How much might Jason LaRue’s injury have affected Cardinals minor league results?
Injuries happen in baseball and excuses are not appreciated in many corners for a good reason.
Still, I can’t help but think about the lingering and scattering impact of the concussion sustained by St. Louis Cardinals catcher Jason LaRue suffered at the cleats of Cincinnati Reds pitcher Johnny Cueto on August 10.
We all know that Cueto was suspended for seven games and LaRue is done for his career, but what about the downstream affects?
At the major league level, having the veteran LaRue available, might manager Tony La Russa have been more inclined to give more regular rest to starting catcher Yadier Molina? Struggling with a sore knee, Molina has still hit .315 in the second half after an abysmal .223 start, but is back in St. Louis getting his knee examined again.
Prior to Molina’s latest setback, new St. Louis reserve catchers Bryan Anderson and Matt Pagnozzi had been given a total of four major league starts in the six weeks since Anderson first arrived from Triple-A Memphis to replace LaRue.
Further, by taking both members of the Redbirds’ catching tandem, how much was the Memphis club weakened? Since having joined the Redbirds, Steven Hill batted just .176 and reportedly was not always sharp behind the plate while Tony Cruz hit .214 in the regular season. Starter Cruz posted a meager .143 average over the two rounds of the Pacific Coast League playoffs.
The trickle-down effect may have been most felt at Springfield, where Nick Derba and Charles Cutler took over the catching duties. Derba batted .240 at Double-A this year while Cutler batted .218 in the regular season. Derba is considered one of the better defensive catchers in the system, yet the Springfield pitching staff allowed an average of six runs per game in the playoffs while the catcher batted .313.
Taking it one more step, could the loss of Derba and Cutler been a factor in Palm Beach’s late-season swoon, both offensively and with handling their pitchers? Despite finishing ten games over .500, the Florida State League Cardinals suffered through a 4-14 stretch during the final weeks that ruined their playoff chances. Palm Beach’s replacement catchers contributed very little with their bats.
Obviously, the impact on their teams is all speculation, but what is clear is that in almost every case, the batting results of the promoted catchers dropped off considerably as they were moved up. As such, the level of offense the higher level minor league club received declined, in some cases, substantially.
Cardinals catchers, batting average by level, 2010 regular season
| Average | St. Louis | Memphis | Springfield | Palm Beach |
| Pagnozzi | 0.250 | 0.242 | ||
| Anderson | 0.280 | 0.270 | ||
| Cruz | 0.214 | 0.289 | ||
| Hill | 0.176 | 0.280 | ||
| Derba | 0.240 | 0.202 | ||
| Cutler | 0.218 | 0.292 | ||
| Espinoza | 0.158 | |||
| De La Cruz | 0.194 |
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Steven Hill only played 9 games at AAA hitting .176.Are you discounting the 93 games at AA and the 22 HRs and .280`s BA..
Same deal with Tony Cruz 14 ABs 3 Hits is not a large sample size.Cruz hit .280`s in 86 games in AA and A+ ball.
I think both will be seeing a great deal of playing time next season along with Pagnozzi if he doesn`t make the Big team .With Hill getting some time at 1B.
Derba has not proven to be a offensive threat at all and Cutler has struggled.
Nice article showing how a single injury can have a ripple effect thru the system.Good job.Articles like this make the site enjoyable.
Not discounting anyone’s PRIOR results. The focus of the article was on how most all of the catchers struggled AFTER they were required to move up a level late in the season.
Regarding Hill and Cruz, once the latter arrived in Memphis, the former did not catch at all. As noted above, Cruz also hit poorly in both rounds of the playoffs, but does have the Arizona Fall League ahead.
Thanks for the compliment.
A question for you Brian What do you forsee in the future for Bryan Anderson,Matt Pagnozzi,
Steven Hill and Mark Hamilton.
I see Hill catching occaisionally and playing some 1B.His bat is his best attribute.
I am discouraged that Anderson has been buried since Pags arrived. Funny how Chris Maloney effectively used the two in a platoon, but not TLR. They tried Hamilton in the outfield earlier, but didn’t stick with it so his future might be better served elsewhere. Rather than being on the wrong team like Hamilton, Hill may be in the wrong league. Problem is that these guys may not have great trade value.
TB is going to need a 1B next year.Hamilton and Allen Craig plus a Samuel for 1 of TB arbitration starting pitchers.
Pretty one-sided trade, I am afraid. Quantity does not offset quality.
I was thinking since TB is cutting payroll and they where rumored to be considering dealing some of their young pitching that maybe Mo should get talking with TB as soon as its allowed and to see whats available and what TB is looking for,
Worth a shot anyway.
Anderson is the better offensive catcher, but Pagnozzi has better D. A lot may depend on whether the Cardinals can pick up a big bat in the offseason
Statistically Anderson had a better defensive year.Although stats don`t tell how that catcher handles a pitching staff and who the staff feels most comfortable with.As Brian said Pags has pretty much kept Anderson on the bench.That tells me that Pags is the one TLR and Duncan and the Pitchers prefer at this time.Looks like Anderson could be trade bait.
I like Pagnozzi ijust hate the thought of having a backup catcher with a bat worse than LaRue.
Brian you bring up a good point about Anderson and Pagnozzi`s use.Even with Anderson around TLR was reluctant to use him.Instead Yadi still catches 125-130 plus games yearly.At this rate Yadi will be broke down before he passes 30.Is it the fact that Yadi is so much better than most other catchers or does TLR have so little faith in the backups the last few years.I figure a Yadi catching 100-110 games is better than a worn down Yadi catching 130 games.Yadi provides some offense and the subs haven`t offered much.I know its a win now league,but sometimes you got to think somewhat ahead.
I think TLR and DD have been spoiled by Yadi. I also worry about him being over used. He will be our catcher for the forseeable future and that future needs to last as long as possible.
It is common for hitters to have an initial dip upon rising to a higher level. Hill’s low average at Memphis is based on few at bats and seems meaningless.
It could be significant that Cruz did all the catching at Memphis late in the year. Cruz may be better as a receiver, but its odd how the Cards gave Hill priority for much of the year, then bench him at AAA.
Pagnozzi is a good defender and clearly from his history a poor hitter. He is the same age as Yadier, but has been serving in the minors for many years, despite the asset of good D. Pagnozzi is not a new LaRue, because at this age, LaRue would have been a ML regular.
Yesterday we gave up 11, despite having Pagnozzi behind the plate. It is odd Anderson did not get the start, because we needed the offense. TLR/DD seem to be sending Mo or Anderson a message about how much they value defense.
Anderson and Cutler are similar guys, lefty swingers who can make contact and hit for average. Pagnozzi and Derba are similar, they cannot hit, but must be able to catch. Cruz may be somewhere in between.
The chart above inadvertently omits Cruz’s half season at PB.
It’s sad that I come home to find myself surprised that the Cardinals beat the Pirates today, but good for them. Even better for Mr. Descalso, who is likely making a nice impression.
In reference to comment #12, I did not inadvertently leave off Cruz’ 1/2 season at A-Advanced. It was not relevant to the focus of the article – the dip in performance as players moved up at the end of the season. Cruz’ appropriate comparison was between Double-A and Triple-A.
I disagree that poor performance is meaningless. Especially in late-season and playoff games, it could make a difference.
As a side point, Cruz had no business being in Palm Beach at this stage of his career, anyway.
Looks like Hill will be joining the Cards on Friday as Molina is likely done for the year.
Albert achieved 40 HRs even though dinged up at lot and a long power slump or two. Matt has 100 RBI despite all the RISP troubles in the first half. He’s really perked up, so maybe he’s getting over the bigbuckicitis. Colby has his average up to .280, Yadi hit over .300 in the second half. All bode well for next year.
Descalso is coming on like Jay did, and Jay stuck. Which is sorta ironic because if Descalso can play 3B and does next spring, then a power bat in RF might be in order.
Suppan just won’t fade away. One of the interesting things this winter and spring will be the back of the rotation. Mo has expressed interest in maybe trying to sign Westbrook. Maybe, maybe not. We should know if Lohse can pitch by halfway through spring training. Lynn? That guy who sometimes looked real good against low-A hitters but has had a sore arm already? Another DD project guy? DD? Stay tuned.
“Fact: since Aug. 14 the Cardinals are 12-25, and that winning percentage of .325 is the worst in major-league baseball since that time.
That’s right. The Cardinals — with Albert Pujols, Matt Holliday, Chris Carpenter, Adam Wainwright, Jaime Garcia — are the worst team in baseball since Aug. 14. Worse than the Orioles, the Mariners, Pirates and Nationals.
But don’t dare suggest to TLR and his men that they should be embarrassed by this.”
Nice summary by Bernie in stltoday.
bb, not sure where the Lance Lynn shot came from, but he only pitched 15 innings at A-Advanced. He earned his Pitcher of the Year Award for his work at Springfield last season.
Sorry for the confusion, “That guy . . . . . ” was meant to refer to Miller.
Shelby, not Trevor. I would make a shitty sportswriter.
Ichiro has become the first player ever to have ten consecutive 200 hit seasons. The only other player to have ten 200 hit seasons in a career was Pete Rose but his were not consecutive.
I’m looking forward to seeing if the team shows up for Wainy’s attempt at 20. Hope so.
It will be fun to see what kind of a lineup Tony gives him for support. And which catcher. Not that it matters that much. Our 1-7 guy backed by the farm team got even with the Pirates for beating us with their 1-11 guy and big league farm team the day before.
Steven Hill is leading the ML team in slugging percentage. He has been better than Albert. Since this fact is based on merely 3 at bats, some would not put much faith in the fact. I would term it meaningless. As are Hill’s 34 at bats at AAA. There is too little data to say Hill will be a poor player at AAA just as there is too little data to suggest Hill is a future Hall of Famer at the ML level.
Jumbo, back to the subject of the article, upon his arrival in Triple-A, Hill hit worse than when he was in Double-A. As soon as Cruz arrived, Hill was nailed to Memphis’ bench. That is fact. No one said it had anything to do with anyone’s MLB future, but the late-season dropoff in catching performance compared to Anderson and Pags may have hurt the Memphis team and how they finished the year.
BB, I have the impression that Descalso has a much better chance at 2B than 3B next year. I don’t think that his bat is strong enough to be considered an every day third baseman. It’s just that at the moment, the team has a lot more second basemen than third basemen on the roster. Playing Pedro Feliz just looks silly.
Agree Nut, Descalso in not ideal for 3B. He does have one powerful quality, he’s cheap. That could factor in since we found out what a $1M a year 3B is like. Any heavy hitting MLB quality defensive third baseman will be expensive. Luhnow is supposed to make that kind of problem go away.
Remember, we will be paying Lohse $12M I believe and hiring another starter, Westbrook perhaps. It could be that the 3B, 2B, RF combination of power, speed and OBP will have to somehow come from within.
That’s a fair analysis, though I tend to believe that with Garcia’s emergence, they won’t be quite so desperate to spend for a fourth starter, unless they think that Lohse won’t hack it as their fifth. They have the fourth best ERA in the NL and only the seventh best OPS. Pitching has not been the problem.
Of course, pitching hadn’t been a problem when they traded Luddy for Westbrook, but they did it anyway, thinking that pitching would become a problem later. So it would not be out of character for Mo to fixate on what he thinks will become a problem down the road, rather than on what’s the greatest need today.
Yeah, that’s true. However, he did mention afterward that batting was the team’s weakness, so maybe he ended up regretting not going after a bat instead?