VSII has been in an offensive slump but who is there to push him for playing time?
The St. Louis Cardinals have turned a corner in June and despite the boring loss against the Reds, they have won five of six games and enter their first series against the Chicago Cubs 4.5 games out of first place.
The story has remained similar for most of the year, the pitching will keep the Cardinals in games even if it’s not sexy, but the offense is either hot or not. After two solid offensive games against the Reds, they put up three hits in the finale and that was after scraping together some close wins against the terrible White Sox. I was on a recent episode of the Redbird Rundown podcast and described Lars Nootbaar’s season performance as mimicking that of the Cardinals’ and that got me to thinking more about the outfield as a whole.
Before the outfield conundrum, I was informed I should introduce myself so I will do that quickly. My name is Scott Plaza (MrPlaztastic) and I was lovingly invited to join the Viva El Birdos team by Jake Wood so he could have another guy to talk ball with. I sucked him in with my Twitter bio that says I am a “former professional baseball player” along with some college accolades. And that is about the extent of my gloating about my baseball career goes but I still find it relevant to why I feel like I can share some thoughts.
I played through a few level of independent leagues after winning the DIII College World Series in 2014 (World Series MVP after 16 shutout innings may I add) but had a full labrum repair and then Tommy John a couple years later. Since then, I have been coaching college and high school softball and I am a high school business teacher in the real world. As for my Cardinal fandom, I have been a fan forever. Although I am in the suburbs of Chicago, it is tradition that my family takes in a weekend of Cardinal baseball for our summer vacation. I have missed one year since being two-years-old and that was because I was playing in California that summer.
So what can you expect from me here? I refuse to ever say a major league baseball player “sucks” because I understand the true level of talent that goes into making it to that level. I will never say “how could X not swing/chase that pitch” because hitting is freaking hard. I am a combination of eye test, feel, and analytics in my thoughts, while also being a realist looking from all sides. I do not critique daily lineups or bullpen usage because of how much behind the scenes stuff we don’t see as fans. I do not tell a manager he’s terrible because a well-thought move backfires. That being said, I think Oli is a good manager and, in general, I think managers get too much credit and too much flak.
There are things I’ll touch on without much other evidence beyond “I just know” because there are truly some things I learned by being a part of professional organizations. I apologize for that but I will rarely pull from my experience since it was brief, low level, and mostly underwhelming. I look forward to connecting with the VEB community more as I come over from Redbird Rants (I know) and I-70 Sports Media. If you look at my other stuff, you will see I’m rarely reactionary and look at things over a period of time.
And with that, back to the Cardinals outfield.
A lot has been made of Lars Nootbaar and Jordan Walker’s struggles, and rightly so. Noot has shown the ability to be elite but he had to stay healthy. Well, now he’s healthy and what do we think? Without getting too far into it, I think he’s going to be exactly as expected but without the flash. He’ll put up the numbers we anticipated but with hot and cold spells. And that is why I view him as a mirror of the Cardinals’ season. Walker… I’m not out on him but I am getting closer. The defensive leap was great and he’s shown short spurts at the plate but then he gets hurt or goes ice cold. I truly don’t know the plan there.
That brings us to Victor Scott II. Last year, he made the team thanks to the unfortunate Dylan Carlson collision (btw, love Carlson and will forever) and struggled before being rightly sent down. He wasn’t ready but he got a chance. This spring, I was fully ready to struggle through another Opening Day with Michael Siani in the outfield but was glad to see the team make the right move and put Scott on the roster after his exhibition showing.
A nice first month made him look like a piece for the future but then he started to struggle in late May. These struggles were overshadowed by the team going on an incredible run to close out the month but then June turned into a tough month for the speedy outfielder. He is still playing nearly everyday but is hitting .180 for the month and has struck out 36% of the time. So when it comes to Victor Scott, for me, does he actually deserve the opportunity he’s getting?
In 2024, both MLB.com and FanGraphs rated Scott as a 45-50 grade future hitter with low power but his trademark blazing speed and great defense. Scott’s promotion was sped up by the Carlson injury as the lefty had never gotten a plate appearance above Double-A before the call up. That’s a big jump to make, especially for a player without a major hitting ability.
While his WRC+ is at a 91, he is helped by his speed allowing him to steal base hits with bunts or hustle as his Baseball Savant page does not show a lot to be excited about with his hitting profile. The thing is, though, there’s not much behind Scott in Memphis, or elsewhere, that is pushing for his spot so he makes the most sense to be getting the playing time. The outfield depth is redundant, with the MLB-ready hitters all being lefties (Noot, Scott, Burleson, Donovan, Siani, Koperniak, Church) and the team’s highest-rated right-handed hitting outfielder being Joshua Baez, who is currently in Double-A. That also puts more pressure on Walker to become the righty power bat they need in the corner outfied.
Scott has not looked phenomenal at the plate either, striking out multiple times trying to bunt with two strikes and almost getting hit in the face another few times looking to lay one down. I don’t have the answer for what I want out of VSII but what I really think it means is that the Cardinals may have to resort some resources (draft or financial) to the outfield. If Donovan moves to left, that opens the infield for Gorman (lefty), Saggese (unproven), or Wetherholt (lefty AND unproven) so there is no answer besides VSII needing to find another level with his bat to take the pressure off of other spots.
Let me know what you think about VSII overall, current and/or future. He’s young and hungry, and looks to be a great vibes guy so there’s no need for him to be out of the organization per se.
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