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RP are so finicky. Gallegos was so good for 4 years and now he just doesn’t have it now. He struggled with the stikezone and his slider has lost velocity and movement and must be much more hittable.
1TD, I understand the hesitation. I’m hopeful for Libby and we will see how he does. I know this is his 3rd year, but we don’t seem to have made any meaningful changes regarding pitcher development in that time. I have hope we get some new eyes in on the pitchers coaching and make some changes there. I also want to point out to that many great pitchers start out slow in their careers. I mentioned Fried earlier, and he didn’t pitch well either in his rookie age 23 season or his age 24 season (both with some starts and relieving). This is just now Libby’s age 24 season so he has plenty of time to make changes and learn to truly pitch.
Pitching is a funny art that where small adjustments can lead to a below average pitcher turning into a above average pitcher. Libby should have an out pitch with his curve. He just needs to locate it better. His slider and changeup show slightly above average potential as well. Libby compares well to Max Fried with his tools. I’m not sold on STL’s pitching development strategies as we can’t develop pitchers as we seem out of touch with the modern pitching environment, which is something Mo has acknowledged at least now. Look at how good Hicks has been this year with some adjustments to throw a little softer and focusing on the splitter and scrapping the slider.
Libby has looked better out of the pen, although his pitch mix seems much more SP appropriate. He does need to work on a few things and I think he could he a quality SP that I hope the coaching staff are discussing. I think in a more analytics driven team, he would be given a shot to start.
He first needs to start throwing more 1st pitch strikes. He is only sitting at at 53.8% leading him working behind in the count a lot and walking a good amount of hitters. Second, he either needs to either rework the sinker and cutter, or scrap them and focus on the 4 seam, his above average curve and slider, and changeup. Libby’s sinker has been hit hard his whole time in the bigs. It has much less movement than the average pitchers sinker and he is locating it up in the zone way too much.
The RP depth seems quite shallow at the moment on the 40 man. I don’t really see any good candidates even off the 40 man. I hate converting SP to RP as we do it too often, but given our full rotations in the upper minors, we may need to on some guys. I think Santos is going to RP which is where he profiles best anyway.
I think sending Pages down when Carlson is back is the right move. You can then move Donovan to full time DH/Util with Noot in LF, Siani in CF, and Carlson in RF. That is our best defensive alignment.
I hope Siani sticks in the roster, but it will be hard for him to stay when Edman gets back.
I think Noot will start getting on track. He has been taking great ABs and making really good contact. His expected numbers are around what Contreras’s are.
The Astros would be another great example. Look at the type of players that have been successful in each of these drafts. The vast majority are position players. Teams that have been successful rebuilding are drafting position players in the top 10 picks that have a higher chance of becoming stars. They then draft pitchers in the later rounds and develop them. Drafting a pitcher at the top is just too risky.
I didn’t realize they were in that pace. We will need Fernandez and Robertson to step up then. I think both have the stuff to be good RP
I have no problem using our best 3 RP this game. When you are up and it is close, use them. You don’t know if you will even have a close game that they are needed in tomorrow. Obviously though there are some limitations and you don’t want 3 games in a row.
Now Goldy Ks again. Hopefully our hitting coach spends some time to work on their game plan to get them back on track. We need them to have a good year.
And Arenado just watches all 3 go by. Something isn’t right with him. Watching more pitches and going oppo a lot more. Arenado needs to be a pu hitter to hit for power.
Arenado is due for regression with the way he has been swinging unfortunately. His current BA is a decent amount higher than it should be.
Arenado has been taking some really good to hit pitches down the middle this year. It seems his hits are coming in bad to hit pitches going oppo.
Big double play there. Gray wasn’t as sharp today and was missing his spots, but he battled very well and made it a competitive start. I’m really impressed with his pitches per inning even in a game without great command. He should be able to go 6 consistently with the way he has been pitching
I know we haven’t developed pitching in years, but I wouldn’t want to draft a pitcher at the top of the draft. Pitchers are way too injury prone and the success rate for top draft pick pitchers isn’t great either. The general rule of don’t draft for need very much applies as who knows what our needs re in 3 to 5 years.
The Cardinals have been great at turning late round picks into above average players, so I would take the risk to get a player with more star potential. Connor Griffen or Braden Montgomery would be my choice currently if they last to 7.
Jnevel, if Waino we’re still around, I would rather have him hitting than Siani. Siani has been showing signs of improvement at least and man can he play defense.
I’m not sure what they would do in Palm Peach to open a roster spot. None of the starters there look ready for AA. Although one of the existing starters is likely more suited for the bullpen. Not sure which though.
I hope to see them promote Mathews to Peoria soon. I am thrilled to see the K%, but he is a little old for low A ball and needs some more quality hitters to challenge him to see if he is for real.