Derrick Goold had this posted at his blog for a few days now, but I found it encouraging for a good reason:
The Cardinals have kept close tabs on the lefthanded-hitting outfielder throughout this summer as he’s played for the Santa Barbara team in the California Collegiate League. As many as five different Cardinals scouts have seen him play this summer. A couple officials attended the opening games of the National Baseball Congress World Series — where Russell’s Santa Barbara team is the defending champion — earlier this week. In addition to watching him play, the two Cardinals instructors took video of Russell’s batting practice. It’s a practice the Cardinals have employed with other draft picks (like first-round pick Peter Kozma), and it allows them to zip what they saw to the laptops of the execs who will write the formal offer.
Why does that excite me so much? Because Russell is really raking in the tournament right now. Blurbs from the last three games found at the Foresters website-
Aug 6…”Kyle Russell broke out for three hits..”
Aug. 7… “Kyle Rusell put the Foresters in front with a two run double in the Foresters four-run fourth and added a triple in the seventh to pace the offense.”
Aug 8…”Kyle Russell hit Santa Barbara’s first grand slam of the year to cap the outburst while the ten hitters before his slam reached base safely.”
Sounds like he’s putting on a show, and in front of some higher ups too. Next Wednesday is the deadline, and I’m feeling pretty positive.
Russell’s team is playing again tonight.
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Azru here. I stumbled accross Gordo’s column on the intraweb this morning. Please ignore the part of this article about Reyes because it’s horrible garbage. (Case in point - “Reyes, like Wells, struggles to command that stuff” - except Reyes was always noted for his exceptional command. I detest the title too - “Reyes’ recent improvement revives hope for ‘08″ as I was arguing for weeks that his peripheral stats just don’t support the fact of how bad he’s been. But I digress) Here’s his note on Russell:
University of Texas slugger Kyle Russell, arguably the most exciting prospect drafted by the Cards this summer, appears likely to leave school to sign with the club. Last season he had 26 homers and an .877 slugging percentage.
He fell to 142nd overall in the draft due to his financial demands, but the Cards apparently are bucking up to get a deal done. Given the poor offensive start by top overall pick Pete Kozma, Russell’s signing would make this draft look a whole lot better.
Emphasis above is mine. 6 days until the deadline.
Filed under: Kyle Russell
erik
azruavatar
fewgoodcards
roarke49
theredbaaron
I really want him signed. pay him what he wants!
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I really want him signed. pay him what he wants!
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Now, now, let’s not get crazy here, we have to save money for that Aaron Miles extension.
this came from gordo’s article today
“University of Texas slugger Kyle Russell, arguably the most exciting prospect drafted by the Cards this summer, appears likely to leave school to sign with the club. Last season he had 26 homers and an .877 slugging percentage.
He fell to 142nd overall in the draft due to his financial demands, but the Cards apparently are bucking up to get a deal done. Given the poor offensive start by top overall pick Pete Kozma, Russell’s signing would make this draft look a whole lot better.”
Isn’t kind of early to say Kozma has had a “poor offensive start”?
So far:
12 games, 8 hits, 9 runs scored, 5 walks, 5 strikeouts, 1 SB, no CS.
If the guy was striking out twice a game, okay, I think you could call that a poor start, even with the small sample size. And I’ll concede it’s not a good or even encouraging start. But, jeez, this kid has taken enough heat already. Let’s at least let him play a month before we start writing post-mortems on his career.
I’m with you, Lou. The data we have on Kozma thus far is meaningless statistically.
colby struggled at first at JC, too. I’m sure Koz will be fine. gordo’s stuff is pretty unreadable so i can see why this got past me. i also don’t really believe some of the stuff he reports, but i’m assuming he has sources so..huzzah. i’d have an easier time believing it if it were goold or even bernie
erik, you are right about colby struggling. he had a very good august that brought his numbers up to where they were at the end (i believe he hit all 7 of his homers in august). of course with kozma missing 6 weeks he will run out of at bats before he gets to the point where rasmus heated up. i don’t think kozma is going to get enough at bats this year for us to be able to read very much into his stats. next year at quad cities we will start keeping track.
exactly. kozma’s out of high school and hasn’t played a game in weeks because of this whole new signing policy…or suggestion..or whatever the heck that it is. that didn’t help. i wouldn’t read anything in his #’s ’til your about 1/2 thru next season. i still think he’s the best SS prospect in the system.
If anyone cares, Russell’s SB team is playing at 10pm tonight against my local summer team, the Cape Capahas.
http://www.whiteyball.com
So what is the National Baseball Congress World Series? Is this a series of the collegiate summer leagues? Is the competition on par with what he was playing against in the California league…