Future Redbirds

Couple news items tonight before we hit the DPR.

Kevin Goldstein has his “Great Leaps Forward” article up for the National League. (It’s free so I’m not going to reprint any content.) The “leaper” is Rick Ankiel but we’ve discussed him to proverbial death here. The honorable mentions (Mather and Walters) are much more interesting. Personally, I think that Hoffpauir would have been a better choice over Mather since his numbers and peripherals have remained intact at Memphis, but that’s a minor quibble for the most part.

I assume that the “Steps Backward” component will be published on Sunday. My early choices for that are Tyler Greene and Blake King. I can’t think of many well-regarded prospects in the Cardinal’s system that really bombed this season but feel free to theorize. It’s nearly 3 am and I’ve probably forgotten someone since I don’t want to pull open the rosters.

From the Chris Kline Chat over at BA, we’ve got two answers concerning STL prospects. 1 should cause a little discussion but we’ll go bland first:

Buck from St. Louis, MO asks:
How would you rank the 2005 first round high school outfielders now compared to the beginning of the season?
Chris Kline: Another tough one, Buckaroo. I go: Upton, Maybin, Bruce, Rasmus, McCutchen as the top five. But I really kind of feel like Rasmus might have the most overall value when it’s all said and done. Let’s put it on the bet board for some ribs. I’ll call you.

I don’t think there’s really a lot of controversy there. The most overall value when it’s said and done thing is so very crystal-ball-esqe that it really just needs to be ignored. But how about this one:

joe from memphis asks:
Who is my Cardinals top Pitching propect? Perez,Ottavino,Garcia,Herron,Walters??
Chris Kline: You’re asking me? Make a decision! Just kidding, Joe. I go Ottavino, though I’m a big Herron fan. Perez has been outstanding, but Ottavino and Herron have more value.

I’m surprised at the Ottavino choice, which may, in turn, surprise you since I’ve been an Ottavino advocate for a while. Jaime Garcia may have an elbow injury but he was still performing a level higher than Ottavino and is left-handed. Garcia has been the defacto best pitching prospect in the Cardinals system so this surprises me. Chris also makes the very correct note on relative value of a reliever versus a starter.

Break out the brooms in Springfield. Batavia ends the season on a win. And yes, I’m still going to insert a jump link because I can. . .

Springfield 16, Tulsa 8

• Colby Rasmus goes 2-for-6.
• Jose Martinez goes 4-for-6 with a HR. Watch to see if the power continues next season. If so, he’s taken a huge step forward in a skillset that he was never really rated that highly in.
• Cody Haerther goes 4-for-5 with a double, HR and a BB.
• Bryan Anderson goes 4-for-5 with a double and a BB.
• Mark Hamilton was easily the player of the night as he hoisted Springfield on his back and beat up on Tulsa pitching. He went 4-for-6 with an astonishing 3 HRs and 7 RBI. Eat your heart out Rick Ankiel!
• Matt Scherer pitched a scoreless inning and Kyle McClellan finished the game off with a pair of empty frames.
• (In the interest of staying positive, I won’t point out that Eric Haberer got touched up. Or that Zach Zuercher was left in to face right-handed batters which made for an ugly inning.)

Batavia 5, Williamsport 2

• Andrew Brown went 2-for-3 with a double and a BB.
• Collin Fanning went 2-for-4 with 3 RBI.
• Pete Kozma went 0-for-1 with a walk but committed fielding errors 8 and 9. I wonder what the scouting reports have been like on his defense since joining the farm system since he was billed as a slick fielder.
• Jonathan Stambaugh allowed 6 hits in 4 innings, walking 1 and striking out 4 holding the opposition to just an unearned run.