photo: Pete Hansen (Brian Walton/The Cardinal Nation)
The Peoria Chiefs missed the playoffs in the last week in a season that began with a slow first half. The High-A club’s offense was below average, but the Chiefs featured the top three strikeout pitchers in the Midwest League – Pete Hansen, Brycen Mautz and Inohan Paniagua.
The Season
The Chiefs started 2024 slowly. After four weeks they had an 8-14 record and two weeks later, their record stood at 13-21. For the first half of the season, Peoria ended with a 26-39 record, sixth/last place in the Midwest League West.
The Chiefs responded with a stronger second half at 33-33, for third place in the division. But due to the poor first half, their overall record of 59-72 was a step down from the previous year’s 69-63 record (and a playoff berth).
League Stats
Despite the rotation having the three strikeout leaders in the Midwest League, it’s hard to say that pitching was a strength for Peoria this year. They finished with an overall ERA of 3.81, sixth in the 12-team High-A league. The Chiefs allowed the third-highest batting average against at .249 for the season. Their relief pitching ERA was 3.69, fourth best in the league. The only major stat at which Peoria’s pitching staff excelled was strikeouts with 1224, second most in the Midwest League.
The Chiefs hitting struggled for the most part. Their .235 average was sixth in the league, but they finished 10th in runs scored, with 506. A reason for this is that Peoria struggled to get men on base via the walk. They took the fewest free passes in the league with 406. As a result, their on-base percentage was .313, the second worst in the league. The Chiefs could not overcome it with the long ball, as they collectively hit only 84 home runs, 10th in the MWL. Overall, Peoria’s offense had a rough year.
Coaching Staff
Patrick Anderson: Anderson is just the sixth manager in franchise history to hold the position for three seasons. His 2022 team reached the playoffs but lost in the first round. Anderson’s three-year record with the Chiefs is 184-211 (.466) and in his managerial career, he has more than 600 wins.
Edwin Moreno: The pitching coach finished his third season with the Chiefs. Moreno helped improve the team ERA ever so slightly from 3.84 last season to 3.81 this season.
Elvis Rodriguez: After spending the previous two years as a hitting coach in the Astros organization, Rodriguez joined the Chiefs this year as their hitting coach. The 2024 Chiefs offense was subpar, but it would be hard to pin that on Rodriguez.
Will Peterson: This was Peterson’s first year as a coach for Peoria. Peterson spent the 2023 season in the same fourth coach role with Triple-A Memphis.
Player Movement
A few notable players did not play the entire season for the Chiefs this year. Those who spent the majority of 2024 with Peoria will be mentioned in the upcoming articles selecting the best hitter, relief pitcher, and starting pitcher of the year.
Quinn Matthews: The left-handed pitcher posted a 2.68 ERA, struck out 58, and yielded a .160 average in 43 2/3 innings during his stint with Peoria, from May 13 to June 24. Matthews had three wins in his seven starts for Peoria before moving up to Springfield.
Chase Davis: The Cardinals’ 2023 first round pick played 30 games for Peoria late in the season, batting .301 and bringing home 18 runs. Davis earned a call-up to the Springfield Cardinals for the final days and the Texas League playoffs.
Chris Rotondo: Between his two stints with Springfield, the 25-year-old was with the Chiefs from May 13 to July 30. The outfielder played in 41 games, batted .285, posted an on-base percentage of .377, and had 22 RBI.
Award winners
For the third time in the last four years, no Chiefs were selected to the Midwest League post-season All-Star Team.
TCN Top Prospects
During much of the 2024 season, Peoria featured six of the Top 50 prospects in the Cardinals organization. They include #9 prospect Leonardo Bernal, #16 Won-Bin Cho, #20 Darlin Saladin, #35 Pete Hansen, #44 Brycen Mautz and #48 Joshua Baez.
What is next?
Much more detail on the Peoria Chiefs’ top hitters, relievers and starting pitchers is coming as we select the best of the best in upcoming articles in this series.
Check out The Cardinal Nation’s annual article series highlighting team results and top hitters and pitchers across the entire St. Louis Cardinals system. The Springfield Cardinals Team Review is next up.
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Porter Staloch can be reached at pstaloch@mail.bradley.edu.
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