This week the Cardinals have made a few moves I’ll talk about in short after the jump.
Cardinals signed 4th rounder SS Kenny Peoples-Walls and assigned him to the GCL.
Here’s our post-draft writeup on Peoples-Walls. He is about as raw as they come as a high schooler and the Cardinals will have their chance to mold him into a major league middle infielder. GCL is the right level for him to start and I would not be surprised if he is following Samuel Tuivailala’s path, possibly staying in the GCL next year even to work on his skills.
Cardinals signed undrafted free agent SS Garrett Wittels and assigned him to Batavia.
Wittels gained some notoriety for a 56-game hit streak while in college at Florida International and then for being accused of rape while on vacation in the Bahamas. The charges were eventually dropped and discovered to be potential extortion, but the pending case by all accounts seemed to have an effect on Wittels. His 2010 AVG, OBP and SLG all dropped by at least 60 points to 2011. Obviously, 56 game hit streak and .412 AVG in 2010 is not his true talent level, but he certainly has hitting ability. Wittels is a better player than usually picked up in the UDFA period. Jeff (not me) in the comments of the DFR has an insider’s look at why the charges prevented Wittels from being drafted and what kind of player he is and why he chose the Cardinals. Thanks other Jeff!
Cardinals promoted RHP Joe Kelly to Springfield.
Joe Kelly’s K rate dropped slightly this year and his BB rate rose slightly, but he got a little luckier on balls in play and stranded runners. His FIP was 3.41 after a 3.31 in 2010 at QC, it was just done in a slightly different way. But, one thing will not change with Kelly, he continues to force an uncanny 61+% ground balls. If you are a believer of Statcorner’s tRA+ which is league adjusted and assigns numbers based on expected results of the type of balls in play allowed (LD, GB, FB, etc), Joe Kelly put up 117 tRA+ (100 is average for the league) after a 115 tRA+ last season. The promotion is well earned and Kelly will love pitching in front of Ryan Jackson again with all those ground balls.
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Apparently we also signed Kevin Jacobs (31st Rd) from GA Tech. He is a very intriguing guy because of his dominance as their closer prior to his injury. Very aggressive motion and delivery but I see the Cards starting by trying to clean it up a touch.
As far as Kelly getting promoted to AA this will be a great test for him and validate whether he will have a chance as a starter moving forward. I originally thought there was no chance he stays a starter but I am starting to think he has a very legit shot. Regardless it is nice to see some fairly exciting prospects hitting our upper minors this year. Starting to give us prospect heads of the Cards some excitement we haven’t seen in some time. Next year should be even better with other big names movin on up!
I agree JC, the major difference this yr is the true top prospects are moving up classes and continuing to succeed. My congrats to the scouting system.
Jacobs had used up his eligibility, so was likely to sign. Good to get it done. Focused on relieving, maybe he can find a role in which to be successful.
Regarding Jeff’s comments on Wittels. The Cards are good at moving everybody up, as high as they can go. This is a reasonable reason to sign with St L.
The idea that the Cards are weak in middle infield is a fantasy. Gill and Wong at QC; Bolivar and Starlin Rodriguez at PB; Jackson and Garcia at AA; Kozma, Greene, and Solano at AAA. Descalso learning in the majors. At Batavia, Castillo and Valera can out-field Wittels at SS. Williams and the kid from UCLA or USC are a tandem hitting well at JC. The Cards have been investing in up the middle position players in Latin America and the US. The system is crowded with them, yet this is the reason they wanted to add Wittels, too. Stock up.
But how many of them actually grade out as anything more than backup MIF? The only two I see are Ryan Jackson and Kolten Wong, whom I believe could be our future SS-2B combo. Obviously that’s assuming that Jackson hits decently, and that Wong continues to play at a high level.
Descalso could be an everyday ML 2B.
A lot of other kids have potential. They just need experience to improve.
Realistically, Jackson might be a major league shortstop. Wong can probably make the majors as a utility guy or 2B. Everyone else is a longshot. The odds are not in their favor and guys like Kozma and Greene aren’t exactly nailing down major league jobs.
Are you that bearish on Wong, or did that just come out wrong? (Rhyming unintentional) I think he has a pretty good shot at being a major league second baseman, fwiw.
To clarify; your comment makes it sound like Wong is more than likely a utility infielder, at least as I read it.
I think it’s more the lack of upside. We’re looking at a Fernando Vina kind of player best case scenario. Value? Sure, but he’s nowhere near an elite 2B. He’s more of a guy whose a fringe starter at this point.
I think his upside is more of a solid starter, maybe an all-star in a peak year and/or a down year at the position.
My point exactly. Wong and Jackson are the only two I could see as potential starters down the road. We’ve got enough of these utility MI types in the farm sysystem IMO.
“Descalso could be an everyday ML 2B.
A lot of other kids have potential. They just need experience to improve.”
Not sure I agree with this. Gill’s old for his level and probably isn’t going to do much. Bolivar and Rodriguez might make it, but only as utility guys at best. Solano can’t hit and is getting old. Greene has never put it together, probably never will now he’s 27. Kozma has been awful at every stop. None of those guys profile as more than replacement-level filler, if they ever even make it to a big league roster. There are some real long-shot teenagers in short season ball, but none of them would really even rank as prospects yet.
Jackson might be Brendan Ryan in 2 years. Greg Garcia might end up as a major league utility/backup guy, but Nick Punto is probably his absolute ceiling. I like Descalso, but realistically he’s been disappointing with the bat so far and looks a bit over-matched; he can pick it, so I’m going to say optimistically that maybe he’s more than a utility guy (long end of a 2B platoon, perhaps?).
Kolten Wong is the only guy who might end up as a 2 WAR+ guy in the majors, and I think his ceiling is probably a Placido Polanco down year.
The state of the farm’s middle infield for the last few years is the reason why guys like Skip Schumaker are getting playing time for the big league club. It’s a sad state of affairs.
To be sure, “Brendan Ryan in 2 years” is a pretty good outcome, as long as it doesn’t come along with Boog’s apparent disruption of the clubhouse. If the other Ryan (Jackson) accomplishes that, the team can be happy with that draft.
What does old for his level”mean to you? To me it only has relevance if a) a guy is performing successfully at the level he is at due to more experience (that can include college, minors, or other advanced playing levels) than average for others at that level (not Gill’s case) b) He is performing successfully a the he is at due to being more physically advanced the average of the other players at that level (also not Gill’s case) or c) the player has so much experience that he is not going to learn and improve much in the future (not Gill’s case). I am not making a case for or against Gill here but against the overuse of a term without really looking at the situation in its entirety. Many 22 years old may be old for the Midwest league but when a player’s only organized experience is one year in the Latin leagues (where he excelled) I don’t think the “old for his level” adage is appropriate.
All fair comments, but it’s also reasonable to state that Gil isn’t getting out of the MWL any time soon, as he hasn’t really hit much this year (87 wRC+, not terrible but below-average for the league and pretty ordinary for a 22-year-old). As Grabiel Hernandez he would’ve been 19. As Ronny Gil he’s 22, and will be 23 at the start of next season. If he’s still only in A-ball, he simply isn’t much of a prospect. I agree with you generally that age-criticisms require context, but it’s a perfectly true statement as well that there really aren’t a lot of guys aged 23 in A-ball who are ever going to amount to anything in the major leagues.
I was, perhaps, guilty of being a little offhand in my Gil comment, but I was merely trying to point out that a guy who’s slightly struggling as a 22-year-old in Quad Cities is worlds apart from a 19-year-old who’s putting up the same numbers.
Leobaldo Pina is a kid they really like as well. Long, lanky kid at 6-2, 160, he has a little bit of pop in his bat, and he just turned 17. Decent results thus far, especially given his age, and he’s a kid to really watch moving forward.
Can’t wait for him to get to the States and try his hand at a league here.
MR. TLR, I understand what your saying…but if you look at some of those names, they do not project as major league bats. Kozma and Greene have had some run and not shown too much. I’d say, if you asked the Cardinals what they thought, you could consider them busts, no?
I would just say this…we do not have any MAJOR prospects in the system…Greene, Solano, Kozma, Bolivar, etc…none of these guys are big prospects or tradeable…now, Wittels may not become anything either…but, these guys won’t be blocking Wong and Wittels if they turn into prospects over the years…Valera is 19 and not ready for Batavia (batting .150 so far), Bolivar is nothing special….
My main point is, the Cardinals NEVER invest money into their Big league SS and 2B, and how many of those over the years have they developed and kept? Not many…So, there is quite a bit of turn-over in our system. This creates opportunity in their organization, IF your successful…and if you think Kozma, Bolivar or Greene are gonna be blocking any emerging prospects after what they have done over the past 5 years, then I don’t think it’s a “fantasy” to say what I said. We have a bunch of utility infielders in our system…Wittles may be that too, but a future big league utility guy isn’t blocking anyone if he does in fact shine.
MRS. Jeff: we can agree the Cards have not developed many infielders in recent decades. This may be changing.
Its like lottery tickets. The more middle infielders the Cards develop, the higher the chances some emerge. Starlin Rodriguez has jumped from the Dominican to Palm Beach in one year. Gill has gone up 3 levels inside a year. It might be wrong to underestimate such gifted athletes. A lot of other players reach the majors after 5+ years of training. Its early to discount Bolivar and Kozma. A few years ago, Descalso was dismissed; now he is a ML rookie.
Gill has been in the system for a couple of years. He used to be Grabiel Hernandez until they discovered that wasn’t his real name and he was a couple of years older.
“A lot of other players reach the majors after 5+ years of training. Its early to discount Bolivar and Kozma. A few years ago, Descalso was dismissed; now he is a ML rookie.”
That’s factually incorrect. Descalso has been solid right the way through his minor league career, and put up a big year in (IIRC) 2009. I wouldn’t say he’s ever been “dismissed”, although I recall the draft was painted as a conservative one at the time (I think he was a 2nd or 3rd rounder). Kozma, on the other hand, has been awful (not just bad, but truly awful, one of the worst players in the league) at every stop and although he’s still relatively young, he’s just been so bad that there’s no way he suddenly turns it round and learns to start hitting at AAA after three years of ineptitude. He’s a bust and I don’t see that there’s any other way to frame it.
If Bolivar can stick at SS, you’re right, he’s probably got a shot at a major league backup role in a year or two, but he’s been a slo-o-o-o-w mover and this year is the first time he’s been an average hitter for his level.
Pretty much all these guys are low upside. I don’t see too many lottery tickets here, even in most of the short season teams.
This is true…I didn’t realize the jump Gill and Starlin had made
@Karmaloop. I understand the Vina comparison but I believe Wong at least has potential to develop a little power. Sure he’s short but he’s got a good, strong build. He definitely has the strength to hit the ball out of the park now and might develop more with instruction. He’s got a powerful build. I’d almost liken him to a Lenny Dykstra type.hitter although Lenny had a little help from a syringe. Either way, he should have no problem hitting foe power. Now will that translate onto home runs, I’m not sure. But he should hit plenty of doubled and triples.