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To cheer myself up after yet another dispiriting defeat, I thought I’d jot down a few positive developments from our baby Birds.
Michael McGreevy since June 1st has made 11 starts, including his stellar 7-inning MLB debut. Across those 11 starts he’s thrown 66 innings and permitted just 19 earned runs, for a 2.59 ERA. I’d say he’s earned a major league rotation slot more than Mikolas or Matz, wouldn’t you?
If they were 4 or 5 games out of the wildcard race, then what does it matter? But instead they are actually close in spite of themselves. So with barely more than a quarter of the season remaining, it’s time to put the best possible players and pitchers on the field — and ignore feelings and financials.
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Double-A backstop Jimmy Dale Crooks III since June 23rd has posted a slashline of .345/.397/.621 (126 plate appearances). For the season overall, his line is .309/.403/.487, which translates to a spectacular 152 OPS+. He’s also gunned down Texas League runners at a rate 50% above league average (33% to 22%). The one red flag is his passed balls are slightly elevated; but that’s more than offset by just 2 errors in 63 starts behind the dish.
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Kid catcher Rainiel Rodriguez is now batting .344/.458/.703 in the Dominican Summer League. And even more impressive, since June 18 his line is .354/.488/.781 — with 25 walks versus just 13 strikeouts over 129 trips to the plate. Yup, that’s a nearly two-month stretch with a 10% K rate and .781 slugging percentage (.427 isolated slugging).
For the season as a whole, he’s fanned just 12% of the time and walked more than 15%, while posting those gaudy power numbers. Even in the lowly DSL that’s a very rare thing indeed, especially for a 17-year-old.
In fact, as far back as Fangraphs’ records go for the DSL (2006) it’s an extremely short list of hitters under 18 who’ve logged an isolated slugging over .210 while walking as often as they whiff, and fanning less than 15% of the time. I mean, Rainiel Rodriguez is the only name on that list.
And he qualifies pretty easily on all counts. Personally, I think I’d have him spend the winter working out at third base, just to see how he looks there. The bat might be simply too special to suffer the wear n’ tear of catching. Plus, let’s face it: the Cardinal farm system is rich in backstops and potential mid-rotation starters/elite relievers, but damn near bereft of infielders & outfielders — extremely recent draftees notwithstanding.
Yes, Rodriguez is putting up video game numbers and the most amazing part is doing it at age 17. The cards had a 1B several years back who put up ungodly numbers (don’t remember his name) but he ewas 21 years old (maybe older) and he was in his 2cnd or 3rd dsl season.
I like the idea of the 3b move for Rodriguez
Bob, thank you for the solid research. In our August rankings for members coming out Thursday, McG is 18th, Crooks is 8th and Rodriguez debuts at #39.
Until we see Rodriguez defensively, I would not move him off C yet. Obviously it is very early, but he is throwing out more than 30% of opposing basestealers.
CC, you may be thinking about Malcom Nunez. He is now 23 and at Triple-A for the Pirates. Nunez was part of the Quintana/Stratton trade in 2022. He was left exposed in last December’s Rule 5, but he was not selected.
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