The STL Cardinals Thread - New Season, Same Old Cardinals?

[MOSteelers56]

Justin Miller pitches exactly like Jason Motte. Unfortunately, more like later career Motte. 

[kgarrett12486]

The DH being implemented in the NL can't get here fast enough. We get struck again with another SP suffering a significant injury due to having to bat...

Carlos Martinez has a UCL tear in his thumb and expected to miss 'several weeks'.

I know he sucks, but we still need all the arms/innings we can get right now...

[holt_bruce81]

Why does it seem like everyone can hit in the minors but no one can pitch?

Palm Beach (Low-A):

Masyn Winn SS (19 years old): .267 BA, .373 OBP,  13.6 Walk-rate, 21.3 K-Rate, 112 wRC+, 15 SB

Jordan Walker 3B (19 years old) .374 BA, .475 OBP, 14.8 Walk-Rate, 17.2 K-Rate, 204 wRC+ 

- Obviously Walker got called up recently and is struggling through his first 10 or so games with High-A Peoria. But no worries about that, he'll make his adjustments and end the year strong in Peoria. Might have leapfrogged like 5 people for me and found himself as the Cardinals #1 prospect. Kid is good. As for Winn, love the Athleticism, we need more of it in our system. 

Springfield (Double-A)

Delvin Perez SS (22 years old): .310 BA, .367 OBP, 7.5 Walk-rate, 24.5 K-Rate, 4 HR, 14 SB, 115 wRC+ 

Brendan Donovan 2B (24 Years old): .314 BA, .421 OBP, 15.0 Walk-rate, 16.8 K-Rate, 6 HR, 13 SB, 160 wRC+ 

Alec Burleson OF (22 years old): .285 BA, .340 OBP, 6.9 Walk-rate, 23.8 K-Rate, 13 HR (4 in High-A)

Malcom Nunez 3B (20 years old):
High A: .285 BA, .351 OBP, 7.3 Walk-rate, 17.9 K-Rate, 120 wRC+ 
Double-A: .238 BA, .289 OBP, 5.1 Walk-rate, 33.3 K-Rate, 67 wRC+ 

Ivan Herrera C (21 years old): .219 BA, .368 OBP, 17.9 Walk-rate, 25.9 K-Rate, 98 wRC+

Nick Plummer OF (24 years old): .306 BA, .405 OBP, 12.0 Walk-rate, 26.3 K-Rate, 144 wRC+, 7 HR

-Seriously what's going on with these guys down in Springfield? Like I know the Texas League is notorious for being a very hitter-friendly league, but you got guys like Plummer and Perez coming back from the dead looking like decent prospects again. Delvin has 4 home runs already in 200 at bats. In his previous 978 At bats, he had a total of 2 home runs. Not really worried about Nunez or Herrera, still young guys. Don't even really know much about Donovan or Burleson. Would like to see Donovan get his shot at AAA soon. And man, I got a sft spot for my boy Nick Plummer and I don't even know why, maybe it's because his swing reminds me of Ray Lankford's. My all time favorite Cardinal. And no, there's no way in hell i'm trying to compare the two. 

Memphis Redbirds (Triple-A)

Juan Yepez 3B (23 Years old
Double-A: .270 BA, .387 OBP, 11.7 Walk-rate, 16.9 K-Rate, 155 wRC+, 5 HR
Triple-A: .291 BA, .384 OBP, 11.1 Walkrate, 18.2 K-Rate, 140 wRC+, 5 HR 

Nolan Gorman 3B (21 years old)
Double-A: .288 BA, .354 OBP, 9.2 Walk-rate, 26.7 K-Rate, 130 wRC+, 11 HR 
Triple-A: 7 Game sample size. it's atrocious. Don't look. 

- Gorman has struggled in Memphis so far, so much so to where he's carrying  a -24 wRC+ and that is what I would like to call Gross. My buddy asked me today if I trade him straight up for Jose Berrios and the answer is 1000x yes. Yepez is a fun prospect to root for and kid seems like he has some swagger to him. He was the prospect we got in return for Matt Adams way back when. Seemed like he was in A-Ball for like 10 years. 

I'm sure I forgot someone but I need to go to bed. 

Oh and, we have no pitching. 

Edited July 9, 2021 by holt_bruce81

[MOSteelers56]

What a post by @holt_bruce81 !

This team needs to get a whole bunch of pitching because these hitters are ready to compete for a long time. I’d like to see Delvin Perez competing for the SS spot next year. Yepez is really interesting. He’s a versatile guy, and exciting. He would be an awesome guy to have in the bigs once the DH comes over(which I agree completely with your DH take). He could spell Goldy and Nado, plus probably RF and DH. I think we’re in a good position to flip some of our 3B prospects for some pitching. Just a few of my quick thoughts on your post.

[CWood21]

High quality post @holt_bruce81.  Was actually starting a post about the farm system myself, but never finished.

Palm Beach
I'm honestly most impressed by Masyn Winn tbh.  For a prospect who was a two-way player, he's played exclusively at SS and by most accounts played good defense there.  And honestly, I thought he was going to be a better pitching prospect than a SS prospect, but if he can continue to take what he's done thus far and improve that strike zone judgement he's going to be pushing for that top 5 prospect by the end of the year.  That BB%/K% rate is the part I'm most impressed with as young players tend to struggle with strike zone judgements.  And that's not a knock on Jordan Walker when I'm giving praise to Winn.  I expected Jordan Walker to figure things out sooner rather then later, but I didn't anticipate Winn finding this much success this early.

Peoria
Other than Malcom Nunez, and now Jordan Walker there's nothing really of interest here.  No pitching.  No hitting.  Nunez performed well and as part of the organizational move he ends up in Springfield.

Springfield
There's a TON of talent on this roster.  Nolan Gorman was/is a top 2 prospect coming into the year and posted a 130 wRC+ which is impressive when he's roughly 2.5 years younger than the average AA player.  He needs to improve his strike zone judgement, but the tools that got him drafted are clearly on display.  I hadn't heard anything about his defense, so I guess that nothing is a good thing.  Ivan Herrera was a top 5 prospect coming into the season and even if the numbers have been lackluster he's still dong good things.  Like Gorman, he's young for his level and he's shown good plate discipline with solid power.  But the reports of his defense have been strong.  As you mentioned, Delvin Perez and Nick Plummer's reemergence has been nothing short of impressive, and are going to need to be pushed to Memphis sooner rather than later.  I'd imagine by the first few weeks of August that both end up getting a bump up.  Perez for the first in his career is a plus hitter and displaying some consistent power.  The defense seems solid as well and he's creating issues on the basepaths with his ability to steal bases.  If there's a player who has recovered their value, it's him.  I'm a bit more leery about Plummer's success, but we will get a better idea when he gets his promotion.  Beyond that, I'm not sure what to make of Alec Burleson.  He's done absolutely nothing but mash since he's been drafted.

Memphis
Zack Thompson has been awful.  And Matt Liberatore has been better, but he's not great.  He's been a bit HR prone.  At some point, he'll be on the big league roster this year.

[holt_bruce81]

26 minutes ago, CWood21 said:

Memphis
Zack Thompson has been awful.  And Matt Liberatore has been better, but he's not great.  He's been a bit HR prone.  At some point, he'll be on the big league roster this year.

Zack Thompson has been awful because it was a terrible pick. Should have taken Ethan Small, For college arms, I remember liking Small and George Kirby over Thompson. I have a lot of the same feelings when it comes to Jordan Wicks this year as I did Thompson a few years ago.

[holt_bruce81]

And @CWood21I think the Cardinals need to be aggressive with Brendan Donovan. Would love to see him up in Triple-A soon. He's been really good for Springfield...

.347 BA, .464 OBP, 15.2 Walk-rate, 16.0 K-Rate, 170 wRC+, 6 2B, 4 HR, 6 SB (29 Games)

It seems pretty obvious that Evan Mendoza is nothing more than an Organizational depth guy, so why not send him down to AA and push Donovan closer to the Big League club and see how he does. 

Edited July 11, 2021 by holt_bruce81

[CWood21]

10 hours ago, holt_bruce81 said:

Zack Thompson has been awful because it was a terrible pick. Should have taken Ethan Small, For college arms, I remember liking Small and George Kirby over Thompson. I have a lot of the same feelings when it comes to Jordan Wicks this year as I did Thompson a few years ago.

I didn't mind the pick.  I don't think I had anyone I loved that year.

[CWood21]

8 hours ago, holt_bruce81 said:

And @CWood21I think the Cardinals need to be aggressive with Brendan Donovan. Would love to see him up in Triple-A soon. He's been really good for Springfield...

.347 BA, .464 OBP, 15.2 Walk-rate, 16.0 K-Rate, 170 wRC+, 6 2B, 4 HR, 6 SB (29 Games)

It seems pretty obvious that Evan Mendoza is nothing more than an Organizational depth guy, so why not send him down to AA and push Donovan closer to the Big League club and see how he does. 

Honestly, he's an organizational filler fo rme.

[MOSteelers56]

1 hour ago, CWood21 said:

Honestly, he's an organizational filler fo rme.

Only because we have 37 great 3B prospects! But seriously, maybe Donovan could develop into a super utility guy eventually. That's a useful piece to a team, I'm just not sure he'd be better at it than Edman. 

[CWood21]

23 minutes ago, MOSteelers56 said:

Only because we have 37 great 3B prospects! But seriously, maybe Donovan could develop into a super utility guy eventually. That's a useful piece to a team, I'm just not sure he'd be better at it than Edman. 

That's probably his upside.  But he's older for his level since the average age of a AA is roughly 23.8 years of age, and he's almost 24.5 years old.  I'm not even particularly high on Edman, but he's our only "leadoff hitter" on our roster and he plays 2B.

[CWood21]

Going in with my very rudimentary research, I think I'd be most happy if we walked away with one of Bubba Chandler, Gunnar Hoglund, Harry Ford, or Andrew Painter with our pick.  If we can get a small haircut off the top, I wouldn't be opposed to Josh Baez.  Don't really want anything to do with Matt McClain, Adam Bachman, or Jordan Wicks here.  Let someone else take those guys.

[holt_bruce81]

54 minutes ago, CWood21 said:

Going in with my very rudimentary research, I think I'd be most happy if we walked away with one of Bubba Chandler, Gunnar Hoglund, Harry Ford, or Andrew Painter with our pick.  If we can get a small haircut off the top, I wouldn't be opposed to Josh Baez.  Don't really want anything to do with Matt McClain, Adam Bachman, or Jordan Wicks here.  Let someone else take those guys.

Bednar?

[CWood21]

3 minutes ago, holt_bruce81 said:

Bednar?

If we had a comp pick or a Competitive Balance A pick, I think he'd be a target.  But I'm not a real big believer on his change-up, and I think the development of his change-up is going to dictate whether he's a reliever or a SP.  Not a huge fan of the mechanics.  I wouldn't hate this pick, but I wouldn't love this pick.  I'd at least understand the gamble.

[holt_bruce81]

30 minutes ago, CWood21 said:

If we had a comp pick or a Competitive Balance A pick, I think he'd be a target.  But I'm not a real big believer on his change-up, and I think the development of his change-up is going to dictate whether he's a reliever or a SP.  Not a huge fan of the mechanics.  I wouldn't hate this pick, but I wouldn't love this pick.  I'd at least understand the gamble.

I have no issues with his mechanics. I think they are solid. Your concerns over his change up are valid though, it’s a pretty weak pitch right now. This is just guessing on my part, but I’m willing to bet he hasn’t had to have a 3rd pitch in previous years being in the BP last year. So the change up is still fairly new. If it can be just an average pitch for him where you see it 8-10% of the time, I think you’re looking at a Lance Lynn type starter. Fastball/Slider guy who can eat 200+ innings for ya.