Future Redbirds

It’s a do or die season for Reid Gorecki, who went from being the 2004 organizational player of the year to being removed off of the Cardinal 40 man roster this fall. He has an interesting blend of skills but has yet to put it all together, and his expiration date is approaching at age 26.

The fact that he won the organizational player of the year award in 2004 speaks to the skinniness of the system at that time, Gorecki hit .277/.343/.398 in 440 at bats for Palm Beach, stealing 23 bases in 32 attempts. He was added to the 40 man roster at the end of the season.

2005 Gorecki had an even better year at the plate, hitting .286/.374/.457 in 234 at bats and swiped 24 bags in 31 attempts for Palm Beach. He actually started the season in AA, but tanked and hit only .188 GPA (gross production average) in 159 at bats for Springfield, starting and finishing his season there.

2006 Gorecki started the season like a house on fire, hitting 9 home runs and posting a .330 GPA for the month of April. He then tanked the rest of the season, hitting .227 the rest of the way, and just 26% of his hits were for extra bases. His struggles apparently got under his skin, as he refused to talk to any of the Springfield sports media the 2nd half of the season. However, he did post a .295 GPA in August to finish the season strong. Despite his struggles at the plate, Gorecki posted a +17 plays above average in center field.

So far in the Cardinal camp, Gorecki’s off to a hot start. Here’s the scoop from Kary Booher of Springfield News-Leader:

Gorecki is 13-for-29 (.448) in nine minor league games so far. That includes three home runs, three doubles and 12 RBIs. We’ll see if he keeps it up as spring training moves deeper into March, when the pitching usually gets more polished. That is not to say Gorecki is cleaning up on nobodies, but that the latter part of camp is a good indicator of what to expect from minor leaguers. At least to the Cardinals, it is encouraging to see Gorecki doing well after his much-publicized struggles of the past two seasons in Double-A.

Gorecki hasn’t had trouble starting off his season right before, so we will have to see how he fares as the competition gets stronger. He’s been slow to make adjustments as he’s moved up each level, but he could eventually still make it. His main strength is his defense, he has good range and and BA has ranked his throwing arm one of the best in the system. He also showed last year he has moderate power. Gorecki can also swipe a bag, but gets caught too often with a 68% success rate. Right now he looks like his future is as a 5th outfielder…or playing Korean ball somewhere. For now, he’ll likely start his season back at AA, moving over to right field and being a veteran influence to Colby Rasmus and Jon Jay.