The St. Louis Cardinals were clear that this season would be a constant desire to compete, but the priorities would be player development and the future. The only thing that is clear right now about Victor Scott II’s development is that what he’s doing to make adjustments is not working against Major League pitching. Is it time to utilize one of his minor league options or is there wisdom to continue on the road the Cardinals are on with him staying in the lineup? The numbers don’t seem to favor the latter.
It was almost exactly one month ago when our own Jake Wood did an excellent deep dive into Victor Scott II and what he did during the offseason to adjust his swing and approach. I won’t rehash all that Jake shared, but I highly recommend you check it out if you haven’t already. The Cliff Notes version is Victor spent the offseason with a biomechanical specialist at his alma mater of West Virginia trying to improve swing efficiency. As Jake mentioned then, the early Statcast numbers didn’t reveal any great improvement other than an effort to direct the all up the middle to allow himself the opportunity to beat out more infield hits. He also moved back in the batter’s box to support that approach.
One month later, where is Victor Scott II now?
As of today, Victor Scott II has 138 plate appearances and he’s below the Mendoza line with an average of just .185. He’s making very little solid contact with a barrel rate of only 1.1 and a hard hit rate of just 27.7 according to Baseball Savant. Most of his offensive metrics are in the bottom 13th percentile with the exception of his whiff rate of just 22.9. I was surprised to see that Victor’s defensive numbers have regressed with only a 2 outs above average compared to his stellar 17 OAA last season.
Why won’t the Cardinals use one of Victor Scott II’s remaining minor league options?
The question is who would take Victor Scott II’s place on the major league roster if he gets another stint in the minors. The Cardinals just placed Nathan Church on the injured list which resulted in the callup of Bryan Torres. Torres would have been one of the likely candidates for Scott II’s roster spot if he were sent down. I have to wonder if St. Louis might be approaching the time when this would make sense for everyone involved since I’ve seen estimates that Lars Nootbaar will be ready to return to the Cardinals lineup around the start of June. Victor still has 2 minor league options remaining and the end of May/beginning of June timeframe might be the time to utilize it once Lars is ready for prime time again.
I love having players like Victor Scott II on the major league roster. His speed off of the bench and his ability to be a late inning defensive replacement are valuable. However, I would much rather he be allowed more development time out of the major league spotlight if he can manage to overcome the offensive struggles to become a complete player. I’ve seen Oli Marmol and the other Cardinals coaches talk about how hard Victor is working pre and post-game and I don’t doubt that effort, but I think the reappearance soon of Lars Nootbaar gives the St. Louis Cardinals the opportunity they need to allow VSII to see if he can ascend into the kind of all-around player they need him to be for the long term.
