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Whether using statcast or DRS, Herrera has been worth -3 runs throwing wise but he has called good games. Those 3 runs are neglible compared to his offensive value. He hasn’t thrown out a runner but SB are more on the pitcher and even the best catchers allow the majority of runners to advance. Herrera does have a bad arm though but it just isn’t negative enough to offset the offensive gains he provides. I am not saying they should catch him every day, but I have no concerns with him catching a couple times a week.
I had noticed the same thing as the linked tweet from Brian. The guys Herrera is catching have been performing the best. He seems to call a good game and I am not left scratching me head. With Pages there have been a few times I was confused on the calls particularly when he ends up catching O’Brien.
I’m surprised they are still playing. You can barely see and anything hit to the OF I don’t know how they will be able to track the ball.
Bling:
Can anyone determine if there was anything different about his mix of pitches thrown, or any other observable difference?
I went and pulled his data form the minors statcast page and then parsed his overall numbers into 3 groups. April/May, June/July, and the single game from last night.
April / May
+------------------+---------+-------+----------+--------+--------+ | Pitch Type | Usage % | Zone% | Velocity | SwStr% | Whiff% | +------------------+---------+-------+----------+--------+--------+ | 4-Seam Fastball | 43.0% | 46.0% | 93.8 | 8.9% | 23.8% | | Slider | 21.6% | 39.0% | 84.4 | 18.3% | 40.0% | | Changeup | 16.2% | 33.3% | 82.2 | 16.3% | 33.9% | | Curveball | 10.9% | 26.5% | 76.0 | 12.0% | 40.0% | | Sinker | 8.2% | 50.0% | 93.8 | 8.1% | 17.9% | +------------------+---------+-------+----------+--------+--------+ | Total | | 40.6% | | 12.4% | 30.4% | +------------------+---------+-------+----------+--------+--------+June / July
+------------------+---------+-------+----------+--------+--------+ | Pitch Type | Usage % | Zone% | Velocity | SwStr% | Whiff% | +------------------+---------+-------+----------+--------+--------+ | 4-Seam Fastball | 40.0% | 55.2% | 93.8 | 7.7% | 20.5% | | Slider | 23.5% | 43.9% | 85.8 | 21.1% | 38.7% | | Changeup | 17.1% | 33.7% | 82.5 | 19.3% | 44.4% | | Curveball | 11.5% | 42.9% | 75.9 | 1.8% | 6.3% | | Sinker | 7.8% | 57.9% | 94.3 | 5.3% | 18.2% | +------------------+---------+-------+----------+--------+--------+ | Total | | 47.6% | | 12.0% | 29.3% | +------------------+---------+-------+----------+--------+--------+July 3rd
+------------------+---------+-------+----------+--------+--------+ | Pitch Type | Usage % | Zone% | Velocity | SwStr% | Whiff% | +------------------+---------+-------+----------+--------+--------+ | Slider | 28.1% | 60.0% | 86.3 | 8.0% | 15.4% | | Sinker | 22.5% | 55.0% | 94.6 | 0.0% | 0.0% | | 4-Seam Fastball | 19.1% | 58.8% | 95.2 | 0.0% | 0.0% | | Changeup | 15.7% | 42.9% | 82.3 | 28.6% | 57.1% | | Curveball | 14.6% | 69.2% | 76.5 | 0.0% | 0.0% | +------------------+---------+-------+----------+--------+--------+ | Total | | 57.3% | | 6.7% | 17.1% | +------------------+---------+-------+----------+--------+--------+Last night he dropped his 4 seam rate a good amount and replaced it with a sinker and traded whiff for contact on his results. Overall his Zone% was much higher yesterday. His numbers from June/July are a really big improvement over his early season zone %.
I’m actually more interested in who is named reserves than the results of the fan vote. JJ deserves an All Star appearance. Him and Walker are the two who deserve it in my opinion.
Everyone has bad nights and Kade is an MLB ready pitcher. If called up today, Kade would immediately be better than any pitcher for the Cardinals. The Mariners give guys maybe 1 or 2 AAA starts before an MLB promotion. They are maybe going to trade from pitching depth this year to free up a rotation spot for Kade in a few weeks as well.
Mathews would be my player of the day solely for the improvement on command. He had a 71.9% strike rate which is a major improvement for him. Also a major improvement was a 66.7% first pitch strike rate. He was 50% the first 4 innings and the last 2 worked ahead in the count to every batter.
I’ll piggyback off of Bob. Rainiel has been playing very well after making some adjustments. That is one thing I really like about him. He has struggled initially on promotion to new levels, but not for long as he very quickly adjusts and ups his game.
I enjoyed the interview Steffen. I like hearing that Flores at least does have some things he said he is working on. Every player has things to improve and interesting to hear specifically those items. For him it sounds like rounding out his defensive skills. I’m surprised he didn’t mention anything about bat control as that is by far the area he needs to improve on most offensively.
I took a look at the All Star voting update. Wow the fan vote process is horrible. The AL is basically just Canada voting strong for Blue Jays. Ernie Clement as the highest vote getter in the AL? He isn’t even deserving of a spot on the roster. Highest vote getter should easily have been Bobby Witt Jr. I don’t know how you could cast a ballot of not have that guy written in with ink as the AL SD selection.
Good to see Walker with a HR. He has been in a slump lately and maybe he is starting to come out of it
That seems impatient to me. He hasn’t even needed to be added to the 40-man yet, so he wouldn’t exhaust his options until the end of the 2028 season at the very earliest. Time is on his side.
Maybe. But the 40 man timeline is the same for college juniors and seniors like Mathews. Mathews is in his 3rd calendar year at Memphis albeit just 1 month there in 24 and a half injured year last year. The Cardinals to me are snail pace on challenging pitchers and promoting them. I say that and Doyle to AA to start the year was the exception and I wouldn’t have done that one.
Yeah Dobbins is low upside though and maybe a back of the rotation guy. If we aren’t trying to make the playoffs, I am fishing for upside for the future and at least putting Mathews to the test. If he fails, it is okay to me as Mathews is 25 years old and is at the point it is put up or shut up.
We need starting pitching for the future. With the way things have been lately, I think the Cards FO is going to commit to selling and May, Romero, and Stanek will be gone. Maybe they could resign May in FA as I do like him but at least for this year the rotation should start becoming about building experience for young guys.
I think whether Mathews is performing well or not by the time May is traded, I call him up and pitch him every 5th day the rest of the year. It can’t hurt and gets him experience and tests him.
Weingartner was one of the guys I liked out of the draft last year and I considered him for my top 50 in the off-season. He got off to a very slow start but has been improving. I think he is only a fringe prospect with more role player upside but that is a good outcome for where he was drafted. His raw power looks more like a 40 though so I wouldn’t expect big HR totals as he advances levels.
Both him and Smith are guys after the draft I assume will get promoted to make room for the new guys. College guys spending a calendar year in A ball isn’t ideal as they need to move up the ladder to be tested or make room for other guys.
Franganten was one of the BA prospects of note in the DSL for the Cards. He got his first game action yesterday.
I would have had Rojas as the player of the day. Hunter had a good day but all singles while Rojas walked with a double and HR.
Good to see Hjerpe is at least pitching still. Kind of odd they moved him down a level in rehab if he can still pitch
Really great job in the interview Jamie! Liam did great in giving plenty of detailed responses. As a Mississippi State fan, it does not bother me at all to hear he didn’t enjoy his time at Ole Miss.
I’m sure most here would enjoy hearing about him working on pitching to contact and not throwing so many waste pitches.
I have the advantage of watching after the news of Hjerpe having a set back, but even if he were fully healthy he still doesn’t even crack my top 5. I understand Kyle is biased there though.
The pitchers I feel I struggle to eval but I think as a whole they have disappointed this year. Davis at 13 is maybe around where he belongs but he hasn’t stood out.
Baez wasn’t as entertaining of an interviewee. But still much appreciated on the interview and a good timing right before he got promoted.
Thanks for the update on Luna. I’m excited to see what he does in some more action.
Any word from your potential source on Carrrion? He made 2 games of appearances and on the 18th I presume left with an injury.
What was Strop’s injury last year and any idea on Carrion? I’m curious if the DSL players are experiencing more soft tissue injuries. If so, that points to some conditioning coaching issues to me at the DSL complex. I know these guys are likely putting on a lot of weight fast with better diets so maybe some cause of injury there.
Rojas signed for $450,000 according to BA. He also was on their standouts this DSL listing and was noted for good defense.
BA
Rojas is one of the better defensive catchers in the DSL this year with his receiving skills, quick feet and plus arm
A really good start by Molina. He pitched deep in the game and was only at 90 pitches.
Quinn’s ERA is okay, but he just keeps walking too many and isn’t throwing enough strikes overall. Maybe he can find what he had for those 2 starts earlier this month.
Is Sebastian Rojas the next DSL breakout? Funny I went and googled him to see what his signing bonus was and if he was in the BA list of notable signins and I saw Kareem had the same thought yesterday about Rojas breaking out.
Luna and Carrion still aren’t playing. Last year Strop barely played either. It is a little frustrating that the top money guys they sign apparently are getting hurt.