St. Louis Cardinals Preliminary Prospect List
by John Sickels on Dec 12, 2010 2:13 PM EST
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PrintHere are 38 guys from the Cardinals system. I can't fit more than this in, so if you want to suggest someone else, you have to suggest a cut too.
St. Louis Cardinals 38 players
Matthew Adams 1B
Bryan Anderson C
Daniel Bibona LHP
Seth Blair RHP
Mike Blazek RHP
Andrew Brown OF
Matt Carpenter 3B
Juan Castillo C
Adron Chambers OF
Zack Cox 3B
Allen Craig OF
Tony Cruz C
Daniel Descalso 2B
Anthony Garcia OF
John Gast LHP
Scott Gorgen RHP
Mark Hamilton 1B
Steven Hill C
Virgil Hill OF
Deryk Hooker RHP
Tyrell Jenkins RHP
Daryl Jones OF
Joe Kelly RHP
Blake King RHP
Pete Kozma SS
Nick Longmire OF
Lance Lynn RHP
Shelby Miller RHP
Tommy Pham OF
Adam Reifer RHP
Tevor Rosenthal RHP
Zach Russell RHP
Fernando Salas RHP
Eduardo Sanchez RHP
Cody Stanley C
Robert Stock C
Jordan Swagerty RHP
Oscar Taveras OF
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Victor Sanchez?
Was highly touted as a freshman & soph at USD but injuries dropped his stock quite a bit. Not sure who to cut as I don’t recognize a handful of those names:
Blazek
Gast
Pham
Rosenthal
The one constant through all the years, Ray, has been baseball. It reminds us of all that once was good, and that could be again.
Carlos Martinez (formerly Matias)? Might have the biggest ceiling of any arm in the organization and got a $1.5MM signing bonus, but I don’t know if you’re interested in doing writeups on guys who have only played in the DSL.
matias
I have included some of these guys but they may end up getting cut totally. I just don’t have enough room.
by John Sickels on Dec 12, 2010 3:36 PM EST up reply actions
martinez
I’ll cut Tony Cruz, a catch-and-throw guy, for Martinez/Matias
by John Sickels on Dec 12, 2010 3:38 PM EST up reply actions
Don't cut Cruz
the guy is a great catcher and his bat is looking up too. He did a great job in the AFL too, and the organization likes him enough to put him on the 40-man. Cut Trevor Rosenthal instead.
Fire John Mozeliak
Agree with this 100%.
Baseball makes the world go 'round, or at least in my world it does.
by Whiteyballer on Dec 12, 2010 10:09 PM EST up reply actions
You can probably add Mikel Cleto to the list RHP formally from Seattle's org.
I called it - Joe Mauer's first career Home-Run at Target Field !!!
Why Oh Why did the D'Backs select A.J. Pollock over Mike Trout?
I hate Hunter Wendelstedt, you hate Hunter Wendelstedt we all hate hunter w
by SteveHoffmanSlowey on Dec 12, 2010 3:45 PM EST reply actions
I don't know that I have him on my list
Being generous, I’d call him maybe our seventh best relief prospect tops.
Fire John Mozeliak
by purple_haze on Dec 13, 2010 10:22 AM EST up reply actions
ok
OK , I will cut Salas since he pitched a lot in the majors last year and established his performance level. Cleto is interesting, great arm but doens’t know what he’s doing
interesting list
I’d cut the following players: Andrew Brown (way too old in AA), Juan Castillo (intriguing, but not enough playing time), Virgil Hill (I like him, but not as one of our top people yet), Daryl Jones (way too much pressure put on this guy when he was drafted and he’s been crushed under it IMO), Joe Kelly (just hasn’t shown enough yet for me), Zach Russell (ditto), Pete Kozma (rushed by the org to save face and it’s hurt his development severely) and Trevor Rosenthal.
Here is who I’d replace them with: Aaron Luna, Casey Mulligan, Ryan Jackson, Luis Mateo, Xavier Scruggs, Jose Martinez, Bryan Martinez and Javier Avendano.
list
I’ll swap out Cleto for Mulligan. Brown was old for Double-A yes, but sometimes guys like that blossom late.
by John Sickels on Dec 12, 2010 7:18 PM EST up reply actions
Cuts/adds
Agree on cutting Brown, Jones, and V. Hill. I ‘d also cut Steven Hill…I think it says something when a 25-year old gets cut from the 40-man and is exposed to the Rule 5 draft, and nobody picks him up. I’ve seen Joe Kelly pitch and he has great stuff, he’s just not a starter. He’s #15 on my personal list, and I think once he gets moved to the pen he’ll move quickly through the minors. I’ve also seen Brown play, and am not impressed by his athleticism or fielding. Also have seen Mateo several times at QC, he’s not even worth mentioning on a prospect list.
Here’s what I’d do:
Cut: Brown, Jones, V. Hill, S. Hill, Blazek
Replace with: David Kopp, Niko Vasquez, Francisco Samuel, Ryan Jackson, Aaron Luna
+3
Baseball makes the world go 'round, or at least in my world it does.
by Whiteyballer on Dec 13, 2010 9:54 AM EST up reply actions
ok
ok you guys have convinced me to cut Andrew Brown and Blazek. I will slot in Kopp and Luna. I am not dropping S. Hill, I like him.
by John Sickels on Dec 13, 2010 11:34 AM EST up reply actions
cleto
Mikel Cleto couldn’t hit the ocean with his fastball throwing from the deck of a submarine. Bad trade for an even worse prospect.
You Can't Not Put Matias/Martinez
Long time lurker, new time poster.
matias
he is on the list now and i’ve already written a comment.
by John Sickels on Dec 12, 2010 8:45 PM EST up reply actions
matias
Which says something him since I don’t like writing about DSL guys.
by John Sickels on Dec 12, 2010 8:46 PM EST up reply actions
Deimer Bier
I know the Cards think highly of him, but I haven’t been able to find a scouting report. Anyone know what he throws?
Phil Carreto
Cards 40th round pick in 2010 out of Division II Longwood University.
Put up video game numbers in the Appy League (albeit a small sample size).
Might be one to look at as a Grade C guy.
considered
Considered but no room. Went with guys closer to the majors considering the sample size.
by John Sickels on Dec 12, 2010 8:45 PM EST up reply actions
Bryan Martinez, et. al.
First, thanks John for all your fine work on the site. Good writing, strong & logically consistent analyses.
As for Bryan Martinez: high K rate, extreme groundball tendencies. Throws 90-92, sometimes more. Teen with room to fill out and add more V (6’ 3" 180). I’d rather have him than, say, Blazek.
Also, I’d replace Andrew Brown with Aaron Luna. Luna has succeeded at the same level, is 2 1/2 years younger, has distinctly better strikezone command, and has more defensive value (Brown has played 1st base for 70% of his professional career).
A 26-year-old yet to play above AA might be a late-bloomer…if he’d shown superlative plate discipline. That ain’t Andrew Brown, unfortunately.
Lastly, I know I’m probably in the minority, but I consider Adron Chambers’ plausible upside as solid 4th outfielder—not a top 40 prospect in a deep system like this. He’s a small guy with neither patience, nor power, nor plus basestealing. His AFL stint has mistakenly given people the impression that there’s something there. But there isn’t, judging by his entire body of work.
Strike Chambers, add Freddy Parejo. Just 19 in the Midwest League, Parejo had a .780 OPS over the season’s 2nd half, despite a crappy batting average. In other words, the patience/power are there. Those are good foundation skills for future hitting development. He’s admittedly a longshot for MLB regular—but I like his chances better than looongshot A. Chambers.
Colin Walsh
Younger than Longmire with even better numbers on the same team (more walks than whiffs for Walsh). Universally considered a plus keystone glove, the power is just now starting to blossom. Could be another Adam Kennedy (3.5-4 win guy during his prime).
For Walsh I’d bump Old Man Hamilton, who could well be out of baseball in a couple of years. Cannot stay healthy for three years straight. Still striking out a lot at age 26. No defensive value to speak of. Will (fairly or not) likely never get a meaningful shot at the majors. Power, yes. But everything else….
What has happened to Roberto de la Cruz?
teenage signing from DR back in 2008. Spent 2009 and 2010 in the GCL, showing modest improvements in power, though not really in plate discipline. He’ll be age-20 for all of next season, so he’s still young….
Is he still projected to stick at 3B? Still showing above average hitting projection? If so, I think he should be in the conversation here. I just can’t find any recent scouting reports on him.
Not too optimistic about Virgil Hill or Zach Russell.
De La Cruz
Actually, DLC just turned 19 a few weeks ago…but the plate discipline has been so poor it’s hard to project future success vs. more polished pitching.
The power this year was exhilarating, but the extreme lack of selectivity at the dish (and the consistently bad defensive numbers) leave little room for optimism. He’s still quite young, of course, but we need more before he re-qualifies as a real prospect. The kid is just so dang raw.
Thanks
Too bad to hear about the defense. The plate discipline could come around, but also too bad it didn’t improve markedly in his second go-round in the league.
Baseball cube has his birthday as 11/10/1990. Was he actually born in ’91? That would make me at least a little more optimistic.
Audry Perez
Not sure why he is not on the list. To me easily a Top 20 prospect and a better C prospect than maybe any C prospect we have. To me he is in that 10-15 prospect discussion and could rise quickly with another solid year at higher levels. Thoughts John?
yes, i knew there was someone obvious missing
Fire John Mozeliak
by purple_haze on Dec 12, 2010 10:59 PM EST up reply actions
list
At some point I have to lock things down. Even a fairly mediocre system like the Cardinals is hard to narrow down to “just” 38 guys.
mediocre, yes
but with some surprising depth
Fire John Mozeliak
by purple_haze on Dec 12, 2010 11:00 PM EST up reply actions
Matthew Adams.
The type of prospect I love rooting for. Division II and comes into the pros mashing the ball.
by forloveofthegam3 on Dec 12, 2010 10:41 PM EST reply actions
Rainel Rosario
should get some consideration -— has always been very disciplined, showed off some pop after promotion to Low A Quad Cities.
another oversight
David Kopp -- now on the 40-man roster, former 2nd-rounder who pitched well at AA last year but was murdered in short stint at AAA.
Kopp
Yeah I had Kopp in my top 20. He had a pretty good year in AA and he still bumps mid 90s with his sinker.
I’m not too worried about his struggles in a very short stint at AAA. He did the same thing in AA in 2009.
good perception on Kopp
In 2009 they sent him to AA with soreness in front shoulder ( nothing serious and taken care of last off season), this year they sent him to AAA with sore elbow (nothing serious and taken care of this off season). What most don’t know is that although he seems to have issues, never anything major.
Will be interesting to see with all of these issues cleared up how he will do this season.
So I know Tyrell Jenkins has zero experience in the minors
but I was wondering about his ceiling.
good size (6’4)
decent fastball
average slider
new to pitching (mlb.com scouting report)
is Zach Cox
more Longoria or more Crede?
by apoxonbothyourhouses on Dec 13, 2010 4:40 AM EST reply actions
I'm not sure Cox's defense is as good as those two
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Neither?
There are questions whether he even has enough glove to play third base. The best case outcome for me is a solid regular who hits for average and a little power and plays just enough defense to stick at third into his late 20s.
I think it’s much more likely that he’s a bench player if he makes it to MLB at all.
(If you can’t tell, I’m not high on Cox at all.)
http://www.crawfishboxes.com
I am happy with the final list after those changes.
Baseball makes the world go 'round, or at least in my world it does.
Perez
Why take out Audry Perez? Luhnow raves about him. The kid is very good defensively and has swung the bat well in the last two years.
by UncleBuck44 on Dec 13, 2010 11:59 AM EST up reply actions
He is putting him and Cruz back
while removing Hamilton and Hill if I understand correctly.
Baseball makes the world go 'round, or at least in my world it does.
by Whiteyballer on Dec 13, 2010 12:02 PM EST up reply actions
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