Today, hitters. Next week, the pitchers.
It is May 1st, which means one month of baseball has played. This means one month of minor league baseball has been played as well. So it’s time to check in with the youngsters. I plan to check in with the pitching side of the ledger next Thursday. Should get an extra start of a sample size at least.
Memphis
Jimmy Crooks, 23 – C (#5 VEB prospect)
Stats (AAA): 95 PAs, .244/.309/.430, 8.4 BB%, 25.3 K%, .186 ISO, .293 BABIP, 96 wRC+
Crooks is experiencing the ebbs and flows of adjusting to a new level. He got off to a very good start, with a 129 wRC+ and 2 homers in his first 9 games. He then went through a bit of a lull, struggling to get on base for the next week. And in past seven games, he’s hit 2 of his 4 homers of the year and also picked up 5 of his 8 walks on the season. I’ll be curious to see if he looks MLB ready at the end of the year and what exactly the Cardinals will do if he is.
Matt Koperniak, 27 – OF (#VEB #14 prospect, on 40 man)
Stats (AAA): 87 PAs, .195/.241/.268, 3.4 BB%, 13.8 K%, .073 ISO, .217 BABIP, 36 wRC+
Koperniak has also missed the last few games to injury. He hasn’t played since April 25th. He had a 7-game hitting streak – and actually he still does have that hitting streak – when he had to miss a few games. Admittedly, he had a 95 wRC+ during that hitting streak, but that was significant progress from how he started the season.
Jose Fermin, 26 – 2B/3B (on 40 man)
Stats (AAA): 108 PAs, .270/.393/.393, 14.8 BB%, 6.5 K%, .123 ISO, .284 BABIP, 119 wRC+
I know most people wonder why Fermin wasn’t the one DFA’d. Well, this kind of plate approach doesn’t grow on trees. It hasn’t translated to the majors yet, but he’s also barely got a shot in the majors too. We’re talking 140 total PAs, and I must add he had a 9.3 BB% and 13.6 K% in those plate appearances. So the approach carried over. The power and BABIP have not. Someone also brought it up in the comments that players who almost make the roster out of spring training – and nobody was closer than Fermin – seem to struggle out of the gate to start their AAA season. Well, he’s since adjusted.
Michael Helman, 28 – IF/OF (on 40 man)
Stats (AAA): 60 PAs, .204/.283/.278, 8.3 BB%, 21.7 K%, .074 ISO, .268 BABIP, 55 wRC+
Helman got injured and hasn’t played since April 19th. The 40 man hitters all struggled to begin their season, as I shared in a previous post, but Helman’s injury didn’t give him the chance to bounce back like Fermin did. Helman’s issue is a matter of power. Walks are good, strikeouts are fine, power is not.
Michael Siani, 25 – OF (on 40 man)
Stats (AAA): 22 PAs, .200/.276/.360, 6.9 BB%, 24.1 K%, .160 ISO, .235 BABIP, 85 wRC+
Siani is not a good hitter and I do hate to keep harping on this, but here’s another example of a guy who struggled immensely immediately upon getting sent down. Yesterday, he went 2-4 with a HR, so his season line looks a lot worse on the Fangraphs page as I’m writing this. So his current wRC+ is probably not right, but I hope I’m in the vicinity.
Cesar Prieto, 26 – 2B
Stats (AAA): 97 PAs, .291/.351/.500, 7.2 BB%, 16.5 K%, .209 ISO, .328 BABIP, 127 wRC+
Prieto is in a tricky position here. He’s kind of in the wrong organization. Jose Fermin fulfills the same role he does, and he’s a better defender than him and on the 40 man roster. Prieto is a poor man’s Alec Burleson. He can “stand” at 2B instead of how Burleson can stand in “LF.” So the Cardinals already have players who do what he does, but probably better. That said, good start for his season.
Ryan Vilade, 26 – OF
Stats (AAA): 97 PAs, .310/.392/.476, 11.2 BB%, 19.4 K%, .166 ISO, .359 BABIP, 129 wRC+
Vilade was the lone exception to the “depth” players getting off to poor starts. Granted, he was striking out a lot more and relying a lot on BABIP. In his last 36 PAs, he has just two strikeouts., leading to a 171 wRC+ in that span.
Bryan Torres, 27 – OF
Stats (AAA): 82 PAs, .308/.444/.415, 19.5 BB%, 15.9 K%, .107 ISO, .367 BABIP, 143 wRC+
He probably doesn’t have enough power to become a major leaguer, but he’s got a good story, and boy does he walk a lot. MLB pitchers will not walk him anywhere near this much with his power. But who knows? Stranger things have happened. He is of course left-handed though.
Springfield
JJ Wetherholt, 22 – SS (#1 VEB prospect)
Stats (AA): 62 PAs, .300/.403/.442, 11.3 BB%, 11.3 K%, .142 ISO, .333 BABIP, 137 wRC+
Good news is that Wetherholt is back from whatever illness he had. I guess it was an illness. I kind of wish they would just tell us what it was. He missed nine days, returned this past Sunday. He DH’d and went 0 for 4 with a walk. Then there was an off-day Monday, and he didn’t play Tuesday either. He played yesterday, again he was put at DH, and he went 0 for 4. I just find this very bizarre for an illness.
Chase Davis, 23 – OF (#7 VEB prospect)
Stats (AA): 94 PAs, .276/.404/.395, 16 BB%, 28.7 K%, .119 ISO, .396 BABIP, 128 wRC+
Davis hit two homers and a double in his fourth game of the year. He hit another double the next game. He has hit one double and zero homers since. He in fact has not gotten a single other extra base hit aside from those two games. So needless to say, I would like to see more power from Davis for the rest of this season. I do have to remind myself at this time last year, Davis was still kind of struggled in Low A though. It took him a while to get past that level, but his ascent since then has been fairly quick.
Leonardo Bernal, 21 – C (#8 VEB prospect)
Stats (AA): 64 PAs, .208/.344/.340, 17.2 BB%, 18.8 K%, .132 ISO, .250 BABIP, 96 wRC+
I don’t think it’s going to happen, but Bernal is one walk away from having the same amount of strikeouts as walks. He was relatively close to achieving this in Low A at 19-years-old. He had 49 walks to 55 strikeouts. So it’s not out of nowhere. Not a lot of reason to think he’s a low BABIP guy, so I’d file this under encouraging starts.
Dakota Harris, 23 – IF
Stats (AA): 80 PAs, .257/.313/.405, 7.5 BB%, 18.8 K%, .148 ISO, .286 BABIP, 97 wRC+
There’s a couple fringe players whose stats I could list. Nathan Church, but he played in only his fifth game returning from injury yesterday. Noah Mendlinger, but he’s effectively a bench player. Harris I’m listing because the Cardinals are kind of treating him like a real prospect. He was drafted in the 11th round in 2023. Despite a below average line to finish out that year, he started 2024 in High A. After just 52 games, he was promoted to AA. This is fairly aggressive. He’s also played both 2B and SS, and this year they’re mostly playing him at 3B. Somebody worth chronicling for now.
Jeremy Rivas, 22 – SS
Stats (AA): 84 PAs, .257/.381/.471, 15.5 BB%, 22.6 K%, .214 ISO, .298 BABIP, 136 wRC+
I have no idea how for real Rivas’ start to the season is. He has pretty much never hit for power, not even doubles power. His four homers is not only his career high in a season already, it’s half of what he managed to do in the first 1,583 plate appearances of his professional career. He’s also hit three doubles. He has over half of the total amount of extra base hits he had all of last season – which came in 459 PAs. Barring a total collapse, he should easily have more power than last season’s .048 ISO.
Miguel Ugueto, 22 – OF
Stats (AA): 44 PAs, .357/.364/.524, 2.3 BB%, 2.3 K%, .167 ISO, .325 BABIP, 135 wRC+
You might be asking yourself: who is this guy? Fair question. He’s a minor league Rule 5 pickup from the Boston Red Sox. He started the season in High A. He had an 81 wRC+ last year in High A. After just four games, he was needed in AA. Yesterday was the first time he struck out in 44 PAs. His K rate last year was 20% so this is kind of out of nowhere. The lack of walks is a thing though. This guy doesn’t walk. Anyway, interesting start for a minor league Rule 5 guy.
Peoria
Won-Bin Cho, 21 – OF (#21 VEB prospect)
Stats: 47 PAs, .100/.234/.150, 14.9 BB%, 31.9 K%, .050 ISO, .160 BABIP, 19 wRC+
Woof. Okay. He still can’t make contact. Cho also struck out three times yesterday, although he walked in his other two plate appearances. Still early in the season. At least this year he’s walking more.
Ryan Campos, 22 – C (#19 Baseball Prospectus prospect)
Stats: 69 PAs, .218/.377/.345, 20.3 BB%, 26.1 K%, .127 ISO, .324 BABIP, 112 wRC+
Campos is an undersized catcher with a great sense of the strike zone, as you can see by the fact that he walks in a fifth of his plate appearances. BP noted that, aside from the size differences, Campos had almost the same exact report coming out of college as Jimmy Crooks. Obviously, the size difference does matter, but maybe not from the offensive side.
Joshua Baez, 22 – OF
Stats: 80 PAs, .257/.333/.386, 10 BB%, 23.8 K%, .129 ISO, .340 BABIP, 101 wRC+
It’s very strange, and yet encouraging to see Baez with such a low K rate this far into the season. I’m not sure he’s ever had an 80 PA stretch where he struck out this little in fact. I kind of wish it came with power but can’t complain so far. He also has seven stolen bases to one caught stealing.
Jon Jon Gazdar, 23 – IF
Stats: 66 PAs, .259/.348/.345, 9.1 BB%, 10.6 K%, .086 ISO, .294 BABIP, 101 wRC+
We are catching Jon Jon at a bad time. Yesterday, he went 0-5 with three strikeouts. He had four strikeouts all year before yesterday’s game. He has virtually no power, but last year he walked 7 times to 5 strikeouts, so it wouldn’t be a shocker if he walked more than he struck out this year.
Ian Petrutz, 22 – OF
Stats: 40 PAs, .297/.350/.378, 5 BB%, 15 K%, .081 ISO, .355 BABIP, 106 wRC+
Petrutz has not played since April 18th, so he is currently injured. As good as his line was last year, it came with a .089 ISO. So until that power comes around, he can probably be ignored.
Peoria
Travis Honeyman, 23 – OF (#19 VEB prospect)
Stats: 42 PAs, .425/.521/.625, 14.6 K%, 12.5 K%, .200 ISO, .485 BABIP, 213 wRC+
I know the Cardinals are trying to keep him healthy, but I feel like he should be at a higher level than this. I mean this is absurd. His wRC+ is actually higher than this, because yesterday he went 2-4 with a 2B and two walks. Just promote this guy already!
Sammy Hernandez, 21 – C
Stats: 71 PAs, .290/.371/.339, 9.9 BB%, 15.5 K%, .049 ISO, .353 BABIP, 114 wRC+
Hernandez is certainly a victim of the catching depth in the system. In a weaker system, Hernandez would be in High A. But he’s in Low A, because Ryan Campos is in High A. And perhaps, they’re working on his defense more. They did hold back Bernal for Low A longer than you would think, and he was a much better prospect than Hernandez is.
Josh Kross, 22 – C/1B
Stats: 85 PAs, .288/.376/.671, 7.1 BB%, 17.6 K%, .383 ISO, .283 BABIP, 187 wRC+
Both playings getting catching duties at Low A, in my opinion, have a good argument to be at High A. Kross especially. He is too good of a hitter for this level. The Cardinals have two backup catchers at High A and I don’t think either is especially needing plate appearances. I feel like Kross has to be at High A soon.
Jonathan Mejia, 20 – 2B/SS
Stats: 96 PAs, .192/.344/.333, 18.8 BB%, 32.3 K%, .141 ISO, .289 BABIP, 105 wRC+
He’s not making a ton of contact, but he is making the pitchers throw strikes. That is a lot of walks. This has made me pay attention to just how much he has walked so far in his pro career. His minor league low is a 12.2% walk rate. Hopefully, he can get his strikeouts under control.
Jose Suarez, 20 – OF
Stats: 32 PAs, .387/.406/.419, 3.1 BB%, 25 K%, .032 ISO, .522 BABIP, 140 wRC+
Suarez got injured two games into the season and recently came back. It does not appear that the injury slowed him down at all, because he went 2-4 with his first walk on the year yesterday.
Yordalin Pena, 20 – OF
Stats: 75 PAs, .265/.320/.441, 6.7 BB%, 24 K%, .176 ISO, .327 BABIP, 115 wRC+
Pena, if you remember correctly, was the player who hit the monster home run in spring training. Kind of looked like Jorge Soler doing it. He’s gotten off to a reasonably good start, with two homers so far this season.
And I think I’m going to cut it off there. Mostly positive news from the hitting department.