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The only scheduled Monday game in the #stlcards system was a 1-0 loss in the Dominican. The Cardinal Nation’s Player of the Day, RH Keiverson Ramirez, allowed one run in five innings with six Ks. All five clubs’ standings are recapped and the coming week’s series are previewed.… pic.twitter.com/Zm2IHKBzf9
— Brian Walton (@B_Walton) July 30, 2024
Here's JJ Wetherholt's first professional hit, a 107.4 mph single! pic.twitter.com/5zcbKbQUmX
— Kareem (@KareemSSN) July 30, 2024
The #STLCards system was 1-4 on Tuesday. The Cardinal Nation’s Player of the Day, RH Darlin Saladin, threw seven one-run innings with nine strikeouts in Peoria’s win. Other standouts include Matt Koperniak, Chase Davis and Jason Savacool. https://t.co/QUh66RCM8f pic.twitter.com/cseXygUmpe
— Brian Walton (@B_Walton) July 31, 2024
The #STLCards system was 3-1 on Wednesday. The Cardinal Nation’s Player of the Day, LH Quinn Mathews, pitched six one-run innings with nine Ks in Springfield’s win. Other standouts: Victor Scott, Jordan Walker, Jacob Buchberger, Jose Davila & Brayden Jobert.… pic.twitter.com/oIi7lWDMzk
— Brian Walton (@B_Walton) August 1, 2024
Scott and Walker have yet to get it going in AAA, which probably means they’re doing some heavy swing maintenance there to try to build up for the majors in the future. What it is, I don’t know. But it’s a little bit alarming that neither has had even what would be considered a good month yet since being went down.
On the other hand, Koperniak and Baker seem to be guys that will get a chance with a team like Pittsburgh or Colorado and probably have a few solid seasons with the bat. If they stick around for next year, I wonder if either has a real shot to break into the big leagues?
To his credit, Koperniak is hitting over .300 against both right- and left-handed pitchers this season. Not that he has a lot of power, but he has a bit more against RHP. His OBP is higher against LHP. Same power/OBP split last year.
Well rounded profile. Maybe he will get a shot in 2025.
Koperniak 5 for 5 with 3 doubles tonight including likely the game winner. I’m going to project that he’s Brian’s player of the day. Hard to beat that. Lin may give him some competition though with 7 scoreless.
The #STLCards system was 2-2 on Thursday. The Cardinal Nation’s Player of the Day, Memphis LF Matt Koperniak, was 5-for-5 with three doubles, five RBI, and a run scored. Other standouts include Chen-Wei Lin, Ian Petrutz, Victor Scott II, Chase Davis, and Jacob Buchberger.… pic.twitter.com/7J3R1wDkh1
— Brian Walton (@B_Walton) August 2, 2024
Well, Baker hit .300 vs righties and lefties in Memphis last year and it got him a chance. Maybe not the greatest chance behind the reigning MVP 😐
In the DSL today we were outhit 13 to 5. That’s not super weird. It happens. However, what is weird is that we won the game 11 to 9. Yes, 11 runs on 5 hits. Only in the DSL.
The #STLCards system was 3-2 on Friday. The Cardinal Nation’s Player of the Day, DSL 3B Yoerny Junco, was 2-for-4 with two RBI. Other standouts include Zack Thompson, Brandon Komar, Chase Davis, Luis Gastelum and Cristofer Lebron. https://t.co/2WCUDsCean pic.twitter.com/epxTXXipUF
— Brian Walton (@B_Walton) August 3, 2024
Luis Enrique Gastelum. I’ve been waiting a couple years now for this crafty hurler out of Los Mochis, Mexico to start putting it all together. A bit long in the tooth for his level, but I think the Cardinals patience is about to pay off….in spades. “Gassy” sports a nifty 54-9 K-BB ratio and if you listen hard enough…..you can hear Peoria summoning his presence.
Lots of great pitching in our minors system tonight. That’s been a trend most of the season. Only Springfield is in the lower half of their respective league in ERA.
Also, the team records are vastly improved on what happened last year.
Palm Beach leads the way at 21 games over .500.
Springfield is +12 and winning by 3 late in their game tonight.
Our DSL team is +3.
Memphis is -4 but in good shape to win tonight.
The FCL finished at -13.
Peoria is at -15. They are in good shape to win tonight.Overall, that’s +4 games over .500 and should be +7 by tonight’s end. I know that’s not spectacular, but compared to last season it is a vast improvement.
The composite winning percentage of the system is just
underover .500 as you said. That puts them 17th of 30 MLB organizations. Last year, they finished at .478, ranking 22nd. In 2022, they were 19th, still under .500, so have been hanging in the same general area.The last year the system was above .500 was 2018. Back then, it had been pretty much an every-year occurrence.
The Brewers system currently has the best W/L record this season, neck and neck with the Tigers.
(Typo corrected above.)
The #stlcards system went 6-0 on Saturday. TCN’s Player of the Day, Springfield C Jimmy Crooks, slammed a pair of HRs with five RBI. Other standouts: Gordon Graceffo, Max Rajcic, Pete Hansen, Darlin Moquete, Bryaden Jobert, Ian Petrutz, Randel Clemente and Fernando Roquez.…
— Brian Walton (@B_Walton) August 4, 2024
Crooks bat has been much better than everyone expected this year. He is also our best defensive catching prospect. If he can keep the bat up, I see him as our starting catcher in a few years.
Not everyone. We ranked Crooks 11th in the system coming into the season and he is moving up in the monthly rankings since. If we did our August rankings today, I would have Crooks seventh, but we’ll also have to see what Blake says when we are closer to mid-month.
This spring, BA had him 15th and Law 17th. Right now, MLB has him 12th, but behind Cho who is struggling, and Honeyman who has been hurt since drafted a year ago.
Blake summarized Crooks this way:
“The 22-year-old does everything well and has no clear weaknesses. He can hit, he can hit for power, he’s good and mobile behind the plate, pitchers like throwing to him, and he has a solid arm. That’s really everything you look for in a catcher.”
Meaning no disrespect, but Herrera was ranked even higher when he was in AA?
Amongst the basic attributes of a catcher is the ability to control the running game, and absent that, the rest doesn’t matter. That would be the first bar Crooks has to clear unless he is going to find a new position. I have no idea, but how does he do with that compared to Herrera and Pages in AA?
Herrera moved into our Top 10 when he was in A-ball, but an international player has a different progression from a college draftee. And of course, they are being compared to different players several years apart so a rankings comparison isn’t exact.
To your running game question, yes, Crooks is better than Herrera. Here are their caught stealing results at AA, but Pages was there for two seasons so he had more time to acclimate to the level. His second year was much better than his first.
Herrera: 25%
Crooks: 31.9%
Pages: 36.5% (First year at AA: 30.3%)Crooks is a much better hitter than Pages, so if/when the time comes, Pedro might have to move aside. Currently, Crooks is the batting average leader in the Texas League. Coming from a catcher, that is pretty impressive.
Bling, copying my message from another thread a month ago in response to you about defense grades. Crooks is rated as a much better defender than Herrera was a a prospect.
Bling said
Well it is concerning that the same people who were right there and did not identify Herrera’s issue are also standing right there looking at Bernal and Crooks.
I said
For context, here are Longenhagen’s defense most scouting grades in each of our catching prospects. Longenhagen is much more conservative on handing out tool grades especially on the defense side which is why I like his ratings. They tend to be the more realistic output.
Herrera (2023 report) – Fielding=35/40, Throwing=40
Pages – Fielding=50/50, Throwing=60
Crooks – Fielding=45/55, Throwing=60
Bernal- Fielding=40/55, Throwing=55Much better defense reports on the non-Herrera catchers in our org. No grade on Sammy Hernandez, but here is what Eric had to say on him.
Eric said
Hernandez is a raw, athletic catcher who came back from Toronto in the Génesis Cabrera trade last year. He needs to develop as a defender (his crouch is still comically high) and improve his plate discipline, but he has rare bat speed for a catcher.
Thanks for reposting that Albert. It looks like this Longenhagen chap rates Crooks and Pages pretty equal defensively. I think the current narrative being pushed is that Crooks will be better at controlling the running game at the ML level.
I have to say that Herrera has soured me on the whole subject of catcher development in the Cardinals system. That Logenhagen blurb you posted illustrates that Ivan had a fatal flaw that precluded success as a catcher, yet he was brought all the way up, until crunch time, and then when the position needed to be filled they spent $85 Million because he wasn’t fit for the position, and not even fit as the #2 catcher, as we found out earlier this year. Yet he has been a top prospect despite having a fatal flaw. It was that tin soldiers in a sandbox thing again. Let’s pretend like we have a top prospect catcher. Well, I’m not buying in this time.
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