Last night I had a great opportunity to plop down $10, brave unseasonably cool St. Louis temperatures and watch the Quad Cities River Bandits (Low Class A farm club of the Cards) play at Busch Stadium III against Kansas City's team, the Kane County Cougars. With seating being general admission, I got there early and got the best seat available....first row behind the green seats (those were reserved for scouts), situated just in the left hand batters box, so I could get a good view of the pitching. I also had clear view of three radar guns.
Of course, I was there to see Carlos Martinez, the Cards exciting 19 year old Dominican bonus baby, who was making just his fourth United States professional start. Martinez is a lithe athlete, small in stature, maybe 5'11, but only 160 lbs. He has been compared to Pedro Martinez, and I can see why. I do believe when he is 30, he will be bigger than Pedro, however.
The baseball just explodes out of his hand. The kid was throwing "easy cheese" 97 mph regularly, and he touched 99. His ball has great movement, especially when he throws down and in to right handed hitters. That pitch will be fouled off a lot of shins of future big leaguers. His breaking pitch is erratic, but it is a whopper of a curve ball, thrown at 80 miles an hour with a huge hard break. It breaks so much it is hard to control. His change up also remains a work in progress.
The kid is just dripping with potential, but needs to refine his command. He is not just blowing guys away, as Kane County touched hit for seven hits in five innings, but once he is better able to command his off-speed stuff, he will be really special. His mechanics are smooth, but he seemed to overthrow a little bit, and he was cramping up in his left hamstring beginning in the third inning, so the local fans did not see him at his best.
The Quad Cities catcher is Robert Stock, a very high draft choice for the Cards in the 2009 draft. Stock was a collegian, who in his third season, should be beyond this level of minor league ball. Stock was a pitcher/catcher in college with a 95 mph fastball, and therefore, would be compared to Cards reliever Jason Motte. Stock is a polished receiver, and I think he is still catching just to handle Martinez until Martinez moves up to High Class A. Stock came into the game hitting .125, which is about what I would hit in Low Class A at the age of 48...oddly, though, the kid did have two nice at bats last night. Runs very well for a catcher, too. Stock retains the pwerful throwing arm, but takes too much time to release the ball....my guess is that when Matinez moves to Palm Beach in about 5 or 6 more starts, then Stock will take his place on the pitching staff at QC.
Beyond the QC starting battery, there is nothing else worth seeing on the QC team, except for a left-handed pitcher I will discuss in a bit. The QC players across the board were small guys, except for an exceptionally thick bodied, out of shape third baseman. This seems to be consistent with the Cards recent player development system, but I have to question that approach, as little guys just don't grow up to be productive major league hitters very often. I just don't see any player other than Martinez and the relief pitcher ever reaching the big leagues.
The Kane County team, however, looks pretty good and athletic. This just follows what we have been reading about Kansas City's loaded farm system.
OK, back to the little lefty. I actually met Justin Wright's father outside the stadium before the game. He was a proud papa, and told me his son was a little lefty who would pitch that night. The kid came into the 9th inning, down 3-1, and was the best-polished pitcher I saw all evening. He is little, maybe 5'7", but he had good velocity, perhaps 90 mph (I had moved away from the low vantage point by then). He had a perfect 1-2-3 inning, but what struck me was his command. His first four pitches were all strikes and they were all different pitches....he is a strongly built young man, and everything looks the same coming out of his hand. I now have a favorite minor leaguer to follow in the Cards chain, Justin Wright.
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Just wrote a check for $2000 to a roofing company to get a new roof after a bad hail storm at the house last month. Interesting how the vultures come out after a storm....and all the companies, except the one I chose, want to do the work for what insurance pays us.....I couldn't even get estimates performed from most companies without them seeing what the insurance check was. I got news for those guys....you are scam artists. Screw you. Once that check is in my bank account, it's nunya business. Lou Ann and I are happy to be getting a new roof and having $2700 left over to do other stuff, too.
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