As the Cardinals look to add more hitting this winter, Nolan Gorman could be the latest homegrown prospect to emerge at the big league level. It isn’t yet clear, however, whether or not Gorman will need more Triple-A seasoning before he makes his MLB debut, as Cardinals president of baseball operations John Mozeliak told Benjamin Hochman of The St. Louis Post-Dispatch. “From an offensive standpoint, we’re really encouraged with what we’re seeing,” Mozeliak said, also noting that Gorman looked good at second base this season after previously playing only as a third baseman.
Gorman hit .279/.333/.481 with 25 home runs over 523 cumulative plate appearances in 2021 — an .862 OPS in 195 PA for Double-A Springfield and then a .785 OPS in 328 PA for Triple-A Memphis. The 19th overall pick of the 2018 draft, Gorman’s bat looks like it provide a nice complement at second base with Tommy Edman, as Edman has provided excellent glovework but subpar offense over the last two seasons. Barring a major rookie breakout, however, Hochman doesn’t think Gorman himself will provide the offensive boost the Cards need, and Hochman wonders if moving shortstop Paul DeJong for a better hitter would be the answer.
More from around the National League…
- Speaking of adding offense in the NL Central, Brewers president of baseball operations David Stearns acknowledged his team’s need to score more runs in 2022, but he told MLB.com’s Adam McCalvy and Jordan Bastian that “I think we’re likely to remain a run prevention-first team next year, where we’re built around our pitching and defense. I don’t see that changing.” With this in mind, Stearns said that while he’ll naturally listen to what other teams have to offer, “it’s really tough to trade pitching,” even though the Brew Crew have one of the sport’s deeper mix of rotation arms. Since the time of this interview, Stearns did swing one pitching-for-hitting trade, though Milwaukee sent only a single-A relief prospect (Evan Reifert) to the Rays for utility infielder Mike Brosseau.
- The Nationals have made some promotions in their research and development department, including putting longtime staffer Lee Mendelowitz in charge as the new senior director. More changes are coming, president of baseball operations Mike Rizzo told The Washington Post’s Jesse Dougherty, including some new faces to cover for personnel losses over the last two years (due to pandemic cutbacks and other teams poaching Nats staffers).
Still think the should unload a young pitcher like Ashby/Small, Hiura and one if there upper minors OF to try and get Matt Olson. He’s exactly what we need to revamp this offense.
As long as Urias is in the everyday lineup instead of them trying to supplant him.
Brewers can have Voit if they need a first baseman
Oh jeeze,
Last year Yankee fans thought he was a superstar.
He was a stud last year with 36 HRs on 60 games. No one else was better in MLB.
Voit for Hiura and insert mid prospect?
Well, Yankee fans aren’t that smart
Am I the only one who, when seeing “Gorman” and “Brewers” side by side, thought of Gorman Thomas?
nope, i thought the exact same thing.
looking at his stats during his peak, he’d probably hit 50 homers in today’s era.
Few teams – and especially small market teams – will trade away quality young pitchers with years of control unless they are: 1) either down on a pitcher, or 2) have such an overabundance that they’ll jettison a pitcher to get a position player they can use. (And I don’t think Hiura has any trade value – in fact, most MLB teams wouldn’t want him eating up a 40 man roster spot.)
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What might be possible is a 3-way – Brewers trade Hader for multiple prospects to a 3rd team, the prospects are moved onto the A’s and the Brewers get Olsen.
So you are basically trading Josh Hader for Matt Olson?? No way. Hader is way more valuable and their contract status (the impetus of trading Hader) are pretty identical.
@ mike127;
I’m not going to argue.
The issue is if the Brewers have a number of relivers that could make up for Harder’s absence. I believe the FO thinks they do, which is why they’re listening on offers for him this year. Whether they would use that chip to get Olsen is the question – the might prefer the prospects. But I was responding to the suggestion that the Brewers package some youngsters to get Olsen.
Sam—-wasn’t looking to argue either. 100 times out of 100 the A’s would take the trade of the prospects plus over Hader.
Organization wise the A’s have already signaled the way they are going. It just doesn’t make sense for them to trade contract for contract.
And as long as I’m a serious contender I’m keeping Hader. More importantly, you can’t count on those other relievers making up for his absence (while you are contending).
Stearns comments are telling imo. Saying they will remain a pitching & run prevention team is saying — don’t expect me to add a bunch of offense this offseason or trade any starting pitching. Stearns will upgrade at the edges of the roster, bullpen and IF/OF depth. This team with those additions is good enough to get to the trade-deadline in or near 1st place, then assess and make upgrades at that time.
@ Bud Selig Fan;
Excellent comment.
Most fans think that rosters have to be upgraded by opening day.
In reality, FO’s primary seasons go from the day after the WS ends to the end of the treading deadline. Stearns and the Brewers along with the Rays are masters at this.
The only place they can really add is 1B and RF. Tellez hit pretty well for the Brewers after being acquired though they probably do need a RH option (Not Hiura). Tyrone Taylor may be able to replace Garcia and even though the Brewers make a lot of sense for Castellanos it doesn’t sound like they are willing to add a big contract
No way Ashby is going to be moved. That kid is going to be a top of the rotation lefty arm for years to come. It’s been forever since they developed a good lefty
Brewers need a stud OFer. Marte would be excellent. Huira will be back to platoon with Tellez & at DH (maybe). Would take a Jose Ramirez type trade to get top pitching prospects.
Stop saying Edman is an offensive liability. He isn’t. He lead the NL in doubles, second steals. When your lead-off hitter is standing on second 2 out of every 7 with no outs he is closer to a force than problem!
Absolutely right, the guy hit 41 doubles, 11 homers, stole 30 bases and he’s some kind of “offensive liability”?
I’d love to be worth 3 oWAR and still be considered an offensive liability
When your lead off hitter has an obp of .308 you’re shooting yourself in the foot. The reality is to be a good offensive player you have either get on base or hit for power. Unfortunately, Edman does neither.
What part of Edman leading the National League in doubles didn’t you understand? Your argument is incongruous.
Very valuable player on a roster, but also has an OBP that hovers around .300 and a SLG under .400 with a wRC+ of around 90 for two consecutive years. That’s fine for a middle infielder with a good glove, but it ain’t great.
GOOD GLOVE? TRY GOLD GLOVE, MAYBE THAT IS A LITTLE EASIER TO DIGEST!
Wong won a GG and never heard the end of it with the same offensive numbers. Maybe if Edman would be able to settle into a position his numbers would rise.
BearsEatBeets——- there is more to a baseball player than just analytics!!! If you are totally using numbers to judge Tommy Edman, then you missed the boat.
Example; Deterioration of his batting average. (This has occurred many times with Tommy Edman). He’s a really fast runner. He’s a contact hitter. He puts extra pressure on an infielder to rush his approach to the ball and has to hurry his throw.
Many many times I’ve seen Edman, using his speed and quickness, for infielders make errors. Thus Tommy is standing on First base, but his batting average drops each time this happens.
So Mr. Analytic, go back and check last season or even the past 2 seasons. Just for fun—— count the times Edman reached base on an error. Again—- just for arguments sake—- count those as hits!!!
If you do—- you will see that Edman’s batting average would have been well over .300 over the past 2 seasons!!!
Edman is the catalyst of the Cardinals. Who knows what Gorman will be??? But it won’t be compared to
Back to back seasons as a 91 wRC+, that’s 9% below league average.
Edman is a nice, versatile player who brings athleticism and speed to the offense and defense.
However, he needs to hit at the bottom of the order when he plays
When DeJong plays everyday he can hit 30 homers, but his average was real bad last year. He’s a career .241 hitter after a bad year last year. He has a solid glove and I think most teams would take .241 and 25 from their shortstop. I have more confidence in Tommy, and Nolan is legit and coming. I’m just not sure Paulie D is completely washed up at 28, I hope he’s not anyway. I hope Gorman turns out to be a beast and they all have great years. We need the depth, that was missing last year other than Sosa.
Great comment.
Hader for Hoskins
Stearns replies, “… and?”
yea….and
Edman is the spark plug of the Vardinals offense!!! He’s a contact hitter. He stole 30 bases. He scored more runs than 95% of all players in the National League!!!
No telling how many fielder’s choice’s he hit into which deduct Batting average points.
Plus no telling how many times he got on base by making contact and forcing an error because of his speed!!! Yet getting on base because of an error lowers his batting average too. Hitting a double ply ball, yet beating out the throw to first by shear hustle counts against his batting average.
None of the above fits into your cyber metrics and analytical analysis of Edman Mr. Hochman. Your as bad or worse than John Mozeliak’s evaluations of a player or manager!!
Now Edman has added a Gold Glove to his trophy case!! Ohhh—— isn’t Edman the one you stated “The Cardinals might lose defense with the loss of Kolten Wong by playing Edman!” Mozeliak stated that too!!!
The hype about replacing Edman with Gorman is Crazy!!!!!
Nothing against Gorman. However, Edman is a proven offensive and defensive plus!!! Gorman has proven nothing at the major league level.
Lordy!!!!! I can make up a major league wild card contending team of current MLB players who Mozeliak has dumped!!!!
Lol
Upvoted yet again.
Stay chipper misterlol.
@ 17dizzy;
Congratulations on being a baseball fan that understands the game and follows your team!
Statistics do not show so many things regarding playing the game. Most of all – as you note – they don’t take into account what one players abilities – of lack thereof – cause their teammates or the opposing team to take actions that open or close things up for your team.
The smart FO’s have internal statistics that drill down. And the manager and his staff should be consulted in meetings to go over the intangibles.
The game is played on the field. Metrics help a lot, but the human element and the game situation has to be considered, else the FO is going to constantly come up short.
For instance – should music critics create a statistic by which a computer counts how many notes Eric Clapton hits in the blues run of a song vs. how many Keith Richards does when playing the same song? Of course not. Clapton and his band are playing it one way, Richards and the Rolling Stones are playing it another. Additionally, they’re 2 different types of guitar players. Along with everything else in life, MLB is the same way. Teams play different styles and give different responsibilities to their individual players.
MLB is not rotisserie league baseball.
Edmond was terrible until mid July last year. He is not a lead off hitter. His body build makes him barely look like a baseball player at all. He is a bench player on pretty much every team. He is just the next in line of a middle infielder that player cards fans fall in love with for no reason
For no reason? The guy won a gold glove, hit 40 doubles and stole 30 bases. Bench player on every other team? You either don’t watch baseball or don’t understand it. He might have been on the bench in Toronto or maybe Milwaukee but that’s not every team. He also makes alot less than semien and wong. Your statement is moronic
Does Betts look like a baseball player to you? How about Bartolo Colon? Heck Babe Ruth?
Edman is a very solid player with great speed and plays incredible Gold Glove defense. You want him on your team…..just not leading off. Until his on base percentage increases, he shouldn’t be leading off or hitting in front of the big bats. He would be a great spark plug hitting lower in the order. If Gorman comes up and plays second, Tommy won’t be on the bench, he will move over to shortstop where he played in college. Edman is more valuable than Sosa or DeJong. He is smart and has gotten better each year. Dylan Carlson should be batting first due to the higher OBP.
Tommy Edman hasn’t provided ‘subpar offense’ lol that’s laughable, he’s been better than Kolten Wong compared to there first few seasons…. he isn’t Chase Utley, he plays great defense as mentioned, but he also steals bases, walks and has a hit tool that will keep him in the major leagues on a team somewhere for the next 7-10 years at the very least. Splits even encourage if he dropped switch hitting he’d be even better.
His 5.5% BB rate is one of the worst in the game…
A .262 average suggest maybe a 55 grade hit tool.
He’s older than Wong was when they started out, and Wong is out hitting him by a lot at this point.
Can Edman play short?
Stud – Yes Edman plays SS. That was his primary position. He plays excellent defense every position he’s played and 262 is not a poor BA from a guy who’s a stud on defense. I seem to remember a 2B named Bobby Richardson paired with a SS named Tony Kubek on a world class team called the Yankees back when they were winning WS most of the time. Both of them would have loved a season with over 30 doubles and a 230 BA let alone a 262 BA. Don’t forget Edman hit 300 as a rookie 2 years ago. Give me a guys with Edmans’ tools and speed every day. Let someone who outweighs him by 60 lbs pound all the bombs. Chances are that guy strikes about 170 times a year as well.
One aspect I like about Edman’s game that doesn’t show up in the slash lines is quality of at bats. Tommy is a tough out every time up. A lot of guys who are considered better hitters fold against good pitchers. Tommy battles and makes pitchers work no matter who is on the mound.
His 3.78 pitches per PA suggests he’s not making them work that hard
“as Edman has provided excellent glovework but subpar offense over the last two seasons.”
HUH??????????????????????????????????????
Mo & the FO fall in love with their guys & there certainly seems to be an archetype.
Brewers only do half the “run prevention” stuff well. Their defense is pretty abysmal. Adames and Urias constantly make routine plays difficult for the first basemen. The first basemen are also limited defensively. Bad combo. Need to get those arms straightened out in the off-season.
Brewers ranked 5th in DRS. Saying its abysmal is quite the exaggeration
Nolan Gorman!!!!! The way the Cardinals Front Office has built this kid up ——has set him up for a lot of pressure and possibly failure!!!
Liberator is in the same boat as Gorman.
For the type’s of MLB established players the could have gotten for those 2 in trade—(for the past several years), —- the two of them had better be super rookies when they are put in the 25 man roster!!!!!!