photo: Nolan Gorman (St. Louis Cardinals)
I was wrong about Nolan Gorman.
Not about the talent of the St. Louis Cardinals’ first-round draft pick from 2018, but about the pace of his success, and more importantly, the organization’s recognition of and reaction to it.
I did not expect the left-handed hitter to be promoted to Class-A Peoria, which is precisely what occurred on Wednesday morning. I had still felt that way when his predecessor as the Chiefs’ third baseman and likely leader for Midwest League Most Valuable Player honors, Elehuris Montero, was moved up to high-A Palm Beach on Tuesday.
My point of view was influenced by decades of organizational precedence – past behavior that has now been thrown out the window.
Not only will the 18-year-old Gorman be the youngest player in the Midwest League, but based on my research, he becomes the first position player drafted by the Cardinals to reach full-season ball during his draft year in the last 44 years.
In 1974, a prep shortstop by the name of Garry Templeton played for the Cards’ high-A affiliate, which at that time was located in St. Petersburg. Like Gorman, Tempy had opened his career in rookie ball, but after 18 games in the Gulf Coast League, St. Louis’ 1974 first-round selection, taken 13th overall, received his in-season promotion to the Florida State League. Almost exactly two years later, at age 20, Templeton made his major league debut with St. Louis. You are probably familiar with his story from there.
Unlike Templeton, who was learning how to switch-hit while posting a pedestrian .676 OPS in rookie-ball, the left-handed hitting Gorman stormed out of the gates for Johnson City. The Phoenix native is second in the Appy League with 11 home runs and slashed .345/.440/.662/1.102 in his initial 37 professional contests.
In the almost four and a half decades between the two infielders, many future Major League hitters drafted as high schoolers by the Cardinals did not compete during the first summer of their careers at such an advanced level. They include prominent then-teens Yadier Molina, Colby Rasmus and Dmitri Young. Andy Van Slyke was close, but St. Louis’ first-rounder in 1979 did not play his first professional contest until 1980 – in the Class-A Sally League.
Comparatively, the Cardinals have been slightly more aggressive with high school pitchers, but even then, a Class-A or above assignment in the first partial season is fairly rare.
The most recent example is a former Texas prep hurler, Shelby Miller, who debuted in the 2009 Midwest League in a two-start cameo. The right-hander, also a first-rounder, threw his initial MLB pitch with St. Louis three years later.
Gorman is receiving a one month head start on his 2019 while joining some very prominent company in Cardinals history. If he did not receive the label of a “special” player before, he now should wear it proudly.
Update #1 – Gorman vs. MiLB
Baseball America has also looked at Gorman’s advancement against the broader MLB population. (However, be advised the linked article is subscriber-only. My only beef is that BA has chosen not to clearly represent them as such.)
Gorman will become only the sixth prep first round pick to make it to low Class A in his draft year in the past decade.https://t.co/c2xcthpdhC
— Baseball America (@BaseballAmerica) August 8, 2018
Update #2 – Gorman vs. draft class
More info on how Gorman stacks up, this time compared to his 2018 draft peers.
#STLCards double-jump 1st-rounder Nolan Gorman to @peoriachiefs after he destroyed Appy League pitching for the @JC_Cardinals. His rank among all 2018 #MLBDraft picks:
HR – 2nd
TB – 3rd
SLG – 2nd
OPS – 4th
HR% – 3rd
Debuted very high on @Cardinals' Top 30: https://t.co/zGqqpcDMBG pic.twitter.com/e9wAfO7uF8— MLB Pipeline (@MLBPipeline) August 8, 2018
Update #3 – Sabino backfills Gorman
To replace Gorman (sort of) at third base for Johnson City, the Cardinals promoted Liam Sabino from the Gulf Coast League.
The organization’s 35th rounder from Pittsburgh this June has shown little with the bat over his 23 career games with a slash line of .192/.272/.288/.559. The 22-year old struck out at a 38.3% rate in the GCL.
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