Future Redbirds

Yesterday I was pleased to find out I will continue to get free games on the WB affiliate here where I live in Iowa, despite KSDK being the new flagship station. I’m still miffed with the number of games being cut in half and moved to Foxsports Midwest (which Mediacom, my cable co., does not offer). And I’m not sure what to make of Jay Randolph’s shaky return to broadcasting. (Seriously, how easy is it to confuse Chris Carpenter with Chris Duncan? The name butchering going on was unbelievable. Brett Lilliburn? Really? Eh, I’m probably being too harsh.)

Other then that, it was enjoyable to catch a spring training game, and for once it was fun to watch the some of the NRI’s out there verses the usual spring scrubs. Tagg Bozied and Ryan Ludwick may have their wrinkles, but they are a far cry from the John Galls and Scott Seabols of the world. Both look like actual serviceable “in case of injury, call Memphis” type players.

It was also nice to get a look at Brendan Ryan. He came pretty much as advertised, solid line drive stroke, decent speed, erratic glove. He turned a splendid DP with Scott Rolen, and he also botched a routine grounder. But it was somewhat surprising to see him get cut today, especially in the midst of Kennedy, Eckstein and Miles all having different health concerns. It also seems a tad askew in the light of Tony LaRussa’s recent praise as sited at Bird Land:

“He’s showing that he has major-league talent,” La Russa said. “He’s clearly shown he has major-league talent. Now it’s a question of major-league consistency, major-league toughness. Since he’s got a chance to play he’s show all those things. He’s had a really good camp.”

Oh well. He was destined to go down sooner or later. Ryan could make an interesting Luna-type player in the very near future, hopefully sans getting on the skipper’s dookie list. That will come with him becoming more consistent glove-wise. Ryan hit .333 in 24 at bats this spring, I’m sure we’ll see him later this year at some point, barring any injuries.

Chris Constancio of THT and FirstInning.com echoed his statements he made here regarding Colby Rasmus, naming him one of the best young center fielders in the game. Here’s the blurb found at The Hardball Times:

Colby Rasmus
20 years old | St. Louis Cardinals
I have a rule of thumb concerning the number .18; if a teenager strikes out in less than .18 of his plate appearances and has an ISOP greater than .18 in a full-season professional baseball league, he has an excellent chance of becoming a good major leaguer. Lots of major league stars, including Alex Rodriguez, Chipper Jones, and Vlad Guerrero, achieved those rates early in their minor league careers. Colby Rasmus did too. I doubt Rasmus will ever match the offensive production of that class of players, but he is going to be a very valuable player if he can maintain above-average contact and power skills while playing center field in the major leagues.

Constancio has Rasmus in the “excellent upside, at least 2 years from his prime” category. He also was one of today’s cuts.

Another cut that was without shock was Travis Hanson. Hanson went 1 for 11 this spring, I don’t know how much you can blame the bugs anymore, but my impression was he was all out of whack, and his bat seemed troublesomely slow. I don’t want to bury him yet, but the small sampling I witnessed matched some of the things I’ve heard from an eyewitness,who basically said he is toast.

One player who managed to live another day is Dennis Dove, he picked up the save in today’s game against the Braves. Duncan said that Dove is “a very interesting guy”, but thinks of Dove more in terms of the future.

Oh, and Rick Ankiel broke the homer drought today. Which brings me to my main point after circling the landing a few too many times. There are some people who don’t think Ankiel has a shot, that he should just hang it up already, and who see his switch to being a hitter as a prolonging of a long, sad tragedy. Here’s why I think those people are wrong.

1. He has considerable power. In 2001, when he wasn’t pitching, Ank was Johnson City’s part time DH, posting an impressive ISO of .352 in 105 at bats, homering 10 times. In his first year from switching over from pitching to hitting, he posted a .244 ISO at Quad Cities and .272 ISO at Springfield.

2. He’s demonstrated good plate discipline. In his lone season, he walked in 12% of his plate appearance and struck out only 16.6% of the time at QC, which ain’t shabby for a power hitter. Sure, that’s against 20-21 year olds and Ank was 26 at the time, but again, it was his first go as a full time hitter. While I’m throwing stuff out there, Ankiel’s total career milb hitting line is 486 at bats, 27 doubles, 33 homers, 120 RBI’s, 50 walks, 97 strikeouts, and a batting line of .265/.338/.529.

3. He should be at least adequate defensively. I don’t expect him to be a gold glover, but if he can throw 90 mph strikes from the mound, I suspect he can make the throw hard strikes from the outfield as well, hopefully without the wildness. While the early reviews were that his defense was adventurous to say the least, I trust he has the smarts and the athleticism to improve.

4. Tony LaRussa believes in him. Today he said to the press concerning Ankiel, “If this guy stays healthy, he’ll play in the big leagues.” I know we fault TLR’s rationale at times, but this is coming from a future Hall of Fame manager who has certainly seen his share of players. I know Ankiel may be seen as a bit of a pet of LaRussa’s and maybe there is still some guilt from the incident that shall not be named, but I also think TLR doesn’t throw out compliments flippantly. I trust his judgment, because his track record has proven he’s right more often then not. Speaking of the “incident-that-shall-not-be-named”, Rick’s injuries and irrational thinking, here’s my 5th and final reason on why I believe he can make it.

5. The Curse of Keith Hernandez has been broken! Because we all know it was curse of Keith that really caused Ankiel’s meltdown and maladies. For goodness’ sakes, the man had so much promise. Fate owes him.