Commish’s Offerings 3-27-2023
Rick Hummel is presented by:
Fast Eddie’s Bon Air
in Alton, Illinois
Final Thoughts from Florida
Florida-
Irrespective of Sunday's 24-1 mauling by Houston, the Cardinals left their Palm Beach County home with the best record among all teams training in Florida at 16-7-5, with four of those losses coming at the hands of the defending world champion Astros.
For much of that time, the Cardinals were without as many as 17 players from the organization who competed in the World Baseball Classic. So, what does their sparkling won-loss record mean? It means that the Cardinals' minor league players, getting more playing time than usual, were better than their counterparts from other clubs.
Case in point is just-turned 21-year-old shortstop Masyn Winn, who probably could be starting for a dozen or so teams, including the Cardinals, who happen to have recent Gold Glovers Tommy Edman and Brendan Donovan manning the positions up the middle.
Winn showed his laser-like arm and excellent range but what mostly turned heads was his production at bat, notably from a power standpoint.
In 54 at-bats before Monday's Grapefruit League finale at Sarasota. Fla., Winn batted .333 with an OPS of .949, owing largely to two doubles, two triples and two home runs. His four stolen bases led the team, as did his 11 runs scored and 18 hits—tied with Jordan Walker, who did make the team out of spring training.
What spring training also told us is that the Cardinals have starting pitching depth although there still is a question if they have Nos. 1-2 that match up with the top teams they will play. Adam Wainwright's loss for a month or so can be filled by Jake Woodford, or a reinforcement from the minors such as Matthew Liberatore, who was impressive this spring and, with his experience in the minors with the pitch clock, seemed to take to it better than most. There also is former 16-game winner Dakota Hudson trying to pick up steam on his pitches at Memphis and left-hander Connor Thomas, who had several strong outings, will be in the Redbirds' rotation as well.
Walker, a standout for much of camp, tailed off in the last couple of weeks, but, even when struggling, has the speed to beat out hits where he likely wouldn't go into long slumps. Also, he can hit seventh or eighth in the lineup, taking some burden off after batting in the middle of the order much of the spring with both Paul Goldschmidt and Nolan Arenado gone to the WBC.
And, speaking of having less pressure with which to deal, there is Nolan Gorman. Ballyhooed for the past couple of springs as the next best thing to come along, Gorman did his work this spring with reduced fanfare because many eyes were on Walker and Winn.
Concentrating on being better able to handle pitches at the top of the strike zone, Gorman had a .280 batting average and .848 OPS with three homers.
With Arenado gone for three weeks, Gorman displayed skills at third base as Arenado's replacement, to the point that he will be the backup there this year and not Donovan, who will be seen most often at second base. Gorman will see most of his early time at designated hitter but also could play second.
The right-handed side of the bullpen also shapes up well with All-Star Ryan Helsley, Giovanny Gallegos, Jordan Hicks (who hit 104.6 mph the other day and Andre Pallante bracketed as the late-inning relievers.
Left-hander Zack Thompson was unscored on in 11 2/3 innings over 11 appearances but some uneven outings late in the spring by left-hander Packy Naughton, who had appeared to improve both his slider and changeup, were cause for concern and the Cardinals might have to consider turning to Genesis Cabrera, JoJo Romero or Andrew Suarez, who are at Memphis. Or somebody else.
Of all the Cardinals in camp the most impressive might have been left-hander Steven Matz, bedeviled last year by arm and knleg injuries. Matz fanned 17 and walked just three over 17 2/3 innings.
Spring training generally was good for the Cardinals and, for their fans, although there was a nasty rush of nine-inning ties with four in a six-game span.
Only a thought but why not play one more inning in exhibition games? The fans who don't get to go to big-league games during the season might enjoy the different strategy that occurs when a runner automatically is placed at second in an extra inning.
You're charging close to big-league prices for these games, so give the fans something close to a big-league game, especially as quickly as they were being reeled off this spring. There are always minor leaguers to be brought over who could play that one more inning and give the fans a look at what kind of strategy might be employed in the regular season.
