Exit Poll: Sophomore Surge
TOWER GROVE — A “transition” year by any definition implies not only the integration of younger, less-experienced and prospect-like players, but also those players abilities to construct a bridge to the next season, one where they will be better and, thus, the team will be better.
The Cardinals at least have numbers on their side.
A total of 10 rookies made their major-league debut with the Cardinals this season, from Rule 5 pick Brian Barton to a whole host of starting pitchers. There is no doubt which one of the rookies was the most impressive — he was from the first day he took the mound in spring training all the way through finishing tied with Carlos Marmol for the league lead in holds. Righthanded reliever Kyle McClellan was the clear rookie of the year for the Cardinals. But what rookie put himself in the best position to have a sophomore spike, to, as the club needs them to, transition from prospect to producer.
Several of the Cardinals listed below still have their rookie eligibility despite making considerable contributions at the major-league level, like Chris Perez and Joe Mather. Of those listed, only Barton and McClellan played enough to no longer be considered “prospects,” by the Baseball America definition. (Perez, for example, pitched 41 2/3 innings, coming 8 1/3 shy of no longer being eligible for the BA Top 30.)
A couple won’t have that opportunity because of surgeries — pitchers Jaime Garcia and Mike Parisi – but a handful of the others at-bats and innings await. There are roles to be seized.
Who will?
That’s the question posed in this, the final EXIT POLL of the week.
Loading …(Next week: The B-Land mailbag returns. Write PostCards@post-dispatch.com with any questions.)
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Derrick Goold said he was going to Mizzou for capital-J journalism, but after growing up in the Time Zone Baseball Forgot he was really drawn to MU sitting between two major-league cities. Goold joined the Post-Dispatch in 2001 after working for The Times-Picayune and Rocky Mountain News, covering sports from LSU to NHL and every level of baseball in between. 
Well, McClellan’s surge is based on whether or not he winds up replacing Looper in the starting rotation. If he does so, and he does well, he could “surge” from being a solid middle reliever to being a 13-15 game winner as a starter, and he would be perceived as a “surge” by the general baseball public who would be wondering “where did this guy come from?”
You’re right about Motte, though - he’s probably got the highest upside potential of the bunch.
As for Mather - he’s gotta get the playing time in order to have any sort of surge, and with all the outfielders hanging around, he’s gonna be hard-pressed, even in a TLR lineup, to get more than 250-300 AB’s.
It’d be kind of neat, though, if we went ahead and found new homes for Schumaker, et al, and just went with a more-or-less everyday outfield of Mather/Ankiel/Ludwick for 140-150 games next season and see what happens.
I was under the impression that Perez was sent down to work on his second pitch– and used it somewhat effectively upon his return. Is Motte going to Arizona? (not a trade! to work on a second pitch against live hitters).
Hey Allen and Jerry Modene;
Allen; I have not heard anything about Motte going to Arizona. But if I were him and knew my chances of making and sticking with the big club depended on the development of an offspeed pitch, I’d sure be setting up my offseason schedule to work on it. But that’s me. Also, your selection of McClellan for reasons sited by yourself and Jerry Modene place a very favorable position for his chance to be that rookie “poised to have a huge sophomore surge”. When I was considering the list, I kept him in the bullpen otherwise it would have been a very difficult first choice and I thought Mather deserved some attention near the top of the list. But all these guys are worthy candidates that could enjoy success with the big club next year, if they all are still here.
If McClellan is going to be figured into the starting rotation next spring, I hope the staff has given him the heads up so he can start prepping for it. As I stated earlier, what they do with Kyle in 2009 is intriguing. If they prep him to start, could he be worse than Pinero? As up and down as Joel?
forgot to add: I hated to watch Pinero’s starts! I hated the uncertainty part of it….never comfortable as to what we were going to see from him from start to start!
Cardsballhawk;
McClellan has been a starter throughout his minor league career,(I think)…lol. Anyway, if that is true and I think it is, he should not have much trouble adjusting. I don’t know what should be expected at the back end of the rotation. I would think 5 or 6 innings with an ERA being between 4.50 and 5.25 would be veiwed as acceptable for the 5th guy in the rotation. Perhaps DG could give us his view of what should be expected of the #5 guy. As far as Pinero goes, I suppose your description of him being an “up and down” guy, therefore inconsistant is about what we can expect from a #5 guy. But, it could be McClellan might be the better guy between the two.
I THINK THAT IT WILL BE JOE MATHER,HE DID FAIRLEY WELL, WHILE HE WAS UP HERE BEFORE HE GOT HURT.I WOULD NOT MIND SEEING HIM IF LEFT FIELD FOR GOOD AND PUT CHRIS DUNCAN ON THE BENCH UNTIL HE CAN PROVE HIMSELF..FUTURE OUTFIELD JOE MATHER,COLBY RASMUS, RICK ANKIEL…
My personal choice would be Perez. I do think we will bring in a closer for a short term contacts (With that said obviously I don’t think we will go after Fuentes or K-Rod that hard and I am very OK with that) to help groom Perez to take over as closer. I am not sure who we will try to get but Saito and Street are 2 options. I think Perez can be electric and once he gets more grooming I think he will be a dominant closer.