St. Louis Cardinals: Who's Hot, Who's Not

(Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)

Evan MacLane- The SP has a good season with 2-3, 2.85. But past two starts have been brutal. 12-2/3, 9 ER (6.43), 16 hits, 3 walks, and 3 K's. On the bright side, his streak of not pitching less than six innings is intact.

Adam Ottavino- This guy is only 23, but the dreaded b word might get attached to his name. I'll show his stats. 5 2/3, 9 earned runs, 9 hits, 7 walks, and 4 strikeouts. I'll tell you he was a first round pick in 2007. Can you guess the word now? BUST!!!

Brett Wallace- Ok now, this is where you don't take Stock is Falling literally. Yes, MacLane's went down with his recent numbers and Ottavino's definitely did too. But as a hitter, you will get in a slump. He's 6-28 (.214) with six strikeouts, but he managed to get his second homer in AAA.

Honorable Mention- Jess Todd, but mostly for his performance and then demotion.

AAA Notes

Ian Oustland was taken off the DL before Thursday's game.

Brett Wallace made his second consecutive Stock is Falling, but players seem to drop in performance immediately when entering a new level. This is Wallace's first time where he has really struggled. I think he needs this so he doesn't become too cocky.

I just noticed Shane Robinson is batting .244, BUT he has nine steals in just 35 games. Add in the bad average and its even more impressive. I say this in a good way when I say he reminds me of Kerry Robinson. Fastest player on the field, decent average, good fielding, but nothing more than a bench player,

AAA has an impressive pitching staff. Boggs (2-1, 4.50), MacLane (2-3, 2.85), Ottavino (good talent, but he's 0-7, 5.66 BUST), and P.J. Walters (2-4, 4.20).

Boggs has proven to me to be an adequate starter in the majors, Walters has all the physical requirements of a great pitcher at 6'5. MacLane just got promoted from AA in early May, and Ottavino is a first round pick. All are 26 years or younger with the youngest being Ottavino.

AA Notes

I noticed how bad the pitching staff is here. This is probably due to every good player is being promoted. 24 year old Brandon Dickson (2-4, 4.41), 25 year old Donald D. Hearne (4-1, 3.16), 24 year old David Kopp (1-0, 6.52), 24 year old Ryan Kulik (1-3, 5.82), and 22 year old Michael Lance Lynn (5-1, 3.76). So maybe not that bad when looking at the numbers.

A couple important things to know are Kopp recently got promoted and that shows just two starts. The rest are all season stats. I was more mad we had just one 22 year old here, although he's been impressive.

The other four all have birthdays later in the year so essentially they are older than they look. Lynn though just had his birthday, all the more exciting for his future.

In the bullpen, the bad consist of Thomas Brad Furnish (7.15 E.R.A.), Marco E Gonzalez (5.68), Kyle R. Mura (7.88), and Eduardo Nazareth Sanchez (7.20). Important things to know are Sanchez has pitched in just six games in AA, and Mura is on DL and has only pitched in seven games.

Shockingly Furnish has appeared in 13 games with his ummm...ERA. He also lost his SP gig and has pitched in 34 IP. For you non-Math geeks out there, that's 27 earned runs.

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