletes to come out of their families, communities, high schools, and even colleges, in some cases.
Not that we have to pretend guys are better prospects than they are to avoid hurting someone’s feelings. I just wish we could maybe keep in mind that these are really young guys who are working their tails off to play for our favorite organization.
That’s a very fair point. Agreed.
All that said, I don’t think Richard was being particularly down on Adams at all, and you’ll see that sort of view on Adams anywhere you look online wrt scouting reports etc.
And Chitown calling him a child molester was totally out of line.
“RichardRich, first of all, your name sounds like a child molester”
What the hell is wrong with you?
You say someones nic appears to be that of a child molester, and then tell him to be more positive huh?
That sounds like a ban worthy offense for this blog.
And Richard,
Guys like Chi did this same fawning over guys like Mark Hamilton and Brandon Buckman.
All late round power hitting college first baseman/DH types, that have no real discernable skills besides being able to hit home runs off of bad pitchers in the lower minors.
Some people like shiny HR numbers, no matter how low a level they were accumulated, regardless of the age of the player that accumulated those home runs at that low level, and regardless of the fact that the player does nothing else but hit those home runs.
But… can’t we just root for him because he’s from Slippery Rock? I would love to see a local DII PA guy make the bigs some day, even if he is a less mobile Adam Dunn.
Wow…we have to be positive in our reviews and views of prospects here? I’d much rather have honesty in the websites I frequent.
This is a prospect board…the vast majority of propspects will never amount to much at the big league level. That’s the reality, and believe me, they know that better than anyone.
Well, it looks to me like the “unbiased truth” merely reflects the “realism” of those trying to educate the “kool aid” drinkers.
You have a right to your opinion no matter how wrong it might be.
Of course the kid has holes in his game. Every player in baseball has holes in their game. Some are just bigger and there are more of them than others. I’m not concerned whether you view him as a strong prospect or not. I do my own analysis.
When we pinpoint big body and won’t walk, I find that disingenuous. We have big bodies all over the major leagues and some of them are stupendous players…like Pujols, Fielder, Dunn etc. Of course you mention Pujols et al and the naysayers make fun of the ridiculous “comparison”.
Adams hasn’t walked a lot, but that is easily understood because pitchers were just trying to find out what he was about. He’s this big lug who looks like a cross between a right tackle and a sumo wrestler who just jumped up from low A. So they try to take advantage of him. They find out doing that results in a 1.000 OPS and ten HR’s in 120 AB. Now they’re walking him or otherwise pitching around him and voila, he does walk.
One thing I’ve found is that comps is an imprecise way to measure the potential of a player. None are valid. Matthew Adams will stand or fall on his own volition. Factors that will contribute are his intelligence, health and ability to play the game.
So far, the only arguments the naysayers have come up with are “refusing to walk and big body”. I would add, needs to work on defensive foot work. If you have more insight, you’re welcome to bring them up.
In the mean time, he is one of the real bright spots in our spotty position player repetoir and I’m going to enjoy watching him progress. And, until proven differently, I’ll contest those who argue that he isn’t talented enough to play ML baseball. I think he can and will.
Baseball America Top 100 peak Rankings
Pujols #42
Fielder #10
Dunn #33
Adams NA
Its cool you’re a big Adams fan but there is seriously something wrong with his game in the all the scouts eyes and not just the fans. Those guys you list all made the Top 100 after their first full years while Adams ran over the MWL and didn’t even get in their Top 20 prospects for the league.
The scouts may not have gotten it right. They sure didn’t with Albert. Still were way too pessimistic even after watching him mash AA. Fielder and Dunn were both highly touted players drafted out of HS 1st and 2d round.
Scouts don’t go out on a limb with their assessments or they might have gotten a whole lot more excited about Albert that first year.
In any event, if Adams is to get recognition it’ll be after this year in AA. He’s still young for the league and beating the pitching up. I don’t think you have much to crow about, if that’s what you’re doing, yet.
They got it right with Pujols once they saw him on the regular since he got up to #42 in his first year. They could miss but right now there is clearly something major they don’t like about his game by not sticking him in the MWL top 20 despite killing the league.
What’s really wrong with Adams’ game is his defense, which is no where near major league level, and there’s a concern that it will never be. If it isn’t, then his offense has to carry him into the majors, and right now, there are some weak points in his offense that need addressing to do that; otherwise, he’ll be exploited by better pitching at the higher levels.
Also, Huge, you’re looking at 10 games and making a complete judgment on a player’s ability to walk, which he hasn’t shown in his entire career. If you go back and look at my comments about Adams, you’ll see that the overall thing I’m saying is that it’s too early to make any real judgments on Adams–the AA and AAA levels are progressively far more difficult than Single A, and Adams has only a couple months. He’s also playing in a hitter-friendly league, so his stats, while encouraging, also need a bit of salt as seasoning. It’s way too early to proclaim Adams as “for real” or “AAAA material.”
I don’t believe in ignoring things to improve in a prospect’s development, just because his other stats are excellent. His inability to walk *is* and issue, and if his recent upswing in taking walks is a sign that he’s working on his plate discipline, then I’m all for it. Because in the long run, that will make him a better player.
And isn’t that the point of all this?
If by way too early you mean “not only to early to say he’s got star potential but also too early to tag him with won’t walk” then we have no argument. That’s been my position all along. He’s done nothing but answer the bell so far.
Of course he needs to progress. That’s not insight it’s proforma. Dunn was a horrible fielder when he arrived in the minors and that continued a couple years into the majors. As he’s progressed, he’s improved but will never be mistaken for a GG. The same is likely true of Adams.
Albert has no more than a 50-50 chance of being a Cardinal next year. If he’s gone, Adams won’t be “the guy” but even if Berkman signs another one year contract, we’ll need someone ready to step up. By 2013, I see no reason that Adams can’t be the guy. No, he’s no Albert. So what! They don’t come around very often. But, if we’re looking for a guy who can mash Adams looks like a viable candidate.
He’s also known as a worker. With the right coaching, he can learn to play a decent first base….just like Wallace, only with more power.
I would take any suggestion that Adams is a hard worker with a pinch of salt (although he may work hard on his hitting).
That body does not suggest any semblance of hard work to me; he’s out of shape.
He needs to get in better shape and work hard on his defence to progress to the next level, hopefully he’ll do that, though, but I do worry that he’s in AA and only 21 yet he’s still pretty fat. Fielder’s about the only guy of that size to have done much recently in the majors, and I’d suggest he is and was a better hitter than Adams is ever going to be.
>>>>If by way too early you mean “not only to early to say he’s got star potential but also too early to tag him with won’t walk” then we have no argument. That’s been my position all along. He’s done nothing but answer the bell so far.
Change that to “too early to say he’s a major leaguer or AAAA guy” and we’ll have the starting point for a discussion. He’s two months into his AA career. It’s too early to anoint him as a future league-average first basemen, just as it’s too early to announce Ryan Jackson as St. Louis’ future defensive glove at short. Both have major though opposite issues (Ryan’s offense, Matt’s defense) that make them promising but flawed prospects that have potential.
The whole “he won’t walk” criticism comes from his entire pro career–a 7.6% walk rate is fact and what he has done as a professional player in more than 800 ABs. If he continues that, it will be something that can be exploited and affect his offense, which is what has to carry him to the majors since he defense won’t. It is a legit concern, because it is a potential weakness to his main strength. The best power hitters are able to pick their pitches because they can force pitchers to throw strikes. A power hitter who habitually chases balls to stay alive is a hitter who allows the pitcher to dictate what he throws.
Hey, I’m not THAT local!