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Spring training is a small sample, but the prior trend continued.
Herrera threw out 1-of-11 in 92 innings.
Pages threw out 2-of-6 in 85 innings.This week, @kyler416 & I discuss the season to date for the #STLCards and Memphis, including fan support. We take a major focus on pitching, then review the Opening Day rosters at Double-A and High-A. The addition of Palm Beach home games to https://t.co/BlNPN1BKOC is celebrated.… pic.twitter.com/U2ZYujR2yS
— Brian Walton (@B_Walton) April 2, 2025
JJ, great minds think alike. I logged in over lunch just to ask if I could submit a topic for discussion on Liberatore and see you’ve done it already. Kyle has interesting takes and probably has a much better understanding of some of the data available to analyze Liberatore’s starts.
From the recap it was his breaking ball command early, with pitches finishing fat. Then later he’d start breaking pitches over the plate, and get the chase swing-and-miss. They hit his fastball too, and got hits on good pitches on the edges, and they sequenced well with grounders bouncing off the bag 😡
The back foot slider worked well later and Pozo and Libby seemed to mesh quickly.
This week, @kyler416 and I discuss #STLCards pitching including Liberatore and two potential bullpen additions. Kyle explains why Cade McGee and Josh Kross may be important to the system's future. Pitchers reviewed include McGreevy, Rajcic, Gastelum, Salas, Showalter and Burns.… pic.twitter.com/HQJoDN7m07
— Brian Walton (@B_Walton) April 9, 2025
So, open up Libby’s pitch types earlier and find the best pitches at that time? More battery decisions, less dugout scripts?
I appreciate the discussion around Liberatore. It is interesting to hear those comments about his last start of opening up the arsenal more as I only watched from the 4th on, and from that point he looked quite good to me. With his last start, I wonder if there was a concerted effort as well to ensure he kept pitch counts down given the prior clunker starts and double header.
Regarding Kross / McGee, I don’t see it with McGee. He has a weak bat with 35 grade power based off his exit velos. Maybe he can prove me wrong though as he hits the ball at a good angle. If Kross can stick at C, his odds of being able to fill a Noot/Donny type mid pick get higher. 50 grade power, but any thing he can do to stand out helps as 1B have a time making big league rosters.
As a side note, can Kyle do his complaining for years on end method he took with Palm Beach games to get us statcast data for A+ and AA as well? I hate we have a gap on those levels.
Don’t sleep completely on McGee. He most certainly doesn’t have the power or hit tool now, but he’s the type of player they can develop that direction. It’s possible anyway. But you are right that he doesn’t have it now.
Infield upside in the minors is the Achilles Heel. You have Saggese and Wetherholt. Those are both Plan A guys that are true prospects. Then a tier down is Prieto and Barrero who are mostly opposites in their strengths and weaknesses and because of that, are at best backup Plan B guys. You also have Kross as a maybe 1B along with Jobert who will show up on more radars after this season (at least I believe that). They are both iffy and would be limited to mostly 1B (plus maybe C for Kross or COF for Jobert). And then there’s Jeremy Pena who could never hit at any level but who seems to be breaking out some lately. Maybe it’s real? But he’s probably at best a utility player. And that’s it unless someone like McGee or Mejia or Richardson develops. I’m not counting Padilla yet in Rookie ball as that is just too far out. The future Cardinals are going to need multiple of these guys to work out to be a draft and develop organization and right now those odds look slim. Fortunately, the big league infield looks to be full for the next few years.
This week, @kyler416 and I discuss injuries to #stlcards pitching prospects Cooper Hjerpe and Quinn Mathews and potential impacts. Josh Kross’ FSL Player of the Week award is noted, several recent standouts at each level are highlighted and more! https://t.co/dfXhRuBcuz pic.twitter.com/GMAzKNuoco
— Brian Walton (@B_Walton) April 16, 2025
For what it’s worth, Brian, you mentioned that the Cardinals have gotten 0 innings from the 6 2023 traded for pitchers outside of Drew Rom. Clearly there’s the technicality that Kloffenstein threw one inning last season. But the bigger miss is John King who has thrown a lot of innings and many of those have been quality. I know King was considered just a throw-in at the time, but he’s been a pretty valuable cog in the Cards pen in what was the end of ‘23, most all of ‘24, and the early going in ‘25.
Regarding the next man up after McGreevy, the conversation caught me off guard. Going into the year, I thought the team had some good depth. That was with the thought that Mathews would be ready soon and Hence at some point this year as well with Graceffo and Robberse being the deep depth options. But hearing the conversation made me look and those top 2 options are gone now and Graceffo and Robberse are the options now. Robberse is the better of the 2 in my thoughts as Graceffo doesn’t have it mentally to me.
I agree get Roby to AAA and be quick to promote him to MLB if someone is injured and McGreevy has gotten his overdue rotation spot already. No point in wasting his bullets in the minors. The quality is obviously there so I don’t know how much more seasoning in the minors he needs.
Regarding Kross, his statcast data so far looks great and the results have been amazing. 93.5 average exit velocity with a great launch angle of 12.3 degress and a 70% hard hit rate.
I’ll sound like a broken record, but Honeyman should be promoted soon and I imagine Kross will be around the same time. These college guys need to be moved past A ball quickly so they can be challenged.
jnevel, I should have been clear that my focus was on the nine prospects the Cardinals received in trade, six of whom are pitchers. King was an established major leaguer and not part of my analysis, but yes, he has been the best part of the moves by far so far.
My comments were referring to the detail in this article. I mentioned Kloff’s one inning in the text but forgot to put it in the table until now.
No problem Brian. Prospects were indeed the most important piece to get in the trade. King was basically a roster swap for Stratton that has worked out quite well for the Cardinals. With the recent call-up of Svanson and the chance we see Roby and Robberse this season, all hope is not lost. And if nothing else, getting King and Saggese for a bunch of expiring contracts was still worth it.
If the Cardinals are within five games of a playoff spot, they will refuse to trade expiring contracts for prospects.
That’s as good of guess as any LA. It’s possible they don’t know their buy/sell position yet for that scenario. The FO goalposts move regularly, so “transitioning” keeps their indecision flexible.
This week, @kyler416 and I return to pitching prospects injuries, as Sem Robberse is the 4th Triple-A starter out. That led to overall system depth. Given #STLCards inconsistencies, the ongoing journeys of Walker and Gorman and high expectations for Wetherholt were covered.… pic.twitter.com/mlsCmWFH0i
— Brian Walton (@B_Walton) April 23, 2025
This week, @kyler416 and I discuss #STLCards roster moves with Saggese, Barrero and Loutos. Pitching news includes McGreevy and Taylor at Mem, King and Showalter at Peo and Sparks and Thompson at PB. Intriguing hitters including Rivas, Gazdar, Ortiz and Peña are noted.… pic.twitter.com/BpHk5TOrjV
— Brian Walton (@B_Walton) April 30, 2025
I didn’t think McGreevy’s Sunday start was good at all. Only 3 and 2/3rd with 4 Ks to 3 BBs and 3ER. I still think he deserves a spot in the MLB rotation though overall.
I was surprised by Showalter to the dev list. His command has been very erratic to start the year so maybe they are working on it. Overall, all the pitchers that were doing quite well at Palm Beach last year are doing poorly so far in Peoria. Juan Salas is the only SP there that has a BB/9 lower than 4.5. I’ll continue to call into the question the coaching there overall as it seems like development is a stall at that level.
This week, @kyler416 and I focus on pitching. Recent and future use of McGreevy and Graceffo is first. Also reliever churn, emergence of Leahy, pitching labs, #STLCards HOF class, Player/Pitchers of the Month Kross, Thompson & Henderson, plus Moore & Winquest.… pic.twitter.com/CurlOK7oFD
— Brian Walton (@B_Walton) May 7, 2025
Six weeks in, @kyler416 and I discuss prospects trending up and down. We start with my #STLCards Top 50 Prospect List from the off-season. Kyle comments on where he agrees and disagrees and why, plus adds some rising names for additional consideration. https://t.co/HBbNUfj9SG pic.twitter.com/vugBmCar26
— Brian Walton (@B_Walton) May 14, 2025
I’m looking forward to seeing Brian’s updating list. Thoughts while going through the video.
– Crooks is a slight up. Now that he is in AAA, we have statcast data. One concern is a high O-Zone Swing% of 34.2% which explains the high K rates from him. But I took his statcast numbers and converted them to scout grades from some lookup tables I have. I know these aren’t sexy, but they still combine to be a productive starting catcher though with the above average glove he has.
Ability | Scout Grade -----------------|------------- Plate Discipline | 45 Bat Control | 45 Raw Power | 55 Game Power | 50– I would like for Graceffo to be a closer, but I don’t know if I see him ever being a closer. He has pitched well, but I don’t see him ever being more than a middle reliever.
– Agree on Chase Davis. He is not tapping into any power because he has the same problem a few guys in the system have – smacking the ball hard into the ground repeatedly. 52.9% GB rate
– Baez has been a pleasant surprise, although a very minor one as he playing much better cutting down the Ks but the power also isn’t there
– Andre Granillo is a big up for me. Numbers look much better in Memphis for command and he is getting a lot of swing and miss. The level of swing and miss makes him look like a setup potential guy
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