Future Redbirds

Continuing the series of 2006 season wraps, it’s past time to go over the Spikes season. It turns out that it was the Cardinals’ lone rookie ball season at State College, but it was a memorable one.

The City: State College, PA. Pop. 38,420. Fun factoids about State College: Home of Penn State University, home of Joe Pa and the launching pad of half back Larry Johnson’s career. State College is referred to as Happy Valley, due to a study done by psychologists in the ’80’s where they ranked State College as one of the least stressful places to live in the U.S. (Serenity now!)

The Ballpark: Medlar Field at Lubrano Park, built directly across the street from Beaver Stadium, home of the Penn State football team. Park factor wise, it’s pretty neutral. Here’s a peak inside. 

The Team: The team went 39-36. 299 scored to 321 runs allowed, so their record is a bit deceiving. They were 6th out of 14 teams in OPS (.658) and were 12th in ERA (3.71) in a pitcher friendly league.

The Players: 17th round pick Nathan Southard exceeded everyone’s expectations. The outfielder from Tulane was 3rd in the league in slugging (.488), 6th in average (.306), 8th in OBP (.384) and 4th in RBIs (44). He also stole 16 bases, getting caught only twice. His main tool is his speed, but he opened some eyes with his pop.  Jim Rapoport led the league in stolen bases with 24, despite a low OBP (.306). He’s probably just a one trick pony.  Mark Hamilton, another Tulane standout, tied for the league lead in homeruns with 8. Hamilton ranked as the 12th best NY-Penn League prospect by Baseball America. The downside is that scouts say he has some rather large holes in his swing. Regardless, between Tulane, State College and QC he hit a total of 31 homeruns in ‘06. 20 of those HR’s came at college, and it should be noted that Zephyr Field, where Tulane was forced to play due to Hurrican Katrina, is a very unfriendly ballpark for power hitters. After an impressive debut in ‘05, AJ Van Slyke slugged only .376.

Eddie Degerman led the league in K/9 with 11.33. Lefty Brad Furnish finished 7th in the league in K’s with 68. After catching for nearly 4 seasons, Jason Motte switched from being an all glove, no-hitting catcher to pitching as a reliever and was met with relative success, striking 25 batters in 26 innings, walking only 4 and saving 8 games. Adam Ottavino made his impressive debut, striking out 26 batters in 29 innings, with a 3.14 ERA and was considered by BA the 8th best prospect in the league. Matt Lane was 7th in the league in WHIP with .97 and only walked 1.59 batters per 9. Gary Daley had a 3.28 ERA, striking out 64 in 74 innings, but was 3rd in the league in walks with 32. Scouts note Daley as having a strong arm; his fastball tops out at 96. Daley threw a 6 innings of 1 hit baseball on 7/8, and didn’t allow a homerun all season.