Baseball Notes for May 6, 2013

Posted on May 6, 2013 by Andrew Martin

Clay

Cheating has a long and interesting history in baseball. From sharpened cleats, corked bats, banned substances and doctored pitches, players and teams are seemingly always in search of an edge. As former Chicago Cubs’ first baseman Mark Grace once famously said, “If you’re not cheating, you’re not trying.”

That being said, there can be a fine line between what is cheating and what is simply gaining an edge. When something questionable is identified, there is typically a race to classify it as legitimate or cheating. Hardly a year passes without at least one instance of a player being caught or being accused of nefarious actions. This year is no exception. (more…)

Filed under: Digging Deep - Analysis | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

Could This Be a Career Year For Adam Wainwright?

Posted on April 25, 2013 by Jonathan C. Mitchell

Wainwright

St. Louis Cardinals’ starting pitcher Adam Wainwright almost won the Cy Young Award in 2010 when he posted a 2.42 ERA and 2.86 FIP over 230.1 innings pitched. This was his follow-up to a very similar season in 2009 and marked the second straight season Wainwright topped 230 innings pitched. Then, in February of 2011, Wainwright had Tommy John surgery and missed the entire 2011 season. (more…)

Filed under: Digging Deep - Analysis | Tagged: , | Leave a Comment »

Kurt Heyer: Seeking to Go from College World Series Champ to the Majors

Posted on March 4, 2013 by Andrew Martin

Heyer

The St. Louis Cardinals have received recognition in recent seasons because of the excellent pitching prospects that have been winding their way through their minor league system. Shelby Miller, Trevor Rosenthal and Lance Lynn have all received a lot of attention and varying levels of success and exposure at the major league level. It appears that another young gun was added to their stockpile of arms last year when the team drafted right-hander Kurt Heyer. (more…)

Filed under: Down and Dirty - Interviews, On the Farm - Prospects | Tagged: , , , , | Leave a Comment »

NL Central Players To Watch

Posted on February 20, 2013 by Daniel Marino

BillyH

Dan Marino continues his trek through each division in the major leagues and giving you one player he thinks is the: Rookie to Watch, Breakthrough Player, The Party’s Over, Non-Roster Invitee Most Likely to Stick, and Just Not Seeing it.

Now, in part four of six, he brings you the National League Central:

Part 1: AL East Players to Watch.

Part 2: NL East Players to Watch.

Part 3: AL Central Players to Watch.

Chicago Cubs (more…)

Filed under: Digging Deep - Analysis | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments »

Baseball Notes for January 21, 2013

Posted on January 21, 2013 by Andrew Martin

HartGamel

With just three weeks until pitchers and catchers start reporting to spring training locations, the baseball offseason is winding down, but it’s not ending with a whimper. This has been one of the more eventful offseasons in recent memory, with constant activity, surprises, and even some quality free agents like Kyle Lohse and Michael Bourn still available at this late date.

If the 2013 season can be half as eventful as this winter has been, fans should be in for quite a treat.

Unfortunately, this past week ended with some truly sad news about two baseball legends; considerably darkening this installment of notes. (more…)

Filed under: Digging Deep - Analysis | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

Chatting with Cardinals Pitching Prospect Nick Greenwood

Posted on November 23, 2012 by Andrew Martin

It’s hard enough to succeed as a professional baseball player, but imagine if it’s not even your favorite/best sport. That’s what faced St. Louis Cardinals left-handed pitching prospect Nick Greenwood, who grew up loving soccer and baseball before finally having to choose one sport. (more…)

Filed under: Down and Dirty - Interviews, On the Farm - Prospects | Tagged: , , , | 2 Comments »

Holliday’s Slide Was Far From Bush-League

Posted on October 16, 2012 by Jonathan C. Mitchell

Last night’s NLCS game was full of action including a leadoff homerun, both pitchers hitting doubles, and the slide that no one would shut up about.

In case you missed it or did not hear about it, in the top of the first inning Matt Holliday slid well over the second base bag in an attempt to try and break up a potential double-play. During his slide he took Giants infielder Marco Scutaro out at the knees and then Twitter and Giants fans everywhere blew up. (more…)

Filed under: Digging Deep - Analysis | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 8 Comments »

MVP? Buster Posey May Not Even Be the Best Catcher in the NL This Season

Posted on September 19, 2012 by Andrew Martin

Recently a groundswell of support has pushed Buster Posey to the forefront of the 2012 National League MVP race. After all, he is putting up great numbers in a San Francisco Giants lineup that lacks pop and lost outfielder Melky Cabrera to a 50 game suspension. There is no arguing that Posey is having a fine season and is deserving of the many platitudes he has and will continue to receive, but looking into the matter further, a case can be made that he is not even having the best year by a catcher in the National League.

The player standing between Posey having a stranglehold on the title of best catcher in the NL and perhaps the MVP is Yadier Molina of the St. Louis Cardinals. Always a defensive whiz, Molina has continued to improve as a hitter throughout his career, to the point where he has become an impact player at the plate. A closer examination of some statistics exploring and contrasting the two catchers  helps illuminate who is actually having the better season. (more…)

Filed under: Digging Deep - Analysis | Tagged: , , , , | 5 Comments »

Scouting Carson Kelly

Posted on September 10, 2012 by Spencer Schneier

Some prospects are going to have sexy 30 present/70 future grades on them, Carson Kelly is not one of those prospects.

When watching Kelly, what sticks out is that he lacks a weakness. He is not projectable like his brother, but rather a rare “safe” high school pick. (more…)

Filed under: On the Farm - Prospects | Tagged: , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

Like Prospect Sleepers? I Have A Good One For You

Posted on September 4, 2012 by Spencer Schneier

Tracy Proffitt | Urastar Images

Watching Johnson City, the guys that first jump out are big names Carson Kelly and Victor De Leon (Write-ups on each coming later on!), but the guy who stands out due to his physical stature alone is Ronard Castillo.

The first thing that one notices when looking at Castillo is his height, standing at 6’5 and 200 lbs, Castillo is a big fellow. One would certainly expect someone with that body type to be a power hitting fiend, but that person could not be more wrong. In his professional career, Castillo has a total of two home runs.

A high leg-kick and long swing generate a good amount of raw power, but 5 o’clock power ain’t no friend o’ mine. Two in-game home runs is what it is, and I wondered why he had not been able to hit for power in games yet. (more…)

Filed under: On the Farm - Prospects | Tagged: , , , , , , , | 1 Comment »

Next Page »
Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.

Join 1,664 other followers