DG continues his series of PostCards with Luhnow, excellent stuff all around. Our own fewgoodcards questioned Luhnow about taking college arms with questionable control (Shooter Hunt).
Q: Jeff, how much do you guys look into walks when looking at a college pitcher? It seems like the Cardinals have taken a lot of guys in recent years that have had significant control problems in college, and none of them have really been able to improve that once they turned pro. I think the guy I am mostly referring to with this question is Shooter Hunt. Obviously he has great stuff, but if he isn’t able to figure out the strike zone he won’t amount to much. How much does a guy’s lack of control knock him down on your board?
– fewgoodcards (one of the writers at Future Redbirds)
Luhnow: That is an excellent question and one that we are discussing every day in our draft preparation meetings. I won’t comment on Shooter Hunt except to say that he has two plus pitches at least and has been successful in college and in the summer. He will be talked about in all 30 draft rooms.
One thing that you are suggesting is that if a player has control problems in high school or college they will most likely have control problems in pro ball. I tend to agree with that statement, as do most experienced scouts. Having said that, the difference between the metal bat and the wood bat does change how some pitchers approach the opposition. Pitching to contact can be a dangerous strategy against bats with a much larger sweet spot, but can work in pro ball.
A lack of control will knock players down on our board. How much depends on a variety of other factors.
And just judging on a previous question there, it sounds like Luhnow really desires Christian Friedrich, and also keep an eye on another college lefty Wade Miley.
Clayton Mortensen took home Texas League Pitcher of the Week honors for his 2-0, 1.93 ERA, 12 H, 1 BB, 9 K performance last week. I would venture to say the key to Mortensen’s recent success is him rediscovering his sinker. His last two outings he’s had 24 ground outs to 8 fly outs.
Saber-Scouting rolled out their top 25 for the upcoming draft, with OFP’s for the whole lot. They have Friedrich down as the 13th best player overall, make a Jay Bruce comparison with Zach Collier, and they also seem to be higher on a few players more than most. Great stuff by those guys.
Speaking of the draft, Derrick Goold weighs the pros and cons of making picks a tradeable commodity.
I get the easy DFR night as only two teams were in action.
- Blake Hawksworth may be hurt. He left after just three innings, and threw only 58 pitches. It’s not like he was ineffective, he allowed 2 ER on 4 hits and a walk with 5 strikeouts. Stay tuned, this may mean yet another promotion for someone in AA.
- Hugo Castellanos has been used as the long reliever of the squad, but he’s probably better off throwing 1 inning per game, preferably to righties. He gave up 6 ER on 3 hits (including a grand slam) and 3 walks over 3 innings. He fanned 4.
- Mark Worrell struck out 2 in his 1 inning of work.
- Matt Scherer struggled, allowing 2 ER in his lone inning.
- Free Bryan Anderson! He went 4 for 5 and allowed a stolen base against Felix Pie and also allowed his 4th passed ball since being called up to AAA. I know there will be no freeing Bryan Anderson without Yadier going down, but wow…all he has done is hit.
- Joe Mather went 2 for 6 with a double but unfortunately left the bases loaded in the 9th to end the game.
- Is this the Summer Colby we all know and love? He went 2 for 4 with a double and a walk. He’s hitting .389 in his last 6 games.
- Josh Phelps went 2 for 5 with a double.
- Jarrett Hoffpauir also went 2 for 5.
Springfield had the day off.
- Kyle Mura twirled a gem, nearly pitching a complete game. He allowed 2 runs on 5 hits over 8.1 innings, having struck out 6. No walks.
- Francisco Samuel retired the final two batters in a row, one via ground out and one via the K.
- James Rapoport went 1 for 3 with 2 walks. What, no steals??? I’m thinking he could be a Scott Podsednik clone, with better D.
- Arnoldi Cruz went 3 for 4.
- Donovan Solano went 2 for 4.
- Brian Cartie went 0 for 2 but drew 2 walks.
- Luke Gorsett doubled and walked.
Quad Cities had the day off.
The VSL Cardinals were rained out.
Filed under: 2008 MLB draft, Daily Farm Reports
erik
azruavatar
fewgoodcards
roarke49
theredbaaron
I was wondering why Hawksworth was PH for so early in the game. I was flipping between the Astros massacre and the Memphis game (on the PC) and missed why he came out.
What is the status on Brian Barden. He seemed to hurt himself in the Sunday night game and had all of yesterday off with only a PH appearance tonight. It’d be nice to see him stay healthy and get the call-up to replace Adam Kennedy’s awfulness on the roster.
Hawksworth left with Instability in his right knee, and Barden has a sore Hamstring..
Hawksworth hurt? If he’s out for any significant amount of time, we may see Clayton Mortensen, and his brand new hardware, making the trip up to Memphis.
I notice that Kozma’s SLG is dropping a bit. I wonder if this is partially due to high schoolers hitting a wall this time of year. This would be about the time their old high school seasons were wrapping and summer leagues starting up.
I posed this question to Nate Silver in the BP chat yesterday:
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mikedallas45 (Dallas): Should the Cardinals Go For It and try to get, say, Brian Roberts to plug the gaping hole at 2B? If so, what should they reasonably expect to have to give up?
Nate Silver: I think they have to make the most of this opportunity. It’s not a particularly young club, and the marginal upgrade they’d get at a position like second base is quite large — they’ve really been trotting out some sub-replacement level guys there. I don’t know what you give up since the farm system depth is not terrific — maybe someone like Bryan Anderson — so ultimately you’re probably looking for more of a purchase from someone who is sick of paying a big contract.
———————-
So, would you give up Anderson for Roberts? What about Anderson, and say, Motte? I saw yes and yes, but I wonder if that’s enough to get it done, I could see the Cards and Cubs getting into a bidding war if they are still neck and neck at the deadline.
I guess i’d vote no on moving anderson for roberts. seems they need to bite the bullet and plug ryan in at second and see what they’ve got (no one is going to take kennedy, so why keep running him out there?). don’t know baltimore’s situation, but the silver comment on purchasing might be on the money, ie, we take roberts and his salary, and give them a “today” second baseman (e.g., ryan or even izturis) to pjug in and one for the future. rather that the future player be motte than anderson at this point. agree with sliver i guess in that less talent plus salary relief is most likely going to be what we offer.
The reasons I vote yes on Anderson for Roberts are:
1) I really like Anderson, but Yadi ain’t going anywhere, which means Anderson is looking at a platoon situation at best with the big club for the next few years.
2) Roberts would give us a natural leadoff hitter, hopefully lessening Tony’s Schumaker fetish.
3) It would mean less AB’s for Miles/Kennedy, also a Very Good Thing. In fact, with an everday 2B in the fold cutting them both loose and bringing up Mather becomes more likely.
I’m generally not a fan of trading prospects for playoff run veterans but in this case I think it is a pretty good fit, especially since we would get Roberts for next year at a very reasonable $8 million.
I like Brian Roberts, but I wouldn’t want to trade Anderson for him. If we are going to move Anderson, I think we should try and get back a younger MI than Roberts. Anderson is a quality prospect that will be cost controlled for quite some time - Roberts is on the wrong side of 30 and is expensive.
i have no clue why the orioles would want anderson when their top prospect is the best catching prospect in baseball matt wieters.
The Orioles think way too much of Roberts and we don’t have a good match. If the A’s start losing again, Mozeliak should call about Mark Ellis. He’s an elite defender and a better offensive player than you’d think. Probably wouldn’t be possible to build the trade around Bryan Anderson, since Kurt Suzuki is a similar player with more polish defensively.
FGC - very good point.
cpebbles - and because they also have Jeff Clement at AAA.
Frankly, if we are actively looking for a good fit for Anderson in trade - the Red Sox would work. Varitek is on the downside of his career and they don’t really have anyone waiting in the wings. I’m not sure if Jed Lowrie will ever be an MLB starter at SS or if he is better than Hoffpauir at 2B, but he would give another option. I’m not saying a straight up trade, because I like Anderson more than Lowrie, but it could be a start.
Mark Worrell needs to be promoted or traded. Preferably the latter. The Cardinals have screwed this guy for too long now. I don’t even know why they protected him if they have no intentions of doing anything with him.
Clement is with the Mariners. Same coast wrong team.
Im thinking the same thing as roarke. I would rather trade anderson for a yound 2B or SS in AAA. Someone who is stuck but could be an everyday MLB player if given a chance. I’ve never been a fan of Roberts.
Haha - I totally mis-read cpebbles’ post. I read Kurt Suzuki and thought Kenji Johjima, not even thinking twice that Ellis isn’t on the Mariners. Wow, totally botched that one.
boo! kelvin jimenez gets the call over worrell and motte? what do those two have to do? and what has jimenez done? i don’t get it.
Richard Castillo promoted up to Palm Beach, easily becoming one of the youngest players in High A, aggressive, I like it.
anthony reyes, mark worrell ,and a player to be named later for roberts or anyone…cardinals=the worst organization
I agree with you erik. I definitely think it should have been worrell over jiminez. He deserves his shot, and jiminez hasn’t done much with his opportunities.
I also hope parisi gets the start on saturday over reyes. I think he’s earned a shot as well.
motte has been getting crushed lately
Would like to get my hands on SS Brandon Wood of the Angels. . .with B. Anderson and an arm as bait.
Just an FYI Mark McCormick will be getting the start for Springfield tonight, not Ottavino.
Anderson consistently maintains very high BABIPs. He hits a lot of line drives but I still wonder a bit about those numbers. He’s off to a very nice start in Memphis though.
I agree… how has Mark Worrell gotten over looked every year???? Look at his career stats and he still never gets a shot…. get rid of him please!