On Monday, the expected happened. There was overwhelming support for JJ Wetherholt as the #1 prospect in the Cardinals system. It is unknown whether or not Wetherholt will make the Opening Day roster, but it seems pretty clear to me that Wetherholt is definitely ready. That’s not something you can say about probably any other prospect in the system. For that alone, him being number one makes sense.
For this round, I have decided to add two pitchers and if you read Monday’s post, you probably know who I’m adding. I didn’t name them, but it doesn’t exactly take a detective to figure them out. The first addition is Quinn Mathews, namely because he was voted as the #2 prospect in the system on last year’s list. He only wasn’t included in the initial vote because I wanted to include all three catchers so as to not show favoritism to any of them.
And the second pitcher I’m adding is Brandon Clarke, who was part of the return for Sonny Gray. Clarke is being added because I have no reference point on what this community thinks of him. Also he’s either a top 100 prospect or close to one depending on the site you use. Just to hammer home my logic of my first seven picks, Wetherholt, Mathews, and Jimmy Crooks were all top 5 last year, Liam Doyle and Clarke are brand new to the Cardinal organization and unknows, and both Leonardo Bernal and Raniel Rodriguez were included already because I thought all three catchers were lumped roughly together and leaving off one indicates who I think is the worst prospect, even if not intentionally.
There is an argument for a couple other prospects to be on this particular vote and I acknowledge that, but I don’t think anyone else has a serious chance at being voted as the #2 prospect in the system. So whether or not you think someone is missing because you think they should be top 7 is irrelevant. As long as you think they will never be #2 is all that matters.
And I apologize for those who didn’t get the chance to vote. The site I picked out was essentially a free trial and expired after a certain amount of votes. Wetherholt was far and way the most popular pick, so thankfully I learned that on a vote where more votes wouldn’t make an impact. I am still trying to figure out the best poll for these votes. If you didn’t know, SB Nation switched from Chorus to WordPress recently and there is no poll option naturally in at least this version of WordPress. So I’m finding outside help and it’s harder than you’d think. Moving onto the voting.
Leonardo Bernal, C – 22
Stats (AA): 107 G, 455 PAs, .247/.332/.394, 10.8 BB%, 16.9 K%, .146 ISO, .274 BABIP, 103 wRC+
Scouting (FG): 35/50 Hit, 35/45 Game Power, 50/50 Raw Power, 40/30 Speed, 40/55 Fielding
Bernal, from a scouting perspective, and to some degree for his stats themselves, seems to be at least average at every element of being a catcher. None of his specific tools stand out too much – Crooks later will have 70 potential fielding and obviously Rodriguez has the bat – but that kind of well-rounded game should bode nicely. That said, his drop-off in the 2nd half of last season could create some doubts.
Brandon Clarke, 23 – LHP
Stats (Low A): 3 GS, 9.2 IP, 47.2 K%, 5.6 BB%, 68.8 GB%, .125 BABIP, 0.93 ERA/0.98 FIP/1.32 xFIP
High A: 11 GS, 28.1 IP, 31.2 K%, 18.1 BB%, 62.5 GB%, .254 BABIP, 5.08 ERA/4.17 FIP/4.74 xFIP
Scouting: 60/60 Fastball, 70/80 Slider, 40/50 Change, 30/40 Command
Clarke was a 5th round pick from the 2024 draft. He had a whole bunch of injuries before he became a professional, requiring Tommy John as a junior in high school, and then thoracic issues in his left shoulder in college. So the Red Sox slow played him this past season, and this time he had issues with finger blisters, which ended his season in August.
But he sure dominated Low A. I wonder if the Red Sox even planned for him to pitch in High A at the beginning of the year, but when your pitcher is striking out nearly half the batters he faces and anyone who makes contact is pounding it into the ground, well your hand is forced. He was less successful in High A, but still had a lot of strikeouts and a lot of groundballs. But the walks were an issue. I wonder what his innings target is with his injury history.
Jimmy Crooks, C – 24
Stats (AAA): 98 G, 430 PAs, .274/.337/.441, 8.4 BB%, 26.5 K%, .167 ISO, .352 BABIP, 105 wRC+
MLB: 15 G, 46 PAs, .133/.152/.244, 0 BB%, 37 K%, .111 ISO, .185 BABIP, 5 wRC+
Scouting: 35/40 Hit, 40/45 Game Power, 50/50 Raw Power, 20/20 Speed, 60/70 Fielding
Crooks’ MLB performance at the plate probably created some doubters from Crooks. His inflated strikeout rate at AAA did not help. However, it’s important to know that both Ivan Herrera and Carson Kelly spent multiple years in AAA. If he’s not ready right now to hit MLB pitching, or at least doesn’t seem it as of this voting, it would be fairly normal.
And while maybe his bat has underwhelmed, the real appeal of Crooks lies in his defense. He would be a defense-first catcher, the question is will his bat paired with his defense be good enough to become a starter. He’s got a pretty nice floor of a backup catcher, similar to Pedro Pages, who I compared Crooks to on Monday and in a positive way to be clear.
Liam Doyle, LHP – 22
Stats (Both A and AA): 2 G, 3.2 IP, 40 K%, 13.3 BB%, 57.1 GB%, .333 BABIP, 2.45 ERA/5.40 FIP/1.86 xFIP
Scouting: 70/70 Fastball, 50/60 Slider, 45/55 Change, 30/45 Command
Oh man I’ve been doing this for a few years and I am so used to bad fastballs in the scouting that it is a bit jarring to see a 70 fastball. I am not used to it. Granted, while other teams have prospects with good fastballs, being not used to 70 fastballs could apply to most fanbases. It’s exceptional. It’s not merely good. It’s elite. It’s considered one of the best fastballs in the majors right now.
In fact, while those two appearances in the minor leagues tell us next to nothing, one thing this profile certainly shows us is that Liam Doyle could probably be a good, if not elite, reliever on Day One. That fastball alone could probably produce an effective reliever and combining it with the slider certainly plays. But obviously, the Cardinals are in it for the long haul. They want his command to improve and they want his change to improve.
Quinn Mathews, 25 – LHP
Stats (AAA): 24 GS, 99 IP, 26.1 K%, 16.8 BB%, 41.8 GB%, .302 BABIP, 3.73 ERA/4.30 FIP/4.78 xFIP
Scouting: 50/55 Fastball, 50/55 Slider, 45/45 Curve, 60/60 Change, 45/60 Command
The Cardinals have done very well to put themselves into a position where Mathews can start the season in Memphis if they so chose. You can see an argument that Mathews is ready now, with a high strikeout rate and a good amount of grounders leading to a good ERA in a big hitting environment. At the same, you can look at the walks and the less impressive 4.78 xFIP and think he needs more seasoning. Spring training should tell us more, but I imagine he’s headed for AAA without dominating spring training.
Raniel Rodriguez, 19 – C
Stats (CPX): 20 G, 80 PAs, .373/.513/.831, 20 BB%, 18.8 K%, .458 ISO, .385 BABIP, 238 wRC+
Low A: 60 G, 271 PAs, .249/.373/.498, 14 BB%, 17.7 K%, .249 ISO, .261 BABIP, 145 wRC+
Scouting: 25/50 Hit, 20/55 Game Power, 50/55 Raw Power, 45/40 Speed, 40/60 Fielding
You know there’s a funny thing about scouting. I get where the potential comes in – most sites roughly agree with a prospect’s potential. It’s easy enough to wrap my head around when I see a 55 potential for power or 50 potential for a hit tool. Where I notice some weird elements is in the current element of the scouting. As in I do not believe Rodriguez has 20 game power right now. I don’t know where he came up with that number. However else he would do in the major leagues, I don’t think his power would be comparable to David Eckstein. I think he would hit some homers, maybe nothing close to what he’s doing in the minors, but a 20? That suggests absolutely no power whatsoever.
Anyway, I’ll probably be commenting on weird scouting grades all voting, because it’s an easy thing for me to rant about. This is but one of many.
Alright here is an attempt at using yet another site for voting. Let’s see if it works. Once again, as of me writing this, my site does not appear to be working so hopefully it works better on your end.
(I can’t get a poll embedded, so you’ll just have to click the link. Multiple people have now voted, so it seems to be working)
https://strawpoll.com/e2naXejDwyB
