DOWNTOWN • The St. Louis Cardinals trotted two of their 2011 draft picks into Busch Stadium this week for what can only be called recruiting visits.
Third-rounder C. J. McElroy took batting practice on the field, alternating turns with Albert Pujols in the cage and getting pointers from Cardinals' hitting coach Mark McGwire. Second-rounder Charlie Tilson stopped by the day before, but chose not to take part in batting practice on the field. Both McElroy and Tilson play the outfield. Both are speedy. And both were viewed as difficult but, for the Cardinals, hopeful signings. Tilson has a scholarship to play baseball at the University of Illinois, and McElroy has an offer to play football at the University of Houston. It's the latter that gives the Cardinals some flexibility when it comes to McElroy's contract. Like Shelby Miller and a few others, McElroy is eligible for a two-sport deal, which is a mutually beneficial deal allowed by baseball rules. It allows the team to play the bonus out over several years, and for a player that could mean commanding a bigger bonus.
One of the players the Cardinals did that with last year to woo him out of a Division I football scholarship tops this week's look at the farm system through the tools of the trade.
ARM: Tyrell Jenkins, RHP, Johnson City (rookie). The youngest player on the JC roster, Jenkins has made three starts and posted a 4.40 ERA with 16 strikeouts, 20 hits allowed and two walks in 14 1/3 innings. "It's been fun to watch his evolution," Johnson City manager Mike Shildt said. "What you're starting to notice is the refinement of everything. His breaking ball is getting more control, he's starting to get that polish with his delivery. He's got some real special ability, and now it's just a matter of refining where he is and improving where he's not." Shildt said that Jenkins, one of the most athletic pitchers in the system, wasn't so much "raw" as "crude." The lithe 6-foot-4 righty has a fastball that cooks at 92 mph to 93 mph. It doesn't have downward movement but it has that late life that pops at the end or appears to "jump" at the batter. Jenkins adds to that a curveball that comes out of his hand at the same spot and with the same look of his fastball before bending sharply. He's getting a feel for a changeup as well. "It's a nice three-pitch mix," Shildt said. "I think you'll see this season how he really polishes himself and starts putting it together."
GLOVE: Audry Perez, C, Springfield (AA). The 5-foot-9, 180-pound catcher out of the Dominican republic is rising on the depth chart as the next prospect at his position. In a promotion to Class AA he's hit .261/.277/.423, though overall this season he's shown fine pop (eight homers, 12 doubles) if not so fine OBP (.288). Perez, 22, is beginning to regain some of the form defensively he showed at the lower levels as well. "At the beginning here, he was really unsure of himself," said S-Cards manager Pop Warner. An example was Perez's throws to second. He was 1.85 seconds or 1.89 seconds to second base in drills - a fine speed for a catcher. But when he got into games, Perez would drop to 2.10 seconds. Opponents would run at will on him, and did with great alacrity. Perez has the athleticism and the arm to perform better. He lacked the "confidence," Warner said. It's the same with calling games. He'll still call some pitches that confuse the coaches, but he's proven eager to accept suggestions or revisit curious calls after the game. Perez is the priority for playing time at Springfield, so he'll get plenty of opportunities to improve on all facets.
POWER: Jonathan Rodriguez, 3B, Quad Cities (Low-A). Continuing what I hope becomes a regular feature here on Five-Tool Friday is a take from a reporter/blogger who also covers the Cardinals' minor-league system. This entry comes from Tim McCullough, who does a lot of the writing at FutureRedbirds.com, an essential site for keeping up with the daily movers, shakers and fallers down on the Cardinals' farm. McCullough, who you can find here, writes:
Rodriguez has shown impressive power at Modern Woodman Park for the Quad Cities River Bandits, the Cardinal's Low-A affiliate. Drafted in 2009 out of Manatee Community College in Florida, Rodriguez was an unheralded pick in the 17th round. (This is a different "John" Rodriguez from the player who was with the St. Louis team from 2005-2006.) Rodriguez has made himself known by putting on a prodigious power display in recent games. Over the last 10 games (June 27th-July 7th) Rodriguez has had 10 hits in 37 at bats for a reasonable .270 batting average. Of those 10 hits, three have been doubles and four have been home runs. That's one-third of his 2011 home runs hit in the last 10 games. Consider that at his current season's pace (12 homeruns in 237 at bats), Rodriguez would surpass Quad Cities' 2010 home run leader, slugger Matt Adams who is now with the Springfield Cardinals.
AVERAGE: Alan Ahmady, OF, Palm Beach (High-A). The 23-year-old outfielder is slowing climbing out of a .117 hole he hit into while with Class AA Springfield for 20 games (60 at-bats). He has hit .293 in 50 games with the PB-Cards. Ahmady, a 2009 draft pick, came to the Cardinals a year removed from a national championship with Fresno State. He started 2010 suspended for 50 games after testing positive at the end of 2009 for amphetamines. In subsequent reports, like this one in the Quad City Times and this entry at The Fresno Bee, Ahmady explained that the positive test came from Adderall, a medication he had been taking for attention-deficit disorder. The suspension came at a time he was making the transition from third base to outfield and was earmarked for a promotion to a full-season club. He got there eventually in 2010 and hit .304/.443/.408. OBP has been Ahmady's hallmark. In 41 games for Quad Cities last season he had 31 walks and 31 strikeouts. In his big-league career he has only 11 more strikeouts (144) than walks (133). Ahmady has what's called good "pitch selection" at the plate, a habit, no doubt, refined in college. That can contribute to a high average and usually contributes to a high on-base percentage. In his previous 10 games at Palm Beach has only a .233 average, but he's reached base in 40 percent of his plate appearances, each of which puts him further away from the 50-game chunk missing from his early development.
SPEED: Scott Bittle, RHP, GCL Cardinals (Rookie). This past week the former fourth-round pick appeared for the first time in a regular-season professional game. It's been a long, sometimes strange, trip for the former Ole Miss All-American. Bittle came out of college with the expectation of being a quick-mover through anyone's system because of a vicious cutter that he nicknamed "The Thing." The Yankees drafted him one year but balked at the shape of his shoulder. The Cardinals took him the next year, 129th overall, and while leery of his shoulder got him for a relatively slim bonus of $75,000. He then spent the next two seasons trying to avoid shoulder surgery, having shoulder surgery and then recovering from shoulder surgery. Here is what Baseball America wrote about him at the time of his selection in the 2009 draft:
Ole Miss also has passed the Bulldogs in terms of pro talent, such as Scott Bittle. The 6-foot-2, 185-pounder was a first-team All-American a year ago and when he's healthy, he has one of the best pitches in the draft. He attacks hitters with a ferocious cutter in the 84-86 mph range, and should saw of plenty of bats in pro ball with the pitch. It has amazing depth for a cut fastball as well. His fastball can reach 92 mph in shorter stints, though he pitches in the upper 80s with sink as a starter. His changeup also has become an average pitch. Bittle's medical history makes it impossible to know where he'll be drafted. He redshirted in 2006 at Northeast Texas CC because of rotator cuff tendinitis, so his shoulder has been an issue--either keeping him off the mound or keeping him from signing in the draft--three times in the last five years.
Well, there will be more on Bittle in Sunday's Minor League Insider, the weekly farm report that, in part, these five-tool entries sprang from. He pitched 2/3 of an inning last Saturday for the GCL Cardinals and he allowed two runs on two walks. He did not allow a hit. His speed is part of the concern now. His velocity has sagged significantly since the surgery. He's no longer operating at the 88 mph or so that powered "The Thing." Can he get that cutter back humming at the velocity he had in college? Can his repaired shoulder operate like his achy shoulder? Did he have to elect health over stuff? That's what he's out to answer now, two years removed from the draft.
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