Comments on: Daily Farm Report – 8/9/12

By: Mike G

Mike G — Mon, 13 Aug 2012 07:05:12 +0000

You make a very good argument, but slightly overstate your case. Perhaps I’m overimpressed by the ability to drive in runners from third with less than two outs, to hit the ball deep enough to score run rather than striking out or hitting ground balls to a drawn-in infielder, but ultimately scoring runs is what the game is about and I don’t think this the “wrong thing” to be concerned about. In this light, I recognize that some sacrifice flies are insignificant and some walks are productive, indeed that the ability to draw walks, at least to the extent it requires discipline and judgment rather than the mere lack of command of a pitcher, may well be an “important diagnostic.” I suggest, however, that the “primary skills” that you enumerate in your last paragraph relate as much to hitting sacrifice flies and moving up the runner as they do to drawing walks.

By: Mike G

Mike G — Mon, 13 Aug 2012 06:43:37 +0000

Interesting statistics, but watching the games on a regular basis leaves a somewhat different impression. The Cardinals are good at scoring runs in bunches, not so good at scoring runs in tight games when they really matter. Hence their truly horrible record in
close and extra-inning games. Admittedly this has something to do with their unreliable bullpen, but it also has much to do with their frequent inability to advance runners in key spots, most notably with runners on third and less than two outs. No one expects them to score all these runs, but one can reasonably hope for their vaunted offense to be better at this than it is..

By: Mike G

Mike G — Mon, 13 Aug 2012 06:18:25 +0000

In my mind, there’s a significant difference between driving in that teammate and failing to do so.

By: BigJawnMize

BigJawnMize — Sat, 11 Aug 2012 03:06:51 +0000

It means that the scout who saw him on that day saw 50s. Usually kids that are 20ish dont have a lot of projection so the best one would think is that he would develop one of these pitches to a 60 and develop into a better pitcher.

A scout will usually put a projection number only if they think that there will be a lot of projection.

By: zuke354

zuke354 — Fri, 10 Aug 2012 23:08:24 +0000

The cards are the 3rd best team in all of baseball in scoring runs. They are better than the yankees. They trail only Boston and Texas in runs scored. And Texas only has a 14 run lead. The cards have done all of this despite not having a DH.

Yet, you seem to think there is an inability to get runners in?

They are third in the NL in scoring pistion batting average, first in OPS with runners on (does colorado even count).

They are 5th in the league in sac flies

I a not seeing a problem. its seems you are one of those fans that is under the impression every baserunner should score.

The reason the cards leave so many baserunners on is that they are the best all of baseball fore getting guys on base.

By: Karmaloop

Karmaloop — Fri, 10 Aug 2012 21:28:45 +0000

I must say, I’ve been extremely impressed with Patrick Wisdom. I was extremely skeptical of the pick when it was announced, but it looks like he might develop into our own Mike Olt.

By: Gruntosaurus

Gruntosaurus — Fri, 10 Aug 2012 20:42:31 +0000

Then I take the liberty of asserting that you are impressed by the wrong things.

In a larger sense, however, you may be onto something. It’s all but impossible to judge, without being a regular attendee (read: coach or scout) at games, what progress a prospect is making at “bat control.” That is a skill, and its value extends way beyond the doubtful “value” of summoning a sacrifice fly when needed. Jon Jay is a rich man because he has exceptional bat control. Watch the way he tunes his swing to pull, hit to the opposite field, go up the middle, etc., depending on the batting situation and the pitching matchup. Not many hitters can do that, and if he couldn’t, his baseball skills probably wouldn’t be sufficient to keep him in the majors.

Nor is it a skill limited to punch-and-judy hitters. I once got to a Cardinals game early enough to watch Pujols take batting practice, and rather than flexing his mighty muscles to hit booming drives half way to the mountains (this was at Planet Coors in Denver), he was practicing “hitting behind the runner,” i.e., going to the opposite field. It was an amazing display. I’d say nearly 90% of the balls he hit were line drives that landed in an area of right field no more than 30 feet square and probably smaller than that. If Albert Pujols thinks it’s important to be able to control his bat well enough to do things like that, who am I to argue?

So yes, bat control, of which the nominal (and dubious) ability to hit sacrifice flies is one (minor) component, is a thing we’d like to see our young players develop as an important secondary skill. However, it is still a secondary skill. The primary skills, for which walk rates are an important diagnostic, are the ability to hit strikes hard, lay off of balls, and in a hundredth of a second as a ball starts toward home plate, tell the difference. That’ll trump hitting sac flies any day.

By: azruavatar

azruavatar — Fri, 10 Aug 2012 20:37:03 +0000

The difference between a sacrifice fly and a fly out is something that has nothing to do with Oscar Taveras and everything to do with a teammate having already reached base.

By: Lou Schuler

Lou Schuler — Fri, 10 Aug 2012 17:41:27 +0000

Interesting. So they lifted BA’s scouting report, and added a sentence about how awesome his juco is. (BA also had the info about his LOI to USC.)

By: Lou Schuler

Lou Schuler — Fri, 10 Aug 2012 17:40:00 +0000

Good question. I think that’s what they project the pitches will become, because if they’re 50 pitches now, why bother with the minor leagues?

Big Jawn Mize, if he’s around, will have the definitive answer.