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A couple of hits from the organizational games yesterday:
Derek Shore did a piece on Victor Roache on Saturday. This guy is a slugging machine right now and the thing is he is hitting .053 points higher than his career BA. Last 10 games = .333 raising him up to .293. At 26, he may have just found himself. And we may find him at Memphis where there is a spot open since Arozarena joined Roache at Springfield. The Brewers were very high on this guy but the major injury slowed his progress… maybe he is just now feeling better.
Down at Peoria… C Ortega has 11 hits in his last 21 at bats and OF Denton is hitting .351 in his last 9 games. The Chiefs have a string of 4 straight come from behind games. The pitching down there has been mostly disappointing. Promoted Chief Yepes is now at 1 for 20 at Palm Beach, and although that’s some bad hitting I’m not worried about the 20 year old. He has always hit well… he’ll pick it up.
I agree with Brian’s input here.
So you believe that it is better to NOT promote a deserving player because he MIGHT have to go back down a level in a month – IF nothing changes in the interim?
That would be a bad way to run an organization, IMO. Set expectations properly up front and no one is surprised later. It is not hard to do.
Q: Why would that be any different for Martinez than it would be for Knizner? A: none.
In fact, at the end of minor league spring training, when Bader was called up to St. Louis at the last minute as an injury replacement for Gyorko, they promoted Arozarena to Memphis. One month later, when St. Louis’ and Memphis’ hitters were healthy, Arozarena was returned to Springfield. He held his own at Triple-A, saw what the next level was like and gained some valuable experience.
I cannot believe that was NOT the best path to take with Arozarena, even though he could not stay at the higher level, and I see no substantive difference between that example and the current situation with Knizner.
(P.S. This has nothing to do with Martinez. The fact is that Knizner is a better prospect and is further along.)
I will add that I won’t even touch who is the better prospect or who is further along. I am looking at production. Knizner has produced for 2 years offensively AND his defense has improved tremendously. Mattheny was quoted after spring training that Knizner was the most improved player at camp… and no one can argue that his stats the past two years have proven he has potential to get the job done, regardless of where he is placed. Anyone with half a memory will remember the abysmal stats that PB’s catcher had last year, but that was all kept hush hush and the Cardinals made sure their failing 4th round draft pick was kept under the radar with no discussion about how he needed to improve offensively. He though, got an undeserved call up to Memphis before the end of the season, and Knizner was left at Springfield. History seems to be repeating itself this season. Rather than rewarding Knizner for top notch offensive production and good growth defensively, the Cards seem intent on keeping a good man down to “promote” prospects that were drafted higher AND in which they organization has invested more bucks. They need to cease the little league politics and stop the inflated PR and excuses. Reward production. Give credit and recognition where it is due. Stats don’t lie.
Knizner got a short time to rest up last September before heading to the Arizona Fall League, where he got plenty of exposure and work. So I was not troubled by him not going to Memphis for a very brief time at the end of the season.
It is a very different situation now, however.
We need to see if Martinez becomes the next Jenner (never plays) and they keep starting Baron at Memphis. If that happens, then my criticism will return to why a .170 catcher is playing every day for a team in an offensive slump.
However, not to overthink this, it sure seems like the best answer would simply be to start Knizner at Memphis until Molina returns. The extent the organization is going to avoid this is very puzzling.
Knizner got a short time to rest up last September before heading to the Arizona Fall League, where he got plenty of exposure and work. So I was not troubled by him not going to Memphis for a very brief time at the end of the season.
It is a very different situation now, however.
We need to see if Martinez becomes the next Jenner (never plays) and they keep starting Baron at Memphis. If that happens, then my criticism will return to why a .170 catcher is playing every day for a team in an offensive slump.
However, it sure seems like the best answer would be to start Knizner at Memphis until Molina returns. The extent the organization is going to avoid this is very puzzling.
Brian, my prediction is that Martinez will stay at Memphis and that Baron will back him up … and that Baron will eventually be released. They have to make sure that the 4th rounder earns that $600,000 draft bonus, especially since the pick value was $421.600. Politics, baby!
Cards1776, while we agree on the general preference to see Knizner ahead of Martinez, and I concur that the Baron release scenario is quite possible, where we differ is that I do not believe that being a fourth vs. a seventh round draft pick a few years ago matters at this point. As another poster mentioned before, this seems to have more to do with Molina and Kelly than either Knizner or Martinez.
P.S. Steve Bean was a supplemental first round catcher who got $700,000 to sign but never escaped Palm Beach, though he hit almost the same there as Martinez (.480 OPS vs. .477).
P.S. Steve Bean was a supplemental first round catcher who got $700,000 to sign but never escaped Palm Beach, though he hit almost the same there as Martinez (.480 OPS vs. .477).
Yep, Bean’s average BA from 2012 to his release in 2017 was a mere .216. I guess it must be standard procedure for the organization to give catchers 5-6 years to develop and prove they can hit. Meanwhile, Knizner has raked, batting over .300 both years since he was drafted in 2016. At least we can agree that everyone is getting screwed over in the current dilemma.
Brian, the front office claims that Knizer wasn’t promoted because he needs to work on his defense. Does that hold water with you?
gscottar, of course, that is what they were going to say! As a paid member (thank you for your business!), you can read my full opinion here.
AND meanwhile, Knizner enters the MLB.com Top Ten Catcher’s List.
Big win for Peoria 13-1 over the league leading Clinton Lumberjacks to get to within 0.5 games of 1st place. The 6 game winning streak has helped. Of course the 8 team West division is separated by 4.5 games. J.R. Davis 3-4 4RBIs in his first game out of EST.
Warner got the PBCards a win in game one of the DH. He has been the best pitcher in the organization over the past 20 days. The second game was a disaster as the Cards tried to sweep the DH, as the deal was to try a bullpen start. Coughed up a 8-0 lead after 1.5 inn. Ouch.
The S-Cards have now lost 7 of 8. Ellis’ start yesterday was the worse of the season for Springfield. The team is now carrying 5 INFs and 6 OFs with the return of Goetzman who homered twice in the loss.
Memphis is also struggling losing 5 of 6 in the last week. One of their offensive leaders for April, AGarcia (.267 OBP=.329) is having a tough go of it in May (.162 .179 OBP). He needs to pick it up again. The Redbirds will be starting a 4-game set at Colo.Sprgs. on Thurs. without Flaherty and Gant in the rotation. The off day today helps but their next one is June 4th. Herget and Gilmartin have been filling in and both earned GSs of 70 in their last starts.
From UConn’s summary of last night’s games:
Yepez, our Player of the Day, accounted for five of his team’s eight scores, going 2-for-4 with a double and three-run bomb comprising three of his four RBI and one of his two runs scored.:
Let’s hope this gets him going with adv-A Palm Beach. I keep reminding folks that he is just 20 and is too good a hitter to fail in his promotion.
With Memphis postponed the other three starters (GS=Woodford-60 Kruczynski-62 Walsh-76) all pitched well last night. Walsh was superb.
New names in all of the lineups with all the player movements yesterday. The one move that should be the most interesting is EMendoza to Springfield to play 3B. Dykstra a career 2B had been playing there since the S-Cards had no one else to play the hot corner.
We’ll have a premier prospect if Mendoza (21) acclimates to AA quickly. He’s been on quite a ride in ’18. I just hope that he isn’t being pushed to quickly. He started ’17 at State College as our 11th round pick (334). He could be the diamond that we’ve been hoping for.
The 10-run 1st inn. that the Redbirds put up featured 7-XBHs. 2 3R-HRs (Urias-Wisdom). Struggling AGarcia made two outs in the inning. In the DH Mercado went 7 for 9 and raised his BA from .286 to .317. Arozarena is back with MEM and plans on staying, even if O’Neill or Bader are sent back to AAA.
In the Peoria game which they lost 8-4, Oviedo didn’t make it out of the 1st inning, going 2/3 giving up 4ERs and pushing his ERA to 7.34. He has made 7 starts this season and in 30.2 inn. he’s walked 25 and the hitters he has faced are at .291BA against him. In his last 3 starts his GS average = 28.0.
This isn’t what the organization was looking for and not what most fans expected. One would have to guess he is pitching through an injury. I would question him staying in the rotation. The thing is the Chief’s starters have generally been bad and Nicasio has already been sent back to EST. Maybe Oviedo, if he’s not hurt will follow him to get back his mojo.
Some of our top-40 prospects have hit a roadblock recently after getting out of the gate to fast starts.
From TCN’s May rankings:
#12 AGarcia- .147 last 9 games.
#28 Thomas- .090 last 8 games
#30 Sosa- .178 last 9 games.
#31 Edman- .081 last 9 games.
#32 Robertson – .182 last 9 games.
#37 Young- .161 last 8 games.Let’s hope that they can turn it around in late May.
It’s a shame with Garcia slumping.
I can’t make any sense out of Arozarena. His BB ISO and K rates are all over the place. He does have a 12 stolen bases and a crazy batting line in AA.
Oscar Mercado, meanwhile, is absolutely crushing it. I thought last season’s 3 months were a mirage, but he has totally taken over. A .317/.381/.465/.846 line with 5 HRs and 10 SBs out of a CF.
What a night by the prospects. 13 Ks by Reyes, 7 hits in a double header for Mercado, 5 hits for Wisdom.
Incredible starting pitching depth the Cardinals have. Hudson, Poncedeleon, and Gomber would be starting for most of the other 29 teams. And this is not even including Flaherty.
The top six in St. Louis are strong and Gant makes a nice number seven. I am less convinced about the other three at Memphis mentioned being quite that far along.
CMart – Ace
Reyes – Possible Ace
Mikolas – Solid middle starter
Wacha – Solid middle starter
Flaherty – Top of rotation pitcher
Weaver – Solid backend starter
Gant – Solid backend starter
Poncedeleon – ?
Gomber – ?
Hudson – ?I think Poncedeleon and Hudson would be starting for almost every other team this year. Poncedeleon will need to be R5 protected because someone will nab him. Gomber is the only one of the 3 that seems to be struggling at Memphis and could use another year. So that gives us 9 solid starting pitchers in my opinion.
I think Helsley rates to be in the discussion. He would be in AAA in almost any other system. He has been a little inconsistent but has thrown some gems also.
Hicks as a starter anyone?
I think you always hate to see a highly talented pitcher go to the bullpen. You’d rather see him start. But Hicks seems to have all the tools needed to become that elite closer who is such a beautiful sight to see in the ninth when the other guys are trying to claw their way back to a win. Hicks has got to stay on the path he’s on.
Of course its still too early to make a call. But, IMO, Mikolas has been pitching like an ace so far this year. If he keeps this up, his next contract will likely be in the $60-$80M range.
I would take Helsley over Poncedeleon, Gomber, and Hudson. I think he has a better chance to stay in the rotation than Hudson. Helsley has the profile of a No. 3 starter and probably should be pitching in Triple-A right now. Although Gomber has the clear advantage being the only left-handed starter out of the group.
I’m going with the keymaster on this, although he didn’t mention Reyes for down the road (June). And here I thought that I was overly optimistic about our young starting pitchers.
A note on Gomber: last season at Springfield he hit a flat spell in mid-May/early-June but he picked it right back up for the remainder of the season. So for the next wave… I’d go with him as #8 right now.
(Martinez-Wacha-Mikolas-Weaver-Flaherty-Gant-Reyes-Gomber(L).
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