Tyler Henley makes the jump to A-ball. I’m kinda surprised given how late in the season it is but I like the Cardinals being aggressive with their college prospects in the short-season teams.
Kevin Goldstein posted his rankings for corner outfield prospects. Terry Evans gets an honorable mention. No Cardinal prospects made the ranking. For all the talk of the Cardinals being log-jammed in the outfield — and they are — there’s a whole lot of marginal talent. The toolsy guys (Daryl Jones, Tommy Pham) have yet to make noise and they’ve suffered some injuries to interesting players (Jon Jay) making for a rather blah set of corner outfield prospects.
I think First Inning is reading us. . . . . their featured player is P.J. Walters. Except our discussion was totally better in yesterday’s post 
)
Me Joe Mather. Me go boom. Colby Rasmus is on fire. Memphis goes football and there’s a Zawacki sighting. Cue the DPR!
- Slappy McSingles went 5-for-7 with a double.
- Jarrett Hoffpauir went 3-for-7 with a HR.
- Joe Mather went 3-for-6 with a double and a HR.
- Nick Stavinoha went 4-for-5 with a double, HR and a BB.
- Brian Barden was playing SS (why, I don’t know) and went 1-for-5 with a HR and BB. Unsurprisingly, he also had an error.
- Looks like we picked up some catching depth in Danny Ardoin who went 2-for-6 with a HR.
- Blake Hawksworth threw 5 innings allowing 3 runs on 6 hits and 2 BBs while striking out 6. Not a great start but he was getting groundouts (6-3 GO-AO) and the strikeouts are back which is a good sign.
- Mark Worrell allowed 1 run on 1 hit while striking out 3 in 2 innings.
- Troy Cate imploded for 8 runs (5 earned) in 1.2 innings. I’m wondering if he’s hurt — ever since he was sent down after that 30-35 pitch outing in St. Louis he just hasn’t seemed the same. His walks are through the room and he hasn’t been getting ANY groundballs.
- Colby Rasmus likes the leadoff spot. He went 3-for-4 with a HR. For all his struggles this year, he has a .386 wOBA, which is excellent. He’s lacing line drives in August and he’s hit an incredible number of flyballs this season. Combine all that with his 18-for-21 stolen bases and above-average defense at a premium defensive position and you have a player who could count for 4-5 marginal wins in a season (hint: that’s a lot). He’s just sooooooo good.
- Amaury Cazana Marti went 2-for-4 with a double and a HR.
- Todd Wellemeyer had the start. He threw an inning allowing 2 unearned runs.
- Eric Haberer threw 5.2 innings in which he was very hittable allowing 9 hits, 2BB and a HBP while striking out just 2. He managed to hold the opposition to 1 run (on a solo shot). Two DPs behind him helped.
- Matthew Scherer allowed 1 hit and struck out 2 in 1.1 innings.
- Allen Craig went 2-for-5 with a HR. After his time on the DL for back pain, he’s been destroying the ball in August.
- Brandon Yarbrough went 3-for-3.
- Tyler Norrick allowed 2 runs on 4 hits and 4 walks in 6 innings. He struck out 4.
- Donnie Smith struck out 3 in 2 hitless innings.
Quad Cities was postponed.
- Daniel Descalso went 2-for-4 with a double.
- Justin Roberson went 2-for-3 with a HR.
- Jonathan Stambaugh went 5 innings allowing 4 hits striking out 6 allowing just 1 run. He’s succeeded with a healthy but not dominant strikeout rate (16%) and an exceptional walk rate (3%).
- Brandon Garner threw 3 one-hit innings striking out 3.
- Josh “Mountain” Dew recorded his 13th save striking out 1. Mountain Dew strikes out batters in 30% of their plate appearances and has a 58% GB rate: an excellent combination.
Johnson City had the night off.
GCL Cardinals 3, GCL Dodgers 8
- Guillermo Toribio went 1-for-2 with a double and a pair of walks.
- D’Marcus Ingram went 2-for-5.
- All the Cardinal pitchers were bad or just “meh” but of note was Brett Zawacki’s first game in which he threw 2 innings allowing 2 hits, 2BB and a run while striking out 2.
Filed under: Daily Farm Reports
erik
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Has anyone else compared Rasmus’s stats in May to those in August besides me? If you look he has either tied or improved on all the stats he had in May with the exception of GB%. It is troublesome for me how streaky he is right now, but I’m glad he was kept at AA instead of rushed up to AAA which hopefully helps him become a more complete player for us in late ‘08 and for the long haul in ‘09.
hey, what is jaime garcia’s injury?
Garcia was experiencing “elbow soreness”. Don’t expect to see him till next season.
I posted this over at GRB and didn’t feel like re-typing.
Joe Mather is going to be traded in the offseason. With Ludwick already established as the team’s RH power bat + good defense, Rick Ankiel being the lefty hitting platoon partner with Ludwick or Encarnacion, Edmonds and Duncan already having spots and So Taguchi being So Taguchi who has the unwavering support of the clubhouse…
There’s just no room for Mather. I hope he continues to do well though.
Illini-
About Rasmus being at AA. I think that hitting coach Derrick May has a lot to do with his recent success. This guys seems to turn big-league hitting prospects into big-league hitters. I am really hoping that Jay sticks at AA next year and Kozma makes it there pretty quickly (although I think finishing at Palm Beach would be a terrific year for him next year).
Ryan–
Don’t be so sure. Mather could take Spiezio’s spot as backup corner OF and corner IF.
Paul-
Looks like the last time Mather played a significant # of games at 3rd was 2004 in low A, if the Cards are thinking about making him a Spiezio type they need to get him some games at 3rd to see if he can hack it.
Mabry made the switch. We need to find a way to get his bat in the big leagues next year and versatility is the key.
i wouldn’t be so quick to trade mather. he can play in AAA for most of the year next year and we can see if ludwick is for real. also, juan becomes a free agent after next season and if taguchi is still around next year, i don’t expect him to be here in ‘09. another thing to think about is that mather seems to actually project as a possible everyday player, ludwick seems destined to be a 4th outfielder.
I worked at Roger Dean Stadium for a year (last season) and was always impressed with Mather’s athleticism. He played all around for Palm Beach and I believe was drafted as a SS back in the day. I do totally agree though that he needs some repetitions at various positions if the Cardinals feel like he could fill a super-sub role. Long story short, I think it is possible for him to be “spezio-like” with a some work mixed in with his athleticism.
I wonder if Hawksworth is figuring something out? He’s giving up a lot of hits, but he’s also getting more Ks and more ground balls in August than he did earlier in the season. (Plus, I’m not going to fault a guy for giving up three runs, all on solo homers, in Albuquerque. I assume at least one of them would’ve been a harmless fly ball at sea level.)
In his last 4 starts, he has 28 K in 20 IP, with 21 hits and 7 walks.
Plus, his second-half groundout ratio is close to double what it was in the first half of the season.
I don’t know how he’s doing in terms of velocity, but those are pretty big leaps in strikeouts and groundouts. Leads me to hope he’s heading back to prospect status.
Plus, Ludwick has been injury prone in the past. I wouldn’t trade anyone because a journeyman like Ludwick is blocking them.
Might Hawksworth be an option for the St Louis bullpen next year–the Adam Wainright role of last year? Same goes for Narveson?
Mather won’t be traded unless he’s a throw in with a bigger trade. He has no individual trade value.
I too am a big believer in D. May. One thing I didn’t realize is how big the guy is, not that it matters, but I sat behind first base last night and the whole game I just looked at May and said, man that guy is huge, his player card had him listed at 6′ 4″, 225, but I’ll venture to guess he’s tipping the scales around 275 now, he dwarfs everybody on the team. I looked up his stats from back in the day and was surprised that he wasn’t a home run hitter with his tremendous size.
Unless the Cardinals make a trade I definitely see a rotation spot going to Hawksworth if he continues his progress and has a good spring. With Wells and Pineiro both FA and Looper likely going back to the bullpen a potentially 2 spots open. I would rather Hawks get a shot than giving $30 mil in the offseason to a guy like Kyle Lohse.
Report from “The Lab” (which is what they call Isotopes Park here in Albuquerque).
I was tired after work last night and almost decided to just go home. Boy, did I make the right decision. I would have kicked myself from here to Sunday if I’d missed that 20 run outburst. Here are my impressions:
Pitching:
Hawksworth - He started out great. He touched 94 on the local gun (which didn’t seem to be inflated, since the ‘Topes pitchers were mostly in the mid to upper 80’s). Good control, changed speeds well, etc. He made one mistake early and it was crushed. After that first inning, he seemed much less impressive. I only saw him in the 90’s a few more times, topping out at 91 on a K in the 5th. Any time he grooved one, it left the park in a hurry and he did that 3 times. Overall, I was moderately, but not greatly impressed. He needs to cut down on the mistakes if he’s going to be a major league pitcher.
Worrell - Man, has he got a funky delivery. The batters looked completely perplexed as he struck out the side in his first of two innings. Two of them were muttering to the umpire between pitches. He alternated between a high-80’s FB and a 75 mph off speed pitch and it really tied them up. He hit 90 once - third strike of the third K in his first inning. The second inning, they seemed to figure him out a little or he was losing his effectiveness a bit, they started putting the bat on the ball and scored on a triple and sac fly. I’m thinking he should be a one inning guy.
Cate - he struck me as a big doofus. He kind of lumbered out there and slung it. He had lousy control from the start and everyone (at least those he didn’t walk) hit the ball HARD. He completely imploded in his second inning when Stavinoha dropped the second out. I know he entered the game when it was 20-4, but it struck me that he didn’t have much fire. I couldn’t believe he couldn’t pitch two stinking innings with a 16 run lead. They had to call in Jimenez to get the last out.
Defense:
There wasn’t too much of note defensively last night… most of the plays were routine. Joe “Mind Over” Mather had the play of the night, charging and diving to catch a sinking liner. Jarret “Hassel” Hoffpauir showed decent range in almost getting to a grounder to his far left and in ranging to the foul line to catch a pop up behind first. Otherwise, nothing too exciting. Oh, Hawksworth needs to break the habit of trying to bear hand comebackers… he did it twice and it looked like the first one hurt. He didn’t field either one cleanly and they didn’t get either runner. One comment on the Isotopes defense. Last night snapped a 7 game win streak for them, but you wouldn’t have known it from the 5 errors commited, along with one BADLY misplayed flyball that was ruled a double. The funniest one was in the first inning when Mather popped the ball as straight up as I’ve ever seen. The catcher stood up, took about two steps up the first base line and proceeded to let the ball drop behind him in play about 4′ from home plate. Mather ended up on 2nd.
Offense:
I was impressed with (in descending order): Stavinoha, Mather, Schumaker, Hoffpauir and Ardoin (I guess this was his first game for the Redbirds… took me awhile to even figure out who the hell he was, since they didn’t have any stats to throw up on the big screen during his first AB). Of course, when your team collects 23 hits, what’s not to be impressed with? One caveat: the Albuquerque starter apparently tried to pitch after having food poisining earlier in the day. He only made it through the first inning. The guy that replaced him was a recent AA callup, Jimmy “Pedro” Serrano. Jobu wasn’t good to “Pedro” last night. Serrano is a little bitty guy who topped out around 86. It’s hard to know how much of the hitting last night was due to questionable pitching. They play 4 more games this series, so I guess we’ll see.
Stavinoha - after seeing him last night, I don’t understand why he doesn’t hit for a higher average. He had a very good eye (he chased one high fastball, but didn’t chase a 2nd on the next pitch), good bat control and plate discipline and every time he got something to hit, he drove it hard. His home run in the 8th was impressive. He was patient and waited for a good pitch, then ripped a thigh-high FB over the scoreboard (which is about 60′ high and right behind the fense at about the 380 mark).
Mather - he’s the other one to hit a ball over the scoreboard. He wasn’t quite as consistent at the plate as Stavinoha, but he drove the ball with authority most every AB.
Skip “Peach” Schumaker (OK, the nickname is pretty obscure… just remember that “cobbler” is another word for a shoemaker… besides, now that he has his head shaved, it looks a little like a peach) - the guy went 5 for 7, how could I not be impressed. He just plain hit it hard every time. He was able to place hard grounders in the holes when he wasn’t nailing line drives.
Hoffpauir - he’s smaller than I expected. He’s one of those fiesty little, Oompa-Loompa guys that become instant fan favorites. He hit the ball pretty well most ABs, although his HR was a high fly that got into the wind (blowing out the left) and went about 361′ at the 360′ mark.
Ardoin - he certainly showed some pop last night, which is something we haven’t seen from a Memphis catcher in awhile.
One other note: it was interesting to see Miguel Cairo back in a Cardinal’s related uni. I had deja vu when I saw him digging in at the plate. Not that I’m anxious to see him in a birds-on-the-bat jersey anytime soon, but it was a nice flashback.
I have conflicting plans for the next 3 nights, but I may be able to get to the Sunday evening game. If so, I’ll try to post some impressions.
Anybody think that Greene will actually live up to his billing as a 1st rounder and crack the lineup in the next 2 or 3 years? I have a feeling that with Ryan, Hoff, and Martinez clearly ahead now and Kozma in pipeline that we will not be seeing him anytime soon.
chris, out of all of those guys you mentioned tyler greene has the most pure talent. he has easy power that could produce 20 or more homers a year and he is a great basestealer that is capable of stealing 25 or 30 bases. that said he still has big holes in his swing and struggles to make contact. if he could ever cut down on those strikeouts and put the ball in play more he could be a dynamic shortstop. however, a guy like jose martinez is a much safer bet. he may not have the flash, but he does everything well.
Pundit, thanks for a terrific and very entertaining report. I feel bad for that pitcher who tried to throw in that ballpark while recovering from food poisoning. I was wondering why he came out after completing the first inning — don’t see that often with a starter, unless it’s a major leaguer on a rehab assignment — and now I know.
Chris, what Few said, plus this:
Just because a guy is out of action doesn’t mean he’s out of the team’s plans. Brendan Ryan missed all but a month of the 2007 season, and he seems to have made up for lost time.
Greene has struck out in a quarter to a third of his plate appearances in the minors, but he also has speed, size, power, and range the others can’t match.
The Cards probably haven’t done him any favors by raising expectations among fans and pushing him through the system so aggressively. They had him in Palm Beach the year he got drafted, and a year later they had to demote him to QC. This season, he probably wasn’t ready for AA.
If they’d placed him according to his ability instead of the organization’s timetable, he’d still have too many strikouts, but all his other numbers would look a lot better than they have so far.
lou, i think part of the reason in pushing him up to springfield was just trying to keep him away from palm beach. obviously the pitching is better in AA, but the hitting environment is just so much better in springfield and most of the texas league that maybe they thought that would help him out. just look at jose martinez as an example. he wasn’t very good at all in palm beach, but has been outstanding in springfield.
another thing is he didn’t have a whole lot of pressure to produce in that springfield lineup. going into the season they had richardson, mather, rasmus, jay, anderson, and gorecki who they thought would all provide plenty of protection.
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You should do a piece on where you think the prospects end up next year and why. For instance, will Herron bypass Palm Beach and go to Springfield? Why/why not? I am curious to see what everyone on here thinks the organization should do with some of these guys. Steven Hill is another that comes to mind.
i will be taking a look tomorrow at who could contribute in 08 and why…maybe work our way down, we will see
My thinking is that Greene could possibly be Rolen’s replacement after the remaining 3 years on his contract are up. No pressure would be on Greene to shoot through the system and he wouldn’t block Kozma when he is ready. Plus, we don’t really have a great deal of prospect talent at 3B. Possibilities?
Greeene is barely acceptable now with his K’s and low avg, b/c he plays SS….him moving to another position basically makes him a non-prospect in my book
With the Cards in the market in 08 for a #1 or #2 starter a trade should be inevitable. My list of prospects that I think should be untouchable due to their organizational need in the coming years are:
1. Rasmus (given)
2. Perez (Izzy free agent after next year)
3. Garcia (too many impending free agents to be and probably highest ceiling of all our SP in AA or above.)
4. Herron (too much upside to let go)
5. Anderson (only reason not higher because we already got the best defensive catcher in the NL and probably the 3rd best overall behind Martin of LA and McCann of ATL.)
Any thoughts?
if you think you are trading for a #1 or #2 starter you are going to have to give up at least 1 of those guys and probably 2 or 3.
i wouldn’t be so hesitant to trade perez. yes izzy is a FA pretty soon and might retire anyway, but his walks are more than scary. if someone likes him enough for him to be the centerpiece in a trade for a #1 or #2 starter i think you have to do it.
Why do we need a #1 or 2? Carp is an Ace when healthy–no debate. Wainright is starting to look like a solid #2 at WORST.
By solid #2, I mean that Wainright looks to be DEVELOPING into that