Cardinals Community Top 30 (Nos. 3-5)
TOWER GROVE — When the St. Louis Cardinals selected Brett Wallace with the 13th pick overall in this past June’s draft, he was billed as a hitter and he’s been every bit the bat they advertised. Earmarked to end this year in High-A Palm Beach and start next year in Double-A Springfield, Wallace hit beyond the script and ended the year in Double-A and will start this year wherever his performance takes him.
So far, his production has landed him as the No. 2 prospect in the system, according to your votes.
The annual Bird Land Community Top 30 voting began yesterday, and Wallace ran away with the poll for the No. 2 spot. Wallace received 57 percent of the vote and more than doubled the second-place finishers total, RHP Chris Perez.
Wallace, a third baseman, hit .337/.427/.530 during his first pro season, split between Low-A Quad Cities and Double-A Springfield. He’s currently stirring from an early funk in the Arizona Fall League. Overall, he’s hitting .266/.338/.531 for Peoria, but in his previous four games he’s 8-for-18 with 10 RBIs and two home runs. He is one of the most natural hitters in the organization and ranked accordingly. So, so far:
- Colby Rasmus, CF
- Brett Wallace, 3B
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On to the next three positions in the rankings. Yesterday’s entry also helped clarify seven candidates for positions Nos. 3 through 5. The seven, according to a vote of 644 voters (as I write this), were: C Bryan Anderson (stats); RHP Mitchell Boggs (stats); RHP David Freese (stats); OF Daryl Jones (stats); RHP Jason Motte (stats); RHP Chris Perez (stats); RHP Jess Todd (stats).
Below are three polls, one for each spot from No. 3 to No. 5. Vote one guy at each position, and we’ll see how the top five shapes up. This much is clear. Compared to the Baseball America list from last year (identified by the “incumbent”) there will be at least two new members of the top five.
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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. 
I went with Brian Anderson as my #3 guy because I think he is the biggest trade chip we have.
I went with Chris Perez as my #4 guy because I think his game will improve this year by the experience he gained last year. Nothing seemed to bother him that I could detect. As a closer you need that mentality.
I went with Jason Motte as my #5 guy because I think he has the mental make up and mound presence to be an excellent closer. Hopefully he is working on a off speed pitch this winter.
Loved the poll DG. I just wish their were more participants. Hopefully there will be more folks taking part as time passes. I’ll be checking back to see their comments.
Good to see the Top 30 back!
DG:
I’d expect Freese to see action in the Majors at some point in 2009. If he were to come up, and tear the cover off the ball. If he were to come up and have good ABs, and show strong plate discipline. Would that change anything about his future with the Cards? Yes, Wallace maybe is the future 3B for the Cards, but what if Freese produces at 3B, is Wallace still the guy, does either Wallace or Freese covert to an OF position? You can’t ignore the production Freese could potentially give.
Maybe it is a dumb question to ask, but let us not ignore the numbers Freese posted this season at AAA.
I have watched all of these players play and to tell you the truth I am not that impressed with any of them. I think that fans have a way of over rating there young talent. If you ask any fan of any team about there prospects they all think that they have the next superstar in there system. IMO The Pirates and Red Sox have the best prospects right now.
How great is it we have all this quality competition for who the top prospects are in our organization. You could argue 1-6 has the potential of at least contributing or filling in for a short time at the big league level this year. (Rasmus, Wallace, Perez, Anderson, Motte and Todd).
Wade,
Aren’t you the same guy who said that Jason Bay was as good as Pujols. The Pirates?!? You have zero credibility whatsoever. Please go to a Pirates blog to post your nonsense.
DG…. have you had any reports on how Wallace is progressing at third?
That would seem to be more the question than if he can hit.
Dude wade the pirates are aweful they have no farm system to speak of and have a lot to do to get back to the top half of the central, somewhere they have never been. Go see espn’s winter forcast about them. If you dont like the cards prospects stop posting about them
I like Freese quite a bit, but I starting to wonder a little how many of his relatives are voting on this thing?
Wade does make an excellent point: Prospects get overrated when compared only to prospects within the same organization. Look, Brett Wallace is the No. 2 prospect in the Cardinals’ system … not across baseball. The No. 2 has to be understood in context. Ditto when we get down to the No. 13s and No. 16s of the world, where Tyler Greene will likely reside. The ranking does say he’s a Top 20 player in baseball, or even in his league. He’s in the top 20 in the Cardinals’ system.
The very exercise of ranking a Top 30 leads to overrating members of that Top 30. Good point.
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Wallace has done well at third base in the Arizona Fall League. It could be a case of setup. Scouts and others go expecting to see a guy who needs to improve at third and walk away being duly impressed that he handles the position smooth enough. This much has been the case: Wallace is athletic. Many believe his athleticism will allow him to improve at third and advance at that position.
dg
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