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Sometimes the Cards seem overly impressed by guys with high ceiling (blow away) stuff like Oviedo and Helsley, and are under impressed with guys who just know how to pitch….move the location, change speeds, paint the corners, etc. Like Gant and Woodford.
Indeed. A prime example is Jordan Hicks. He has the lively fastball, but he has never been allowed to learn how to pitch. The organization got all giddy about this guy who can throw 100 MPH, and thought all they had to do was turn him loose and he would be the next Sandy Koufax.
Instead they have burned out his arm, and he has never had a chance to learn the art of pitching.
He never got the chance to work his trade in the minors like Alex Reyes. Reyes too had the arm issues, but has matured enough now to where he is dependable. He still is little too much of a thrower, but should continue to develop into a pitcher as long as he can avoid further injuries.
The hard throwers have to move up fast before they blow out their arm. They don’t have time to learn how to pitch. I think their success is largely due to pitching to batters who don’t know how to hit.
Sandy Alcantara is an example of a hard thrower we rushed through. DOSL to MLB in 3 years. Still had a WHIP 1.400+. Maybe back then, several years ago, it was still rational to think if you could get a 100 mph guy to the bigs before he blew out his arm he could just throw it past ML hitters.
He is lucky to have gone to the Marlins where he has spent a few years learning how to pitch in a ML rotation.
If our starting OF of O’Neill, Bader, and Carlson could all stay healthy at the same time I think we would be fine. Our depth is a different story. I think the best 4th OF we have is Austin Dean but he is at Memphis on the IL.
Ponce has looked much better out of the pen than in the rotation to me. Velocity is up but still needs better control. He may have found his role on this team now.
Personally, I’m a little worried about Carlson’s complete power outage. He hasn’t hit a home run since the first week of the season and he’s running very high BABIPs with a low exit velocity. I’d really like to see him drive the ball over the fence a little more besides slapping singles.
O’Neill has started to tap into the potential we hoped for him this year. If the on base percentage can rise a little (and you’d think it will as pitchers get more cautious about making mistakes for him to hammer) he’s a very solid all around ball player. If the Cards wanted to upgrade a corner spot with a big bat this off-season I’d think Tyler might have the ability to play CF and could get a shot there.
Bader is playing well this year and the underlying data is also promising. If he’s really turned a corner, that would be huge. Personally, if he had a very good 2021 I might try trading him while his stock is high. He’s definitely a major league outfielder, as anyone can see. It’s just a matter of how much you need his bat to contribute to add value. Some teams, he could start just with his defense and a 90 OPS+ and be quite helpful.
Good notes on Carlson stl25, I’ve been watching the BAbip and slg% also. For May Carlson has 98 PA’s, 21 hits (19 singles and 2 doubles). His .357 OBP for May is helped by 12 BB’s, but the slg% has dipped to .284 on the month. His May BAbip of .339 is hovering around lg avg, and he’s quietly contributing, but 23 total bases is a noticeable dropoff from his first months 44 total bases ( in 4 less PA’s).
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