2011 MLB Draft: St. Louis Cardinals Rounds 31-40
Posted on June 16th, 2011 by azruavatar in 2011 MLB Draft, tags: Bradley Watson, Casey Rasmus, Drew Madrigal, Heath Wyatt, Jeremy Patton, Jonathan Keener, Kevin Jacob, Kyle Arnsberg, Tyler Melling, Tyler Rahmatulla
Round 31: Kevin Jacob, RHP
School: Georgia Tech
Bats: R
Throws: R
Height: 6′ 6″
Weight: 225 lbs
DOB: 03/26/1989
A lengthy interview with Jacob from 2010 where he talks about one of the most important things for a reliever — entrance music:
Shoot, um… I started off with “Sweetness” by Jimmy Eat World but recently with my time off I switched it to “Awake and Alive” by Skillet. It’s a big thing I think about.
Video of Jacob throwing — I wonder if that arm action isn’t going to give him control problems
Jacob wrote a blog post for Georgia Tech in 2010 and it is pretty hilarious:
First things first– pitchers are athletes, and the one thing we do to show this is “PFP”, otherwise known as “Pitchers Fielding Practice”. During this time we show off our fielding skills as position players drool in amazement.
Pitchers also love to spend time in the bullpen, whether it is during practice throwing a bullpen session or hanging out with our bullpen catcher Harrison Bell during a game. Our bullpen was recently renovated and looks pretty spiffy. We pitchers are still trying to get a flat screen and a drink machine in the pen, but we’re still working on that.
Another thing we may not necessarily love but are amazing at, is running. You’ll see us running all the time on the warning track, whether we are sprinting, jogging or doing a slow crawl. The runner with the best form on the team has to go to Taylor Wood as he uses his strong legs and bird cage chest to his advantage.
It will be interesting to see what kind of velocity that Jacob shows in the minors. I’ve read everything from 88-99mph on his fastball. Something to keep an eye on whenever he gets started.
Georgia Tech has its own once-touted prospect who has faltered in Kevin Jacob, a righthander who was the No. 1 prospect in the Alaska League in 2009, when he was hitting 97-99 mph. Jacob always had unusual pitching mechanics, with an over-the-top delivery, and he broke down last season, missing much of the year with a shoulder injury. He avoided surgery, but hasn’t found that elite velocity since then. He had a good outing against Georgia in late April when he threw 91-93 mph and didn’t walk a batter; scouts who saw him then may bite on the senior, who didn’t sign as an 18th-round pick of the Yankees last season.
Round 32: Jonathan Keener, C
School: Cal State Dominguez Hills
Bats: R
Throws: R
Height: 6′
Weight: 195 lbs
DOB: 12/10/1989
Cal State Dominguez Hills Player Bio
Glendale News-Press article on local draftees:
Keener is a right-handed junior catcher out of Cal State Dominguez Hills who hit .266 (47 for 177) with 32 RBI and nine home runs. Though he possesses some pop at the plate, Glendale Angelenos Coach Tony Riviera said it’s his arm behind that plate that’s his biggest talent.
“He probably has one of the best arms in the country,” Riviera said.
Round 33: Heath Wyatt, RHP
School: Southeastern Oklahoma State University
Bats: R
Throws: R
Height: 6′ 2″
Weight: 190 lbs
DOB: 08/27/1988
Southeastern Oklahoma Player Bio
Round 34: Tyler Rahmatulla, 2B
School: UCLA
Bats: R
Throws: R
Height: 5′ 10″
Weight: 190 lbs
DOB: 02/26/1990
In 2010, Rahmatulla broke his wrist celebrating a walk off grand slam.
In 2011, Rahmatulla was suspended due to academics.
Video of Rahmatulla vs. Nebraska
Video of Rahmatulla vs. Cal Poly
This is one of the late round players that I would really like to see the Cardinals sign. For a better view of him statistically, skip the abbreviated 2011 season and look at his 2010 numbers.
Bruins second baseman Tyler Rahmatulla has been snake-bitten over the last two years. He had a strong sophomore season (.328/.434/.509 with seven homers and 19 doubles) as UCLA’s No. 3 hitter, but he missed the Bruins’ run to the College World Series finals after breaking his wrist in the post-super regional dogpile celebration. When he returned last fall, Rahmatulla misstepped while taking ground balls in the Bruins’ first workout, breaking a bone in the top of his foot and sidelining him for eight weeks. Then his season ended after just 18 games due to academic ineligibility. He has a chance to be an average defender at second base with an average line-drive bat and a blue-collar mentality, but his stock has dropped.
Round 35: Drew Madrigal, RHP
School: California Baptist University
Bats: R
Throws: R
Height: 6′ 2″
Weight: 200 lbs
DOB: 01/16/1989
Round 36: Casey Rasmus, C
School: Liberty University
Bats: L
Throws: R
Height: 5′ 10″
Weight: 175 lbs
DOB: 03/29/1990
Casey’s father, Tony Rasmus, talks on the radio — you can listen to it here. A couple of notes:
- Casey is a “huge Cardinals fan”.
- I really feel for Casey who is already going to be compared to Colby.
- Tony Rasmus seems like a far more reasonable person when he’s not sitting behind a keyboard typing on a blog that invites (and revels in) his worst comments.
I just can’t help but quote this article:
If they had five more brothers they could field their own team. This year, Cory and Casey got lucky. With the Braves moving to Lynchburg, Cory plays for the Hillcats and lives with Casey. They even sleep in the same bed. ”Growing up we lived in a small house and we always shared bed so it’s not a big deal,” Cory explained.
Round 37: Bradley Watson, RHP
School: Wartburg College
Bats: R
Throws: R
Height: 6′ 4″
Weight: 185 lbs
DOB: 08/08/1989
A 37th round pick, Watson is on his way to join the Gulf Coast League Cardinals in Jupiter, Fla. “We have a one-week minicamp and then the rookie league season starts,” he said. “I have no idea what my role will be yet. I’m just glad to have an opportunity.”
Round 38: Jeremy Patton, 3B
School: Florida International University
Bats: R
Throws: R
Height: 5′ 11″
Weight: 195 lbs
DOB: 08/12/1988
Local newspaper with post draft profile of Patton:
“People asked me what I was going to do with my life and I told them ‘I’m going to be a professional athlete someday,’” Patton said.
Patton moved one step closer to his childhood dream earlier this week when he was drafted by the St. Louis Cardinals in the 38th round of the Major League Baseball Draft.
“To be drafted is an amazing feeling,” Patton said. “But I don’t think there could be a better feeling in the world than to be drafted by your childhood favorite team.”
Fun interview with FIU including this exchange on backflips (see link for pictures):
PP: How did you learn how to do backflips? Did you ever work in a circus?
JP: As a kid I was kind of a daredevil. We had a trampoline and I did backflips on there. Then I started doing them on the ground. One of these days I’m going to get too old to do it, but hopefully that doesn’t come for a while.
Round 39: Tyler Melling, LHP
School: Miami University
Bats: R
Throws: L
Height: 6′ 2″
Weight: 170 lbs
DOB: 09/04/1988
Post draft local newspaper article:
“I thought I had a pretty good chance to get drafted, but nothing was definite,” said Melling shortly after being taken by the Cardinals. “I just told myself to be prepared for anything.”
Melling said he grew up rooting for the Cardinals.
“I’ve been a Cardinals’ fan since I was five or six years old,” said Melling. “To get that call that I had been drafted, and have it be from the Cardinals, was just an unreal feeling.”
Round 40: Kyle Arnsberg, C
School: McLennan Community College
Bats: L
Throws: R
Height: 6′ 5″
Weight: 205 lbs
DOB: 08/15/1990
Son of (recently fired) Astros pitching coach Brad Arnsberg
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Once you get past round 30 I wonder how many of these guys actually expect to get drafted. You start seeing some pretty obscure players and it wouldn’t surprise me if some of them are just sitting on their couch not following the draft and surprised when they get the call.
Have you ever been drafted.Try thinking about how many young men play baseball at the d1,d2,d3,juco and highschool that are draft eligible.They are very aware since scouts watch them play and tell them there a very good chance to be drafted.Please do not minimize the great honor about being drafted in the later rounds
Take a chill pill, dude. I wasn’t trying to minimize anyone’s achievement.
Interesting how much bigger these guys are than our early picks.
I was thinking the same thing. When there were guys on the board that had ML size and projectability they went with undersized players instead.
McElroy is an 80 runner, on the scouting scale.
That sounds great… I think he needs to be capable of hitting the ball in order to run anywhere. This isn’t track.
He actually hit very well on during his Sr. year, alot better than I thought he would have actually.
HS stats are useless when talking about a players value for pro ball. The key is does he have a usable hit tool? Everything I have seen and read says he has the tools to work. The key for a guy with this much speed is line drive and on the ground hitting…many star HS players have a hard time adjusting to this mentality.
I wouldn’t say they are useless. If he plays a reasonable level of competition and his stats match up with the stats of other top guys you can tell he is legit. CJ played in a good division in Houston (I’ve been told) and hit .488 with 5 homeruns and 48 RBIs
Kevin Jacob must be seen by scouts as virtually a non-prospect. He is large, went to a top baseball school in Georgia Tech, used to to throw very hard, but fell to the 31st round, as a senior? If scouts felt good, he would have been in the top 2 rounds. If they felt even a bit hopeful, he would have gone in the top 10 rounds. He must be damaged goods and a long-shot re-hab bet.
Jacobs came off injury and never had his FB velocity back where it was. He was also very inconsistent. Those are the 2 main factors in him not going much higher in the draft. With that said I never thought he would fall this far. I was thinking a 10-12 Rd guy.
Rahmatulla is another unusual pick. He batted 3rd for UCLA. You might expect he would be a 3rd to 5th rounder, before he got hurt and dropped academically. His wrist injury could be a chronic weakness or teams think he plans to transfer to another school so is not signable this summer.
You nailed it…one of the biggest reasons players fall is not showing the same skills after coming back from injury as they had before. Rahmatulla is a nice pickup if we sign him this late in the draft.
He choose not to sign last year in the 18th round hoping to get his stock up.
Rahmatulla might sign. If he transfers to another school and plays well next year, and rises a long ways, say to the 5th round, as a senior the drafting team will hold down his bonus. Or if he goes in the 13th round like Matt Carpenter, he might only get $1,000. His chances to land big bonus money are now gone. So if the Cards give him a reasonable bonus now, he might sign.
Keener may be like Jason Motte or Nick Derba. Good arm. Did not hit for a high average at Dominguez Hills.