Posts Tagged “john gast”

I never understood the John Gast love in 2011. It certainly couldn’t have been based on his performance. Last year, Gast struggled to maintain a 2:1 strikeout to walk ratio.  He didn’t have severe control problems; the lefthander simply lacked the ability to put away batters and strike guys out.

Gast split time between Palm Beach and Springfield in 2011 pitching around 80 innings in 13 games at each location.  In both locales, he had a FIP that was above league average. It wasn’t that Gast was a bad pitcher but he certainly wasn’t a premier prospect in a system flush with impressive arms.

Instead, much of the allure of Gast stemmed from his pickoff move. At one point in 2011′s Spring Training, Gast had picked off four baserunners in 5.1 innings.  It was fun to watch and it was clear that he had a better move to first than many of the pitchers in the big leagues. His pickoff moves were good enough for Dave Duncan to suggest that Jaime Garcia try and learn the art of the pickoff from Gast.

And while that is heady stuff, a good pickoff move does not erase a mediocre strikeout rate. It does not erase an inability to put batters away.

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Let’s throw this one out to the Future Redbirds community.  Who do you think is poised for a breakout this season and why?  Don’t forget to show your work.  I’ll give you a few of mine to get the exercise started.

Tommy Pham - This is an easy one because he is “poised” to break out every year.  We thought we were seeing it last year after his impressive Spring Training, but it has not yet come together for Pham.  He hit well in Springfield in 121 at bats after finally graduating from the pitchers-haven of Palm Beach. He ended the year on the DL, which also did not help him.  A full year in Springfield in his age 23 season should assist Pham’s break out in 2011.

Pete Kozma – Kozma’s jump to Springfield for a full season did not bring much success, but he is in line to repeat AA as a 23 year old.  If he is going to have any success at the major league level, he will need to break out this season when he repeats in Springfield.  That’s more of a “must break out” than “poised”, but I think it still applies.

John Gast – Gast put up great numbers as a lefthanded starter in Batavia.  This season, I think he will take those great numbers up to Quad Cities and possibly Palm Beach.  In Batavia, he increased his strikeouts and limited his walks compared to his college career.  He should have a break out season by continuing his good numbers at higher levels and against better competition.

Who do you think is ready for a break out season?

In case you missed it, College Splits has a glowing review for the Cardinals draft. They also gave us all sorts of nerdy split data to nerd around with. As with the college hitters, here’s a few advanced stats for college pitchers.

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