The Cardinals have plenty to be excited about in their farm system, but Chaim Bloom made it sound like St. Louis isn’t in a rush to fast-track its brightest Double-A names.
That matters because Rainiel Rodriguez and Jesus Baez just turned in the kind of seasons that naturally spark big-league chatter. Rodriguez, the club’s top prospect, won Baseball America’s Minor League Player of the Year honors and also captured the Texas League batting title after hitting .328 in 87 games for Double-A Springfield. Baez, ranked No. 15 in the system, put together a monster year of his own, blasting 39 homers and driving in 109 runs across 113 total games between High-A and Double-A.
Still, when Bloom was asked Tuesday about the idea of Double-A players who dominate there jumping multiple levels if Spring Training goes well, he poured some cold water on the notion.
"I'd love to expedite the learning curve with those players, I just think that the game sometimes punishes you for trying to skip steps to do that," Bloom said when asked about the Double-A duo. "I never want to put anything past anybody.
I don't want to put a ceiling on somebody, but usually when you look at players - even players who have excelled in Double-A - and then you try to make judgements off Spring Training, you can get burned. It can take a while to dig out of that. ...
I don't think that would be something we'd go into Spring Training looking to do."
Rodriguez and Baez weren’t the only notable Double-A performers in the system, but nobody else matched their production. Liam Doyle, the Cardinals’ No. 2 prospect, spent the season there and posted a 3.76 ERA in 23 starts. The left-hander had a rougher opening stretch before looking every bit the elite prospect down the stretch.
Even with that talent stacked up in the system, Bloom’s message was clear: the Cardinals are not planning to leapfrog the usual progression. Since none of Rodriguez, Baez or Doyle has reached Triple-A yet, that next stop appears to be the likelier path before any Opening Day talk gets serious.
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