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I will go with Doyle at #2 until he proves differently. Potential is there to be a starter for many years for the Cards!
Hey, welcome “Keep”. Don’t forget to keepcomingback. Last year we had 17 selectors in round 1 which is the same number as this year. Historically, we pick up some others along the way and for one reason or another, we lose a few. (Don’t be one of those) You can all see that this is a knowledgeable group…. the ones who contribute all season long.
I take a lot of stock in the “Community’s” rankings probably more so than all of the other rankings available because it is made up by the guys in the trenches who are Cardinal diehards and who have acquired a knowledge of the organization by digesting each other’s thoughts. This is a great exercise which can get you a dose of TCN baseball during the fireside chat days. Have fun.
25.25 hours left until the closing time…. 1:00 CDT – 12 noon EDT tomorrow.
Since I flipped my vote to make this year’s number one selection unanimous, I’ll go with Liam Doyle at number two. He’s gonna be an electric fast riser.
So far for TC…
1. Wetherholt
2. DoyleI am struggling with placing the next few on my list. Mathews has clearly not been right since the beginning of the season, and did not improve after the early season lay off. He might have got wobbly those last few starts of 2024 after he moved up to Memphis. So it is something that affected him all year, at least, and was in play still at the end of the year. Its a coin flip what he will look like next spring.
Crooks was not convincing as far as being a top prospect. The hype shine is wearing off Bernal. I don’t consider Roby, Hence and Hjerpe to be prospects at all.
So that gets us down to some new faces. The new golden boy is the 18 year old who looks great in A ball. A few AA pitchers had a good year. They can answer the bell at least. Josh Baez finally perked up. There’s the Luken Baker wannabe. There’s Davis. Not sure what I will do.
Is Saggese still a prospect? He wasn’t listed as an ineligible player from last years list on the first post of this thread.
He is ineligible due to both at bats and time spent on the big league roster.
Bling, I understand the dilemma. There’s a big step down after Wetherholt. Still lots of “good” prospects but lots of question marks on them too. There’s also the issue of 2-7 all having about equal pluses and minuses. To me, that’s the group of Matthews, Doyle, Bernal, Crooks, Rodriguez, and Josh Baez. I could also see any of Mautz, Henderson, or Roby also getting mixed into the back end of this group. They all have similarly balanced upside and downside.
We will close it here. Our #2 selection is Doyle with 10 – Mathews 4- RRodriguez -2 Next up #3. Voting will close on Tuesday 12noon.
I’ll vote Matthews again. He still is an advanced pitcher who knows what he’s doing out there. The command issues are a little scary. But even with them, he was still mostly effective after the first month or so. I completely get the Rodriguez votes here. But it could take him 4-5 years in the minors like it did Herrera because catcher is such a difficult position.
3. Quinn Matthews
I picked Mathews at #2 but I am going to do something that probably doesn’t make sense.
If I picked him at 2 then he must be my choice at 3, but not so fast.
I think we have not only a good prospect, but a very unique prospect that I cannot pick lower than 3.That is catcher Rainel Rodriguez. I don’t recall a more exciting young prospect. Closest was Oscar Taveras
I am not only impressed with his power but moreso with the way he adjusts so quickly to the level at which he is playing. Not sure he will make it as a catcher but I am sure the Cardinals will find a way to get him in the lineup.
Rodriguez for #3.
#3 Josh Baez.
He started the season as a 21 year old in Peoria. Moved up to Springfield at the end of May. Turned 22 in late June. An OF with a cannon for an arm. He mostly plays RF but occasionally plays CF. In 499 PAs, he hit 20 HR, 3 triples, 23 doubles, 54 SB and a .287/.384/.500/.884 slash line with a 20.6% strikeout rate. From July 1 to the end of the season, he lowered his K rate to 17.6%. In addition, he walked about 12% of the time. If he continues this, he will be special.
This is one of the tougher years to rank, I think. There can be good arguments made for Rodriguez, Baez and Mathews, as well as a couple of others.
I have a feeling that it may be even tougher next year. Once some of our 2025 draftees and trade acquisitions get a year in our system, we may have some more gems.
#3 Joshua Baez. Forsch summed it up. Size, athleticism, arm, power, catching on to hitting better pitching. We need a legit outfielder with MOTO potential in the worst way. The biggest question mark in my mind is the track record of the PD system he came through, and what Walker looked like when he got here. But maybe the evolving PD system was part of why he had a breakout season.
#3 Joshua Baez. He definitely had a breakout year, the kind of year that fans can only dream of. I’m feeling like I have to vote for Bernal at #4. To me is our catcher of the future. Nobody seems to know if Raniel catch or throw the ball. But based on all the relentless hype about this kid, I’m afraid to place him lower than #5. That means that my #6 is Matthews, Crooks, or for me anyway, Hence.
All of this is subject to change and is dependent on how the community votes. So, we’ll see….
Everything would be a lot easier if 1TD would just shake the junk out of his ‘quartz orb’ so that it could ‘see’ with clarity.
BTW, the Cardinals website has Jesus Baez at #7, down from #5. Who the heck is this kid? I know we got him from the Mets But why would the Cardinals rank him higher that Josh Baez?
#3 Quinn Mathews
Very tough choice between Rainiel and Quinn for me. But I give a slight edge to Quinn for his proximity to the majors and still has #2/#3 upside. There is definitely risk here with his struggles this season. I hope Quinn takes the full offseason off actually and focuses on pure recovery rather than working on improving things this year. Health is the biggest barrier for him as talent wise I think he is there. I’m attributing the walks to the side effects of a not healthy year.
I don’t have Jimmy Crooks until #6, but that isn’t a slight to him but more preference to guys above. I bring him up as many seem down on him based off his struggles in a month of the bigs. I’m not as worried. I don’t think Crooks is going to have a great bat and will likely be slightly below average with the bat overall. But glove wise I think he should be quite good and has a long future ahead in the bigs because of that glove. Other glove first guys like Winn looked very rough in his big league debut. Even Winn looked rough with the glove his first full season and many here kept criticizing his decision making due to a lot of errors while I was more patient saying it would improve with time and this year. I expect the same with Crooks.
Two things Joshua Baez has going for him is he’s not a pitcher and he’s not a catcher. On the other hand, a lot of guys look good in The Texas League and don’t really pan out. But he is in the right place at the right time, with the right skill set. We will see what he looks like in AAA.
The Jesus Baez hype train will have to leave the station without me for now. How many of the recent trade acquisitions instantly became top prospects, and what has come of it? Nothing.
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