Future Redbirds

Here’s a name you probably haven’t heard much about-Mark Shorey. You usually don’t hear much about 31st round draft picks, but Shorey made his presence felt in the Appy by leading the league in homeruns with 13, coming 3rd in slugging % (.510-tied with teammated Isa Garcia) and RBI (47). That’s a pretty nice performance, but what causes Shorey to be met with indifference by most is that he was old for his level, turning 23 midseason.  

In ‘06, Shorey simply crushed the Big South Conference, hitting .408/.504/.779 with 20 homeruns in 213 at bats for High Point. Collegiate baseball analyst Boyd Nation had Shorey 2nd among all hitters in Adjusted OPS (1.388), .105 points higher then his actual OPS. AOPS  figures park factors and considers stength of competition. Shorey also pitched in relief during his college career, but it was clear by the results that his future was as a hitter.

Mark’s amazing performance must not have been impress clubs on draft day, but so far his power has carried over. Shorey’s .245 isolated power was the best in the system, and he had a very nice 42% extra base hit rate (XBH/H).  With the help of minorleaguesplits.com we also find that 28% his fly balls landed over the fence. Sorry to be redundant, that’s just 3 different ways to say one thing-he hit for power.  

Shorey’s a pretty big guy at 6′0″, 230 and at his age (23) that’s probably as big as he will get. Fielding wise, I haven’t heard any reports, but Jeff Sackmann’s numbers say his range was decent least year. He was much better in left field then right, which could be telling. The fact that he used to pitch makes me venture to guess he has a pretty good arm in the outfield. Shorey also was an excellent situational hitter last year. With men on, he hit .316/.409/.571 in 98 at bats. I find it interesting he walked 14 times with men on as compared to walking only twice with the bases empty. That could just be random, or it means he’s more focused and patient in the right spots, as well as unselfish. But when you consider his overall numbers last season, what has yet to translate from his college career is plate discipline. He walked 15% of his at bats at High Point, about 7.5% at the Appy level. His strikeouts went up from about 15% to 27% at JC, so he’s probably got a pretty big swing that can be exploited. He also may be a platoon player, as he had a .664 OPS verses southpaws compared to .932 OPS verses right handers.

With just 200 bats under his belt at the rookie ball level, it’s impossible to tell what the Cardinals have in Shorey. I’m not saying he’s a prospect or he isn’t one. What is obvious is he had an amazing college season and a solid debut last year. Time will tell if he was 2nd draft day steal or your typical 2nd draft day player. I’d say his potential is a platoon corner outfielder and considering that he was drafted so low indicates that it may never happen, but that’s strictly guesswork and probably unfair to say without knowing more.  He should be with the Swing this season, hopefully I’ll get a look at him firsthand when they come to town.