photo: José Fermín (Memphis Redbirds)
By a considerable margin, The Cardinal Nation’s choice as the top hitter in the St. Louis Cardinals system during April is then-Memphis infielder José Fermín, who bested seven other finalists.
This article details the selection of The Cardinal Nation’s Player of the Month. Considered were offensive results during April across the entire St. Louis Cardinals system. The winner as well as a group of seven runners up are highlighted.
Starting with the usual 60 plate appearances requirement, a total of 35 hitters in the system qualified. Seven further separated themselves with OPSes above .800, but just one was over .914 and in fact, well over that mark, making this a relatively easy decision.
Memphis middle infielder José Fermín, now with St. Louis, is our winner.
Demographics
Double-A Springfield led the way with three finalists while Palm Beach and Memphis had two apiece. High-A Peoria trailed with one.
As an aside, the Midwest League club could use some offensive help from below (or even above), as the Chiefs are at or near the bottom of their circuit in many key hitting stats. Peoria’s team OPS is just .682, 11th of 12 Midwest League teams.
Reminder
Please remember, this is NOT the “Player of the Month Among Top Prospects”. Every player in the system has an equal chance, with only their performance during the month used to differentiate the best of the best. Age and level, which are key prospect considerations, are not factors here, either.
We will take two views of the data. The first look will be basic stats, followed by rate stats. Names are listed in the same sequence in both tables, in descending OPS order.
Basic stats
| Hitter | Tm | G | PA | AB | R | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | SB | CS | BB | SO | BA | OBP | SLG | OPS |
| José Fermín | Mem | 18 | 72 | 60 | 16 | 21 | 6 | 0 | 4 | 10 | 5 | 0 | 11 | 3 | 0.350 | 0.458 | 0.650 | 1.108 |
| Nathan Church* | Spr | 20 | 97 | 86 | 17 | 30 | 5 | 0 | 3 | 18 | 5 | 1 | 9 | 5 | 0.349 | 0.402 | 0.512 | 0.914 |
| Sammy Hernandez | PB | 14 | 67 | 56 | 9 | 19 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 9 | 7 | 0.339 | 0.448 | 0.464 | 0.912 |
| Bryan Torres* | Spr | 17 | 81 | 68 | 14 | 24 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 11 | 9 | 1 | 10 | 12 | 0.353 | 0.425 | 0.456 | 0.881 |
| Kade Kretzschmar* | PB | 18 | 82 | 66 | 14 | 20 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 12 | 16 | 0.303 | 0.415 | 0.439 | 0.854 |
| Zach Levenson | Peo | 19 | 79 | 68 | 10 | 20 | 6 | 0 | 2 | 7 | 3 | 0 | 8 | 17 | 0.294 | 0.380 | 0.471 | 0.850 |
| R.J. Yeager | Spr | 20 | 91 | 81 | 16 | 23 | 2 | 0 | 5 | 19 | 1 | 1 | 7 | 8 | 0.284 | 0.330 | 0.494 | 0.824 |
| César Prieto* | Mem | 24 | 97 | 95 | 13 | 31 | 3 | 0 | 4 | 14 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 13 | 0.326 | 0.333 | 0.484 | 0.818 |
| * left-handed batter |
R.J. Yeager’s system-leading total of 19 RBI (in 20 games) is impressive but was just one ahead of a less likely hitter, his Springfield teammate Nathan Church.
Also tied with Church at 18 RBI is Memphis first baseman Luken Baker. The latter, our April Hitter of the Year in 2023, has been scuffling in 2024, however, with a .210 batting average and .726 OPS this April. Still, Yeager and Baker tied for the system home run lead with five apiece.
Newcomer Bryan Torres, second baseman for Springfield, shared the system lead with seven doubles (along with non-finalist Chase Davis). The 26-year-old Torres also topped the organization with nine stolen bases in April.
The top three hitters in OPS also are the only finalists with more walks than strikeouts, but Fermín’s 11 walks against just three strikeouts is nothing short of exceptional.
And while we are at it, because Fermín led the system in all four slash stats (BA/OBP/SLG/OPS), his choice as Player of the Month is sealed. The exclamation point is his OPS of 1.108, which is a whopping 194 points higher than the closest competitor (Church at .914).
The youngest player among the finalists, 20-year-old Palm Beach catcher Sammy Hernandez, deserves a shout out for his .912 OPS, just a hair behind Church and third in the system.
First month offensive strugglers among ranked prospects include Memphis outfielder Moises Gomez (.595 with just two home runs), Peoria outfielders Won-Bin Cho (.623) and Joshua Baez (.670) and Memphis second baseman Thomas Saggese (.691).
Advanced stats
| Hitter | Tm | PA | BB% | K% | ISO | BABIP | wRC+ |
| José Fermín | Mem | 72 | 9.8 | 13.1 | 0.300 | 0.321 | 183 |
| Nathan Church* | Spr | 97 | 8.9 | 6.9 | 0.156 | 0.329 | 139 |
| Sammy Hernandez | PB | 67 | 12.2 | 10.8 | 0.113 | 0.370 | 161 |
| Bryan Torres* | Spr | 81 | 12.9 | 15.3 | 0.099 | 0.400 | 140 |
| Kade Kretzschmar* | PB | 82 | 14.1 | 19.6 | 0.120 | 0.362 | 144 |
| Zach Levenson | Peo | 79 | 10.3 | 20.7 | 0.160 | 0.375 | 138 |
| R.J. Yeager | Spr | 91 | 7.4 | 9.5 | 0.212 | 0.257 | 120 |
| César Prieto* | Mem | 97 | 2.8 | 13.2 | 0.176 | 0.325 | 109 |
| * left-handed batter |
(thanks to Fangraphs for the stats)
As we get into additional stats, we see that good fortune in the guise of a high BABIP (.362 to .400) benefited four of the finalists – Hernandez, Torres, Kade Kretzschmar and Zach Levenson.
The exception was Yeager, who excelled despite BABIP misfortune at just .257.
The same four high BABIP players also led the finalists in walk rates, with Palm Beach outfielder Kretzschmar leading the way at 14.1%.
At 6.9%, Church posted the lowest strikeout rate among finalists, with Yeager coming in just under 10% and Hernandez only slightly over.
In Isolated Power, ISO, again Yeager’s .212 was very impressive, but it was blown away by Fermín’s .300 ISO.
In weighted Runs Created Plus (wRC+), Fermín is once again tops with an exceptional 183, 83% above his league average, with Hernandez a distant second at 161.
When all is said and done, Fermín’s exceptional results across the board gives him the honors as The Cardinal Nation’s April Player of the Month.
About the winner
After a strong 2024 spring camp with St. Louis, Fermín continued to hit with Memphis and in fact, dominated International League pitching. At the time of his April promotion to replace slumping Jordan Walker, Fermín was third in the IL batting race. The infielder was also third in OBP and slugging and second in OPS. Fermín led the Redbirds with seven multi-hit games this season.
Fermín, 25, was acquired by the Cardinals from Cleveland for cash considerations in November 2022. After spending the first half of 2023 with Memphis, Fermín joined St. Louis early last July for the first of three big-league stints. He is versatile defensively, but was not impressive with the bat, logging a .594 OPS in 61 plate appearances over 21 games.
As Fermín is primarily a middle infielder and third baseman, positions well covered by others on the roster, he has played very sparingly since rejoining St. Louis. With Dylan Carlson and Matt Carpenter currently playing in minor league rehab games, Fermín’s remaining time with St. Louis is probably limited.
However, his April Player of the Month award will endure!
What is next?
The Cardinals organization should also name their own selections of April Player and Pitcher of the Month in the upcoming days.
Related article
The Cardinal Nation’s April 2024 Pitcher of the Month – Quinn Mathews
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