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Here is what an one-hour version would be like.
Episode 14 is LIVE! Creator of https://t.co/3gExsmyVxY and Host of "Wednesdays with Walton & Reis" on @ScoopsNetwork @B_Walton https://t.co/dPPBHi1lhM
— viva el birdos (@vivaelbirdos) March 3, 2025
An hour is definitely a long time and I had to split it up into a couple parts. It is nice to see self awareness of what your strengths and weaknesses are, but I will say I do enjoy hearing your take on players and especially your takes on the org philosophy. Hearing this podcast also makes me really appreciate you having had Blake and now Kyle as your co-host with their deep knowledge as between host and co-host there is a lot of great, in depth knowledge.
This week, @kyler416 and I discuss first roster cuts from camp focusing on Mathews and wondering about JJ. Next was the three injuries, with Jordan Walker most recent. MLB Pipeline’s new #STLCards Top 30 Prospect List is noted as well as our recent player impressions from camp.… pic.twitter.com/aBjtb4FyT1
— Brian Walton (@B_Walton) March 5, 2025
Regarding the top prospect lists, I thought there were a clear top 13 in the system when making my list a few months back, which matches BA and MLB.com’s same top 13 and ranks. Padilla and Rodriquez I can understand others not having on there, but the Cards don’t have a lot of upside in their system and many of the guys in the 14-20 range I would be happy if those guys stick as a bullpen or backup position player for 2 years. The upside alone puts Rodriguez/Padilla over the very low upside guys. The farm system is really weak comparing across baseball as we have the 13 from MLB that are 45 or higher FV while most other average at least systems per MLB.com have 20ish 45 FV guys.
I will say it is very interesting looking at the expanded Baseball America list (it used to only go to 10 unsure when it was 30) compared to MLB.com’s. MLB’s list looks a lot like BA’s list and also has some unique names like BA’s Church at 15. I don’t know if MLB directly copied BA’s or if used it as a starting point like me and other fans do or if it is a case of them having the same sources in the industry. I do like Church, but not nearly enough to have him in my top 30 although I think he has a good chance of cracking an MLB team at some point.
https://www.baseballamerica.com/teams/2020-st-louis-cardinals/prospects/
I happened to notice the presense of Mike Girsch in one of the photos taken during workouts on one of the spring training practice fields. I hadn’t heard anything at all about him in quite a while and wasn’t even aware of what capacity he was still employed by the Cardinals so I looked it up and his job title is Vice President of Special Operations. That sounds like a colossal waste of taxpayer money to me…Haha!
This week, we discuss @kyler416’s upcoming Top 50 #STLCards prospect list including differences between our two lists and why. Hjerpe/Hence/Roby; Honeyman and Holiday in top 10; Dutkanych (p) and Koperniak close behind… We preview Friday’s Spring Breakout Game and review Kyle’s… pic.twitter.com/qw4qcBZrCK
— Brian Walton (@B_Walton) March 12, 2025
Entertaining discussion this week. I appreciate hearing Kyle with takes that are unique and he makes good points at times and isn’t just saying what others have said. Kyle’s writing at Birds on the Black is definitely something else. It is kind of amazing seeing how different he is on X and his site compared to the podcast.
Agreed. Thanks for the comments and for listening. It is an interesting combination that is working well.
In this week's podcast, @kyler416 and I discuss #STLCards in the Spring Breakout Game, focusing on three standout pitching prospects, Luis Gastelum, Cooper Hjerpe and Quinn Mathews. We review upcoming roster decisions heading into Opening Day and more! https://t.co/C7h2Ut8Lqf pic.twitter.com/Hwkb550qv2
— Brian Walton (@B_Walton) March 19, 2025
This week, @kyler416 and I discuss #STLCards and Memphis Opening Day roster decisions, including CF, back up SS and the rotation. We touch on the pros and cons of adding veteran free agents, while blending in a few of Kyle’s recent social media hot takes. https://t.co/gPZoIOintQ pic.twitter.com/uGVEF96NDP
— Brian Walton (@B_Walton) March 26, 2025
After all this time of enjoying WWW, have you decided to now lock out members who aren’t paid members?
I don’t mean to be a dick. Comedian Dimitri Martin claims the most effective form of birth control is correcting other people’s grammar. I’m sure Alexa Datt’s play by play just sent me over the edge.
I like Alexa. I want her to do well, but her constant barrage of grammatical miscues are distracting, and that is when she confidently ( nay…I say arrogantly) uses R.B.I. to reference multiple runs batted in during a broadcast.
I would point out that during baseball’s heyday, American schools placed a strong emphasis on maintaining grammatical standards. The American baseball fan prior to ESPN was not the mere foolish rube they are often marginalized as being today.
I believe it may have been Olberman and Patrick who first bantered on about the stupidity of saying,”runs batted ins.” Announcers then followed the lead right over the cliff.There are two acronyms in question: runs batted in and run batted in. All acronyms are treated as being singular, so runs batted in is singular when used as an acronym. We use the same plural exception as we use with letters and numbers. We add ‘s to form the plural form of A’s (not As), 7’s, and R.B.I’s. R.B.I. is only used when referring to a single run batted in.
I deeply respect your work, your abilities, and your efforts. This podcast is one of my weekly highlights. It hurts me when people I literally love such as the two of you Brian and Kyle fall prey to this atrocity rooted in ignorance and arrogance perpetrated by those ESPN hacks.
So, in my haste to post this morning.I accidentally put our weekly podcast behind the paywall. It is opened up now. Sorry for any inconvenience. https://t.co/2acfWMjauu
— Brian Walton (@B_Walton) March 26, 2025
RBIs is correct, but it has been a point of contention among some writers for years. I am one of them, choosing to not conform. I don’t want to say the equivalent of “runs batted ins”. On the other hand, RsBI would be unwieldy. I prefer to use the same term for singular and plural.
Run batted in = RBI
Runs batted in = RBI, not RBIsThere are literally dozens of words in our language that are the same in singular and plural form. However, initials are another matter, which is where this falls.
A long time ago, The Sporting News, when it was a force in the industry, wrote about this subject:
“Mighty Touchy Issue: RBI or RBIs?”. The Sporting News: 40.
As to the impact of ESPN, I can’t speak to that. I only watch them very rarely anymore and will do it even less in the future now that they are dropping baseball telecasts.
Thanks Brian. I guess we all choose what we are outraged by, and often we choose those things which are only outrageous to our own inner voices. I was unaware of the article you referenced. I was worried that no one was saying anything.
Ironically, now adhering to grammar is considered going against the grain. It doesn’t matter that there are singular and plural forms of r.b.i. Singular requires no punctuation. Plural acronyms require an ‘s. Those who claim no apostrophe turn A’s to As and B’s to BS…total BS. That was meant to be funny but sounded bitter.
I love your writing, and the number of edits I require on every post proves my hypocrisy. I simply felt no one knew, and I wanted you guys to know.Well, I see the chatter concerning the controversy connected to the RBI/RBI’s stat. I once saw a comment that claimed that the RBI stat was overrated, but I think we can all agree that RBI’s may be almost as important as runs…And I’ll always maintain that runs are still fairly important in the game of baseball. In fact, in my view, the only stat that is more important than runs scored is W’s…Haha!
Does Kyle try to make sure he is in a different room each episode? I expect to see him in the laundry room next episode.
Brian I know you mentioned confidence multiple times, but I have to agree with it’s importance. If you look at Walker and Gorman, you can clearly see they had confidence issues last year. Baseball is an incredibly mental sport and if you doubt yourself at all, you will not have success if you cannot shake it.
Really hope to see Herrera get the majority of starts at C. His potential is much higher than Pages. Even if for some reason he cannot stick behind the plate, I think Herrera’s bat keeps him around long term. I don’t think they would do it this year, but he could always move to LF as he is surprisingly athletic for a catcher.
I want to go on record as being the only person outside Pages’ mom and dad who thinks Pedro will accumulate far more “baseball value” (however that can be measured) over the course of his career than Herrera. Some may come as a future coach or manager. But Pedro is special. The likes of him doesn’t come along often.
When I watch Pedro hit, which I did a lot this spring, I generally see him overanxiously lunging at pitches. To me, he just doesn’t look smooth and comfortable in the box. Of course, I hope I am proven wrong.
Thank you all for watching/listening and commenting. And special thanks to those who subscribe and/or buy our Prospect Guide.
As just one example, it costs me between $400 and $500 each month out of pocket (not to mention my time and energy) just to provide a website and forum that is stable and can handle your needs. But to you, it may appear to be “free”. In your job, you don’t work for free. This is my job. If I can’t convince you that buying our product is worth it to you, then I have failed. I don’t have annoying popup ads and pummel you with advertising. I get nothing from your clicks. Your direct financial support is what keeps us going and I never take it for granted. If you are gaining value here, I hope you don’t take us for granted, either.
Nothing is free.
I 100% agree Pedro is not a very good hitter. He half swings at lots of pitches just trying to punch the ball into the outfield. He does have some power when he takes a full cut, but his hit tool isn’t good enough to unlock that power with any kind of consistency.
To me, Herrera is replaceable by Crooks or Bernal in a year. Pages isn’t replaceable by anyone. The value he brings isn’t really measurable. I believe he may be the Cardinals alternate catcher for many years to come. He makes guys around him better, especially pitchers. At least that’s what I’ve observed. But again, there’s no way to prove that out.
I dunno. Everybody loved Knizner, too… Backup catchers don’t often stay for many years. Perhaps Pages will be the exception, but with Crooks and Bernal both coming about the time he will get more expensive, I can see the handwriting on the wall that the fourth catcher isn’t going to be needed.
Take my opinion for what it’s worth. I just feel inclined to be the one voice saying that Pedro is actually far more valuable than people give him credit for. Every normal sane Cardinals fan out there is saying Herrera should get the bulk of playing time. Pages Mom, Dad, and I disagree. We’ll learn over time what Ollie and the other insiders think.
My eyes tell me Crooks and Bernal make Pages irrelevant. I think Bernal will hit 25 homers at Springfield this season and add another Texas League MVP to our streak.
Crooks reeks of winning. He reminds me of a Veritek or some other old school catcher who simply wins games behind the plate.
I think Pages defintiely has value. When Contreras was banned from playing catcher for 10 days the team turned the duties over to Pages if my memory is correct. I thought he played well last year for the most part, however, the Cardinals are an offensively challenged team thus really want to get Herrera’s bat into the lineup. Time will tell how much patience the Cardinals have with Herrera’s defense this year or if any pitchers complain to the manager about his pitch framing or throwing arm.
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