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I have Bernal a couple slots lower, but I admit I have sketchy info to work with.
Looking at his offense, he repeated in rookie ball at PB and his OPS dropped about 30 points from his first year at that level. Which is moving the wrong way. So that is why I am pumping the brakes on him a little bit.
2023 Palm Beach
Leonardo Bernal: Age 19 – .265/.381/.362/.743
Chase Davis: Age 21 – .212/.366/.269/.635Part of the reason Bernal repeated was because all the catchers were blocked by the Contreras signing. Herrera repeated AAA, Pages repeated AA. Crooks did advance, but he is a college bat that was promoted out of Palm Beach.
Two things to note about Bernal’s performance, his OBP dramatically increased, and his power sagged. But his ground out to fly ball ratio dramatically decreased, and the ballpark where he plays is known to suppress power. It rains every single day.
Bob, I think the reason Rajic’s appearance at Springfield doesn’t show up is that it was a playoff game.
On Tuesday, Sept. 19, Rajic threw three innings in relief of Roby at Springfield. He gave up two hits and a run.The ghost of Ryan Holgate eerily floats above the head of Davis swirling chaoticly. He will have to hit professionally for at least a couple months before I consider him ahead of Baez or Choo. The three have similar skill sets and ceilings, but Choo is the only who translates into actual games. Davis is mid-teens for me.
9. Davis
10. BernalI’ll admit that I’ve been swayed by the Cardinals’ own ranking of Bernal in the top 10 of their Top 30. I can’t disagree with it because what little information there is about Bernal is positive. I expect him to improve again in 2024. But if he doesn’t, and if Pages continues to improve, then I’m going to rank Pages ahead of him next year. Pages was drafted in 2019, so his development had to have been set back by the COVID years. His calling card has always been his defense, but his offense at AA where he finished the season was well above average for a catcher, also…. .267/.362/.443./806 with 17 HR in 424 AB. Finally, and this is very subjective, I know… but in Brian’s interview with Springfield’s pitching coach, Eric Peterson, it sounded to me like Peterson honestly thinks very highly of Pedro Pages. Pages is going to be my #11 prospect
Robberse, Kloffenstien, Hansen, Bedell, Rom, Mautz, and Rincon all deserve debate. Davis, Baez, Choo, and Iadisermia combine speed with power. Prieto, Dunn, and Yeager have hit. Bernal, Pages and Crooks may have the most value of all.
This group is truly still deep after so many graduations.“Bob, I think the reason Rajic’s appearance at Springfield doesn’t show up is that it was a playoff game.
On Tuesday, Sept. 19, Rajic threw three innings in relief of Roby at Springfield. He gave up two hits and a run.”Thanks for the info, Nigel. And good to know that Rajcic can match Roby when it comes to velocity, per your eyewitness report. Thanks again!
what little information there is about Bernal is positive. I expect him to improve again in 2024. But if he doesn’t, and if Pages continues to improve, then I’m going to rank Pages ahead of him next year
mud, you should not forget about Crooks in that mix. I actually have him right next to Bernal in my own list. Be sure to check out Brian’s AFL interview with him. There are some reasons to think the org is liking Crooks a lot. He’s just a few slots behind Bernal on the official site. He got the big league camp invite. He got the AFL assignment and the cameo in Memphis prior to heading out to AFL. He did quite well in Peoria in his first full length pro season, with a really strong August at the end. ( 1.038 OPS). That tells me his bat may do some damage in the hitter friendly Texas League in 2024. His arm is said to be a stand out tool. It is worth remembering that Pages played all year in Springfield after having spent the second half of 2022 in Memphis. That seems largely due to Contreras keeping Herrera down and plugging up the pipe, but Pages’s 2023 numbers in Springfield must be taken with that in mind. He will get another shot at AAA now with Herrara moving into Knizner’s role.
By the way, the subject of Bernal’s and Crooks’s relative ranking on the official site’s top 30 prospects came up the other day during a conversation with a guy on the next bar stool. He thinks the pecking order would be reversed except Crooks’s lukewarm 4th round pedigree is trumped by the org’s need to pump a rare glimmer of hope coming out of the pathetic international program. That got an eyebrow raise out of me, and I think we were only a couple rounds into it by then.
Crooks’s lukewarm 4th round pedigree is trumped by the org’s need to pump a rare glimmer of hope coming out of the pathetic international program.
I don’t think being drafted in a middle round hurts you as much as being drafted in rounds 1 & 2 helps you.
I haven’t researched it yet, but I think the Cardinals are better at drafting in rounds 4-6 than they are in rounds 1 & 2.
Bob, Roby worked 96 to 98 and Rajic worked 94 to 96. Roby hit 100 on his first pitch and never hit it again. Rajic seemed a tic below Roby, but it was how they worked that was impressive. Both threw effortlessly with command. Hitters seemed totally off balance.
A hitter turned on an inside Rajic fastball for a bomb, but it seemed an anomaly.blingboy:
mud, you should not forget about Crooks in that mix. I actually have him right next to Bernal in my own list. Be sure to check out Brian’s AFL interview with him. There are some reasons to think the org is liking Crooks a lot. He’s just a few slots behind Bernal on the official site. He got the big league camp invite. He got the AFL assignment and the cameo in Memphis prior to heading out to AFL. He did quite well in Peoria in his first full length pro season, with a really strong August at the end. ( 1.038 OPS). That tells me his bat may do some damage in the hitter friendly Texas League in 2024. His arm is said to be a stand out tool.I’m more of performance based “show-me” guy. Accordingly, I have Crooks ahead of Bernal on my list and I believe is is higher on the organization’s catching depth chart. I get it that he is 3 years older than Bernal but based on Bling’s evaluation he may have a higher ceiling at this point.
Rajcic was chosen by the organization as Pitcher of the Year one short week ago.
The org also has him 18th on their Top 30 list, with 8 pitching prospects ahead of him. We will have to see how that looks once the new season gets under way.
From 2010-2014, the Cardinals drafted:
Round 1: 13 players, 64 WAR, 17 2 WAR seasons, 8 2 WAR seasons with the Cardinals
Round 2: 6 players, 4.5 WAR, 2 2 WAR seasons, 0 2 WAR seasons with the Cardinals
Rounds 3-6: 20 players, 5.9 WAR, 0 2 WAR seasonsFrom 2015-2019, the Cardinals drafted:
Round 1: 8 players, 14.6 WAR, 3 2 WAR seasons, 3 2 WAR seasons with the Cardinals
Round 2: 4 players, -0.4 WAR, 0 2 WAR seasons
Round 3: 5 players, 30.6 WAR, 7 2 WAR seasons, 3 2 WAR seasons with the Cardinals
Round 4: 5 players, 14.2 WAR, 3 3 WAR seasons, 3 3 WAR seasons with the Cardinals
Round 5: 5 players, 4.1 WAR, 1 2 WAR season, 1 2 WAR season with the Cardinals
Round 6: 5 players, 17.1 WAR, 4 2 WAR seasons, 4 2 WAR seasons with the CardinalsThey also drafted Donovan in the 7th round and Nootbaar in the 8th round, both of whom have a career 6.1 WAR and both of whom have two 2 WAR seasons.
It appears the Cardinals are figuring out how to draft in the middle rounds, but still stink at the first two rounds.
Is that the org, or is that MLB.com writers?
It probably depends on where the guys you like are ranked. Hence and Scott fans will think its the org for sure. Rajcic fans will be sceptical. It has the org’s latest #1 pick 3rd and Mo’s deadline choices clustered pretty high, so I think its the org.
And then there’s this from TCN.
Herrera and Rajcic Named 2023 Cardinals Minor League Player and Pitcher of the Year
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