Intro
The Cardinals close out the west coast swing. Funny, I don’t remember Milwaukee being west coast. Maybe it is the new geography.
The 72-75 Cardinals limp into Milwaukee coming on the heels of a sweep at the hands of the Seattle Mariners.
The Pitching Matchups (projected)
Friday – Pallante vs Priester @ 7:10p (all times Central)
Saturday – Gray vs Woodruff @ 7:15p
Sunday – Mikolas vs Misiorowski @ 1:10p
Quick peek at the pitching/run prevention
On paper, this looks like as big a mismatch as St. Louis has encountered this year.
On Friday, Priester takes the mound. A 24-years-old righthander, he carries a 3.25 ERA and 4.19 FIP. K-rate of 19.3%, with a 7.8% walk-rate. His BABIP is .274. The underlying stats say this guy isn’t as good as his traditional stats suggest. Good defense has a way of making that happen. He has a good GB rate (58.3%) and an ordinary HR rate, maybe a tad high at 15%.
On Saturday, 32-year-old right-hander Brandon Woodruff on the bump. 3.32 ERA supported by 3.36 FIP, and a matching 3.336 xFIP. He is what he appears to be. He carries a 31% K rate and a 5.9% walk rate. This guy is good.
On Sunday, 23-year-old Jacob Misiorowski toes the rubber. 4.09 ERA/3.13 FIP. He sports an outstanding 35% K-rate and high 10.2% walk rate. He is a handful, but not quite as dominating as his first handful of starts that landed him in the All Star game.
Milwaukee has a very good bullpen, although a couple of guys (Megill, Miller) are hurt. They rank 4th in baseball in reliever WAR. Their defense is also ranked 4th in MLB by OAA.
A peek at the offense
They have 9 regular or semi-regular players with a wRC+ greater than 110. This is a deep, balanced line-up. Andrew Vaughn has become a dangerous hitter. Someone please explain that.
Overall
Miller Park suppresses offense a bit (97) although it does goose HR (106).
Some injured players may re-appear this series. King? Donovan? Arenado?
