Comments on: Quad Cities Sweep Their Way To The Championship

By: RCHIII

RCHIII — Fri, 23 Sep 2011 19:37:46 +0000

I will clarify that when I said “up to 5″ I was talking about more than a cup of coffee – so between 1-5.

By: Gruntosaurus

Gruntosaurus — Fri, 23 Sep 2011 18:11:31 +0000

Since you brought it up: the Peoria team in 2004 (still the Cardinals’ low-A franchise at that time, it switched to QC the following year) had TWELVE guys who reached the Show: Daric Barton, Terry Evans, Jarrett Hoffpauir, Joe Mather, Mike McCoy, Matt Pagnozzi, Brendan Ryan among hitters, Dennis Dove, Chris Lambert, Kyle McClellan, Mike Parisi and Mark Worrell among pitchers. The QC team of 2006 also had 12 guys on the roster at one time or another who reached MLB, but two of them were just there for rehab assignments rather than being “developed.” All twelve of those Peoria guys, by contrast, were legitimate farm hands on their way up.

Between 1996 and 2005, the Cardinals low-A teams (Peoria until 2005, QC that year) averaged 7.6 guys on their roster at some point during the year who would go on to play in the majors. Typically one of those guys (0.6 per year, to be more precise) would be a former major leaguer out on a rehab stint; the other 7 would be farm hands who eventually got the call. Roughly 3 a year would go on to an actual “career” spanning multiple seasons and enough innings/plate appearances to get noticed, as opposed to the proverbial cup of coffee. So what you’re talking about is on the high end of the success curve, but not at the extreme top.

By: Tackle Box

Tackle Box — Fri, 23 Sep 2011 17:06:54 +0000

I worked for the Rockford Reds in 1999 and I’m not sure there’s ever been before or since a Midwest League team that was so successful in seeing it’s players reach the majors. That team included:

Adam Dunn
Austin Kearns
Gookie Dawkins
Brandon Larson
Corky Miller
Antonio Perez (w/ TB)
DeWayne Wise (w/ TOR)
Lance Davis
Michael Neu (w/ OAK)
Scott Winchester

who all made it to the major leagues in some sort or another. And there were a couple more we were all sure had a chance (Dave Therneau and Jacobo Sequea come to mind) but fizzled out somewhere.

By: Gruntosaurus

Gruntosaurus — Fri, 23 Sep 2011 15:30:47 +0000

As regards the comment about “only 1-2 other of these guys,” it’s worth remembering that during the time period 1995-2004, probably the most recent 10-year span for which we have the full picture (i.e., everyone has reached the majors from those years by now if they’re ever going to), 69 players the Cardinals drafted have made it to the Show, for an average of nearly 7 a year. (Incidentally, this is rather above average for major-league teams. Obviously not all made it with the Cardinals.) Presumably a large fraction of those 69 passed through the low-A level; there might have been a few who started higher or bypassed it, but they would be in a distinct minority.

Clearly there is a difference between making it to the majors and having an actual career there. The majority of those success stories, as with any franchise, were guys who got a cup of coffee but didn’t hang around for long. If one or two others beyond Taveras and Wong have actual _careers_ in the majors, then this will indeed be an outstanding crop of prospects, as it looks to be. However, if no more than one or two others get any MLB time at all, it’s not a significant achievement, and indeed would be a somewhat worse return on the draft investment than has been normal for the last 15 years.

By: RCHIII

RCHIII — Fri, 23 Sep 2011 13:12:46 +0000

One of the guys that stood out to me was Klein-Catcher

By: rj

rj — Fri, 23 Sep 2011 11:29:26 +0000

walsh didn’t play in game 2 against lansing. stanley, gil and elkiins had multiple hit games that night.

By: Indiana Cardinal

Indiana Cardinal — Thu, 22 Sep 2011 23:06:36 +0000

Besides the obvious Taveras and Wong, it is exciting to be able to follow guys such as Rosenthal, Ferrara, Whiting, Walsh and the myriad of other very interesting prospects that played at this level this year. If, in addition to Taveras and Wong, only 1-2 other of these guys surface and contribute at the major league level, the big league future is outstanding.

I am very excited about the Cards future. In addition to the rest of the front office people and the minor league coaches, Luhnow deserves alot of credit for bringing alot of potential talent into the organization.

By: RCHIII

RCHIII — Thu, 22 Sep 2011 22:06:20 +0000

I was at the last game….kudos to the Bandits on a great season……kudos to QC for the great venue and the large and energetic crowd. It was a blast……and $2 beer night didn’t hurt any!

Yeah, Rosie as the Low A “third” starter is probably not what the Lugnuts expected to see! Many on this team achieved their 2nd ring in two years. I look forward to following this group through PB and Springfield next year. There well could be up to 5 MLB players come off of this team.