Category: From My Seat

Categories
From My Seat Sports

Grand Gasol

Photo by Wes Hale

It has been a trying basketball season in the Bluff City. The Memphis Tigers suffered a midseason collapse unlike any in memory and missed out on the NCAA tournament for the first time in three years. As for our NBA favorites, the Grizzlies have made a mockery of the “MASH unit” cliche with injured stars — Ja Morant, Desmond Bane, Marcus Smart — shaping the team’s lousy record more than their healthy, lesser-known replacements. The Griz have lost 50 games for only the second time in 15 seasons, an unwanted marker fans knew the team would hit as early as December.

But then came last Saturday night at FedExForum. In town to see his jersey number (33) retired was “Big Spain” himself, Marc Gasol. The younger brother of Hall of Famer Pau, Marc received the banner treatment from the franchise before the man he was traded for in a franchise-shifting (and Gasol-family-shifting) deal way back in 2008. Whether or not Pau ever receives this salute from the Grizzlies, the honor was a no-doubter for Marc, the first Memphis player to earn first-team All-NBA honors (2015), the 2013 Defensive Player of the Year, the franchise’s career leader in rebounds, blocks, and minutes played. He may have won an NBA title with the Toronto Raptors (in 2019), but Gasol had “Grit” and “Grind” engraved on his championship ring. When or if the Grizzlies consider unveiling a statue in front of FedExForum, the case could be made it should look a lot like Marc Gasol. 

We attend sporting events for the possibility of what might happen next, but we tend to go back because of what we’ve seen, the history a franchise and its players make over the course of several years. This makes the retiring of Marc Gasol’s jersey — and Zach Randolph’s in 2021 — so essential to the bond still being formed between an NBA team and the city it’s called home now for 23 years. Why cheer a club that won’t sniff the playoffs this spring? You might look back at Marc Gasol’s first winter in Memphis, when the Grizzlies went 24-58, for your answer. Memphis went 40-42 in 2009-10, then reached the playoffs the next seven years, including the Western Conference finals in 2013. Darkest before the dawn, as they say.

On the subject of reflective salutes, it might be time for the Grizzlies to consider a banner that mentions the team’s Southwest Division titles in 2022 and ’23. If you’re the Boston Celtics or Los Angeles Lakers, the rafters have no room for “championships” that don’t come with a parade. But if your franchise has yet to reach the NBA Finals? Let’s acknowledge teams that stand out for posterity, even without a parade (yet) down Beale Street.

• How severely has the injury bug infected the 2023-24 Memphis Grizzlies? Through Sunday, no fewer than 22 players have started a game for Memphis, but only two — Jaren Jackson Jr. and Desmond Bane —  have started as many as 41 (half the regular season), and only Jackson will finish the season with more than 50 starts. Ten years from now, how will Trey Jemison, Jordan Goodwin, and Jaylen Nowell be remembered in these parts? Each started at least one game for this Grizzlies club. They won’t be getting a banner from the franchise, but if you, a devoted fan, recall their names in 2034, you should.

• With Vince Carter’s election to the Basketball Hall of Fame, it marks consecutive years that a former Grizzly has received the sport’s highest honor. (Pau Gasol was inducted in 2023.) Carter was part of three playoff teams (2015-17) with Memphis over the course of his 22-year career.

Categories
From My Seat Sports

Redbirds Open Campaign ’24

Luken Baker (photo by Wes Hale)

The Memphis Redbirds opened their 26th season Friday at AutoZone Park with a 6-5 comeback victory over the Charlotte Knights (Triple-A affiliate of the Chicago White Sox). The 3 p.m. first pitch allowed the entire game to be played under immaculate sunshine and in front of a larger-than-typical crowd for a Redbirds lid-lifter. The Memphis lineup was notable both for a player absent and another present, perhaps a hint that as timeless as baseball may feel to those who love the sport, it’s rarely predictable.

Let’s start with the missing player. Victor Scott II is an outfielder with the kind of electricity — speed and glovework — that calls to mind the hallowed St. Louis Cardinals teams of the 1980s. Last season, Scott stole a jaw-dropping 94 bases (50 at Class-A Peoria and 44 at Double-A Springfield) and earned a minor-league Gold Glove for his skills in center field. Scheduled to make his Triple-A debut this year with the Redbirds, Scott instead opened the season in center for the parent Cardinals after no fewer than three St. Louis outfielders (Tommy Edman, Lars Nootbaar, and Dylan Carlson) were sidelined with injuries. The fourth-ranked prospect in the Cardinals’ system, Scott is only 23 years old and will likely see some action in Memphis. Unless, like Vince Coleman four decades ago, he plays too well with the Cards to be demoted. (Scott had two hits in 14 at-bats in the Cardinals’ opening series in Los Angeles. He also stole his first big-league base.)

While Scott’s absence feels significant, Luken Baker’s return to AutoZone Park feels somewhat astounding. The big first baseman mastered Triple-A pitching in 2023, slamming 33 home runs and driving in 98 runs in only 84 games. Baker posted a slash line of .334/.439/.720 and an OPS of 1.159, enough to earn him International League MVP honors despite playing just over half the season with Memphis.

So how is the 27-year-old Baker not slugging in big-league stadiums now? That’s a question for John Mozeliak, the Cardinals’ president of baseball operations. It’s hard to imagine Baker’s trade value being higher than it was over the winter, even with his struggles (.209/.313/.314) in 33 games (99 at-bats) with St. Louis last season. He homered Friday to spark the Redbirds’ comeback and is now merely 19 shy of Nick Stavinoha’s franchise record of 74. If the long ball sells tickets, Memphis has a 285-pound cash register at first base. And as long as Paul Goldschmidt still occupies the same position for St. Louis, Baker will be selling Triple-A tickets.

• Germantown native Ben Johnson is starting his fifth season as Redbirds manager, the longest tenure for a Memphis skipper since Chris Maloney held the job from 2007 to 2011. The Redbirds have yet to have a winning season under Johnson, but they’ve yet to be dreadful on his watch, either. (Best record under Johnson: 73-77 in 2022. Worst: 71-78 in 2023.) The pre-pandemic Pacific Coast League championships of 2017 and 2018 seem longer than six or seven years ago. Does winning at the Triple-A level matter? Perhaps not to the fortunes of the big-league club, but for casual fans considering entertainment options for their evening? It can’t hurt.

• How about some perspective on the Redbirds’ affiliation with the St. Louis Cardinals, a bond that dates back to 1998 when the Triple-A franchise moved from Louisville to Memphis? Only four Triple-A franchises (among 30) have longer affiliations with their parent club: Iowa (Chicago Cubs), Omaha (Kansas City Royals), Toledo (Detroit Tigers), and Tacoma (Seattle Mariners). As for professional baseball in Memphis, no previous affiliation comes close to the 27-year marriage with the Cardinals. The second-longest is 11 years, from 1984 to 1994 when the Double-A Memphis Chicks fielded prospects for the Royals. 

Categories
From My Seat Sports

Grizzlies Defeat Raptors

Jaren Jackson Jr. goes up for a bucket against the Toronto Raptors on January 22, 2024. (Photo by: Vaughn Ridley/NBAE via Getty Images)

On Monday night in Toronto, the Memphis Grizzlies secured their first wire-to-wire victory of the season by beating the Toronto Raptors 108-100. Memphis improved to 12-12 on the road while just being 4-15 at home on the season.

Memphis seems as if it has been cursed for most of the season with multiple key players dealing with injuries. In their abscence, Jaren Jackson Jr., the longest-tenured player on the roster, continues to dominate opponents and is at times unguardable. He was in his bag against the Raptors and finished with 27 points on 12-for-22 shooting, six steals (career-high), five assists, and four rebounds in 32 minutes.

The reigning Defensive Player of the Year now has 5+ assists in back-to-back games for the first time in his career.

Luke Kennard added a season-high 19 points and dished out seven assists. Kennard converted on 5-of-13 from the three-point line, and seems to have found his rhythm as of late.

Vince Williams Jr. continued to be dominant on both ends of the floor, adding 18 points and 10 rebounds (7-of-11 FG) for the first double-double of his career.

Jon Konchar scored six points, and had five rebounds, five blocks (career-high), and four assists.

Tid-bits

Every player that entered the game for Memphis recorded an assist.

Analysis

In my summation, with half the season gone, the Grizzlies have nothing left to play for. The chances to make the play-in tournament are all but over. And the team still might not have a poor enough record to get a lottery pick.

The NBA Trade Deadline is fast approaching: February 8, 2024 (3 p.m. CT). Memphis is linked to a number of players in trade rumors, but it would surprise me if the Grizzlies make a major trade at this point. I do think minor trades will likely happen. Memphis needs to solidify its bench for seasons to come.

With a healthy Ja Morant, Desmond Bane, and Jackson Jr., this team is hard to beat, but with better role players, they would be championship contenders. For the rest of the season, Memphis should just continue to develop the young talent on the roster to have them prepared for next year.

Next Up

The conclusion of the Grizzlies four-game road trip is Wednesday night in Miami against the Heat. Tip-off: 6:30 p.m. CT

Categories
From My Seat Sports

Sports Legacy Award: Ozzie Smith

photo by Taka Yanagimoto

Hall of Fame shortstop Ozzie Smith is one of four 2024 recipients of the National Civil Rights Museum’s Sports Legacy Award. Along with Alex English, Calvin Hill, and Renee Montgomery, Smith will be saluted before and during the Memphis Grizzlies’ game against the Golden State Warriors on Martin Luther King Day.

Congratulations on the Sports Legacy Award. You’re only the second baseball legend (after Willie Mays) to receive this honor.

I guess I’m treading in tall cotton. Any honor you get from outside your sport or business . . . I feel blessed and honored. To be included with people who are doing something outside of what they’re known for.

You were born in Mobile, Alabama, and you were in Los Angeles as a child during the Watts Riots. What comes to mind when you think of Martin Luther King and the civil rights movement?

Dr. King and so many others — Andrew Young, Ralph Abernathy — had the courage to stand up and allow us as African Americans to achieve the things we were able to achieve. The fight continues today. It hasn’t ended. There’s a lot of whitewashing going on right now, as we speak. I think of the trials and tribulations: the water hoses, dogs, the pain. Everything the people who came before us had to suffer to get us to this point . . . I take my hat off to people who are willing to continue the fight. Though we’ve come a long way, we still have a long way to go.

Do you have distinct memories of April 4, 1968? You were 13 years old when we lost Dr. King.

When you have a leader like that, his impact was so powerful. Anytime you have a leader like Dr. King succumb to assassination, it has a profound effect on your life, from that point forward. You have visions of where it happened, how it happened. I’ll get the chance to walk in that space [this weekend]. I’m sure it’s very touching.

Memphis has been Cardinals country for generations, but officially since 1998 when the Triple-A Redbirds began play here. Do you get to the Bluff City at all? Have you visited the National Civil Rights Museum?

I’ve been to Memphis, but I haven’t had the opportunity to visit the museum. This will be my first time.

You’re currently president of the PGA REACH Gateway Foundation. What can you share about that program?

I retired in 1996, and for anyone who plays sports for 20 or 25 years, you’re looking for that next challenge. There’s a competitive void in your life, and I gravitated to golf. I fell in love with it so quickly. Growing up in Southern California, I never had the opportunity to pick up a golf club. It was always baseball, basketball, or football. When I was asked to be president of the St. Louis chapter [of PGA REACH], I didn’t know what that entailed.

Exposing kids not just to the game of golf, but the business of golf is a great way for them to learn discipline in life, honesty. It was through that prism that I could give kids opportunities they otherwise wouldn’t have. 

We’ve also taken on the challenge of giving veterans their lives back. As I look back on my career, the thing you miss the most is camaraderie, being with the guys. I think it’s the same thing with soldiers: you miss the people you’ve spent the majority of your time with. A lot of these guys have PTSD. PGA HOPE helps give them their lives back, and that’s just as important as giving young kids a new experience. We’re in the process of building a facility near the grounds of the old Sportsman’s Park in St. Louis. I’m very proud to be a part of this. 

There are much fewer Black players in Major League Baseball today than when you debuted in 1978. Are there steps baseball can take to better engage young Black athletes?

It will take the work of a lot of people. Most of the [development] focus these days is in Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, and the islands. There’s not as much red tape. We have programs here, trying to get more [African-American] kids interested. But there has to be a lot more money to get it back to the level it was in the late Sixties or early Seventies. I don’t have all the answers, but there has to be a lot more interest to get it back to the level it should be. HBCUs may be the way. Get the numbers back up. There are talented African Americans, but they don’t have the guidance or vehicle to elevate [their skills].

The Cardinals finished in last place in 2023, the first time in over three decades. What must the club do to regain its footing and return to the World Series?

It’s a real challenge to get back to prominence. You gotta pitch, you gotta hit, you gotta throw and catch. I think analytics have had a lot to do with some teams forgetting what is the heartbeat of the organization. The minor-league system has always been a big part of success for the Cardinals, the Dodgers. We need to get back to refurbishing the minor-league system, so it becomes that lifeline, allowing young guys to learn the game, and be ready when they reach the big leagues.

You’re generally considered the greatest fielding shortstop in baseball history. If there’s one fielding tip you had to share for posterity, what would it be?

I actually learned this through golf: stagnation is a killer. A baseball player can’t get started until the pitcher releases the ball. That’s where the hitter finds his rhythm, as the pitcher goes into his wind-up. As a fielder, you don’t want to be in a stagnated position. You want some type of movement, be it left, right. Some type of swaying movement that allows you to get into the flow for a ground ball or fly ball.


Ozzie Smith won 13 Gold Gloves over his 19-year career with the San Diego Padres and St. Louis Cardinals. He played in three World Series for the Cardinals and won the 1982 championship. His uniform number 1 was retired by St. Louis in 1996 and he was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2002.He is one of nine former Cardinals honored with a statue outside Busch Stadium.

Categories
From My Seat Sports

Redbirds 2023 Review

Ivan Herrera (Credit: Wes Hale)

Every baseball season is memorable. Even those that don’t end with a championship, as four have since the Memphis Redbirds arrived in town 25 years ago. With a 68-76 record entering their final home stand of the season, the Redbirds will not qualify for the International League playoffs. But we saw three players who starred brightly here in 2023, with hopes for even bigger things next year.

• Luken Baker slammed 33 home runs and drove in 98 runs — the latter figure tops in the IL through Sunday — in only 84 games for Memphis. The hulking first baseman posted a jaw-dropping slash line of .334/.439/.720, figures that should garner Baker some votes for IL Player of the Year, even with the limited service. (Baker spent much of the last two months riding the bench with the St. Louis Cardinals.) In just two seasons with the Redbirds, Baker has climbed to fourth in franchise history with 54 home runs. He’ll all but certainly be occupying a big-league roster spot next April, either with the Cardinals or another franchise (via trade).

• The electrifying Masyn Winn needed only 105 games with Memphis to shatter the franchise record for runs scored in a season with 99. (The previous record of 92 had held for 19 years.) The 21-year-old shortstop batted .288 and clubbed 18 homers while stealing 17 bases. He showed off his much-talked-about cannon of a right arm, one already drawing oohs and aahs at Busch Stadium in St. Louis. His impact on the club? Memphis was 59-59 when Winn was promoted to St. Louis on August 18th. They are 9-17 without him. Expect Winn to contend for the 2024 National League Rookie of the Year award.

• Among the most important, if awkward, decisions the Cardinals must make this winter involves the team’s backup catcher. Former Redbird Andrew Knizner has played the role for three seasons, the first two behind Yadier Molina and this season behind Willson Contreras. But here’s the awkward part: Ivan Herrera is a better player. In his second season with Memphis, the 23-year-old Herrera has put up a slash line of .294/.449/.495 and OPS of .944. Knizner’s numbers with St. Louis: .246/.289/.442 and .731. Like Baker, Herrera will all but surely be on a big-league roster next April. Expect St. Louis to move Herrera or Knizner before Opening Day.

As the Cardinals aim to recover from the club’s first last-place finish in 33 years (barring a two-week run that catches the Pittsburgh Pirates), their biggest need is starting pitching. Michael McGreevy tops the Redbirds with 127 innings pitched and 10 wins, but lacks the swing-and-miss arsenal St. Louis craves desperately. (McGreevy has only 101 strikeouts in those 127 innings.) Gordon Graceffo also carries high expectations, but shoulder inflammation slowed his progress in 2023. You get the sense 21-year-old Tink Hence — a top-50 prospect — may leapfrog McGreevy and Graceffo in a race to the Cardinals’ rotation. Hence split 2023 at Class A Peoria and Double-A Springfield, with mixed results. He’ll be among the star attractions in Memphis next season.

There are two more names to remember as local baseball thoughts shift to 2024. Infielder Thomas Saggese arrived in the Cardinals’ system as part of the trade that sent pitcher Jordan Montgomery to Texas at the trade deadline. After hitting .313 with 15 homers in 93 games for Double-A Frisco, Saggese batted .331 with 10 more long balls in only 33 games for Springfield. He had a four-hit game for Memphis last week and appears to be a rarity in the modern game: a pure hitter. 

Finally we have Victor Scott II. The 22-year-old outfielder has stolen 95 bases in 2023, splitting the season between Peoria and Springfield. That kind of thievery calls to mind — for Cardinal followers of a certain vintage — Vince Coleman and the runnin’ Redbirds of the 1980s, an era that included three National League pennants and the 1982 world championship. It’s not the brand of baseball we’ve seen much at Busch Stadium in recent years, nor at AutoZone Park. There would be some cross-generational poetry to an “old” way of winning baseball games helping a proud franchise escape an uncomfortable cellar.

Categories
From My Seat Sports

Redbirds to the Rescue?

Photo courtesy Memphis Redbirds.

Dark days have fallen upon the St. Louis Cardinals. A team favored to win the National League’s Central Division in March is languishing in last place, staring at the franchise’s first losing season since 2007, and only its second this century. The Cardinals’ pitching — both starting and relief — has been dreadful. Stars have come up short of past standards, and prospects (not long ago in uniform with the Memphis Redbirds at AutoZone Park) aren’t making the impact expected or forecast. The toughest part about three months of bad baseball is that three months of the 2023 season remain. Can the Cardinals rediscover their flying wings? And will the Redbirds play a part?

There are four players who have spent most of the season with Memphis who could help ease the Cards’ pain, either short-term or long.

• Luken Baker (1B/DH) — Begging for the nickname “Kong,” Baker (6’4”, 285 lbs.) has dominated the International League, slamming 22 home runs in 64 games and posting a jaw-dropping slugging percentage of .664. In a late-May game at AutoZone Park, Baker clubbed a baseball over the leftfield wall despite shattering his bat. In an age where batting average isn’t supposed to matter, Baker was hitting .319 for the Redbirds when promoted by St. Louis on July 3rd. As large as he is, Baker is soft with the glove at first base, a better-than-adequate fielder. But with Paul Goldschmidt (the 2022 NL MVP) entrenched at that position for St. Louis, Baker may become a premium trade chip. Power is the coin of the major-league realm these days, and Baker’s purse is bursting.

• Ivan Herrera (C) — Catchers who can hit have been a rare breed since the first player donned “the tools of ignorance.” Herrera’s slash line for Memphis (.308/.432/.557) makes those of both Willson Contreras (.240/.334/.419) and Andrew Knizner (.227/.254/.418) look silly. And those are the Cardinal players from whom Herrera aims to shave some playing time. The 23-year-old native of Panama was promoted to St. Louis last week when Knizner went on the 10-day injured list. Similar to Baker, Herrera could be auditioning for 29 other franchises as the August 1st trade deadline approaches. Or he could convince the Cardinals’ front office that their catcher of the future is much less expensive than the 31-year-old Contreras.

• Michael McGreevy (P) — The Cardinals will contend for a 12th World Series crown when their starting pitching again excels. A franchise icon (Adam Wainwright) has struggled mightily in his final season. A once-and-future ace (Jack Flaherty) leads the National League in walks. A top prospect (Matthew Liberatore) posted a 6.75 ERA before returning to Memphis last week. Could McGreevy be among the rescue team? The 18th pick in the 2021 draft, McGreevy was solid at Double-A Springfield last year (6-4) and leads Memphis this season in innings pitched while posting a 5-1 record. Noted for his control, McGreevy has posted an ERA of 3.73 for the Redbirds, a figure that would be the envy of most Cardinal pitchers these days.

• Dakota Hudson (P) — Hudson was the 2018 Pacific Coast League Pitcher of the Year with Memphis, then led St. Louis the next season with 16 wins. But injuries and control problems had him back at Triple-A this season, where he went 5-4 with a 6.00 ERA before getting the call from St. Louis last week after Wainwright went to the injured list. Hudson will be pitching with a chip on his shoulder, which may be precisely what the 2023 Cardinals need right now. Can he survive five innings per start while keeping St. Louis in games? It’s not a high bar to leap these days.

More perspective on the Cardinals’ current mess? The franchise has had only two losing seasons (1999 and 2007) since its Triple-A affiliate moved from Louisville to Memphis in 1998. The Cardinals are staring at their first 90-loss season since 1990 and only the club’s fourth since 1917. Dark days indeed for a proud organization. Perhaps Memphis can provide some light.

Categories
From My Seat Sports

Arm of Gold

Masyn Winn (photo courtesy Memphis Redbirds)

It was one of those rare plays you see on a baseball field that makes no impact in the box score . . . but remains unforgettable. On a Tuesday night in mid-April, the Memphis Redbirds were hosting the Indianapolis Indians at AutoZone Park. Playing second base for Memphis, Masyn Winn took a cutoff throw in short right field. An Indian base-runner was cruising home from third base, not so much as looking where the baseball might be. Winn turned and fired a heat-seeking spheroid to the catcher, who tagged the Indians’ runner . . . just after he touched home plate. The throw covered at least 140 feet, maybe 150. (For perspective, the distance from third base to first is 127 feet.) There was no “hump” in the throw. It arrived in the catcher’s mitt shoulder height, precisely where Winn released it. And it arrived there fast.

“A lot of guys aren’t running anymore,” notes Winn with a grin sly beyond his years. “Coaches don’t send them. [My arm] is what I’m known for. But sometimes it still catches guys by surprise. Most [infielders] would just eat that ball, but I thought I had a chance.” 

Merely 21 years old and primarily a shortstop, Winn is the 48th-ranked prospect in his sport according to Baseball America. He’s building toward a future in the middle infield despite having a right arm that would be the envy of many players who occupy the pitcher’s mound. (Four years ago, as a junior at Kingwood High School in Texas, Winn posted a 13-0 record as a pitcher with a 0.67 ERA and 117 strikeouts in 76 innings.) He made headlines in the 2022 All-Star Futures Game by hitting 100 mph on the radar gun with a throw from shortstop to first base. That cannon of an arm, though, is a weapon that must be carefully utilized.

Winn first recognized his extraordinary arm strength at age 12 when he made a traveling national team. “Sophomore year in high school, I was throwing mid-90s,” he says. “I knew it was serious then. But I was a pitcher at the time, so didn’t really consider what I could do from short.” In Winn’s first full season as a pro (Class A in 2021), he made 24 errors in 98 games, most of them of the throwing variety. Accuracy, it seems, can improve with a reduction in velocity. Winn credits a longtime Cardinals instructor — newly elected to the franchise’s Hall of Fame — with helping him dial back the power of his right arm when it can benefit the team.

“Defensively, Jose Oquendo may be the best in the world,” says Winn. “He told me that I don’t have to show off my arm with every throw. I can go 80 or 85 percent and still make the play, then dial it up when I need to. Shortening up my motion and throwing like a shortstop [as opposed to a pitcher’s motion].”

At the plate, Winn is focused on making better contact, becoming a catalyst at the top of the Redbirds’ batting order. “I started off the year striking out a lot, so I’m trying to hit more balls on the barrel [of the bat],” he says. “It’s an approach thing. We’ve got sluggers like Jordan Walker, Luken Baker, and Moises Gomez. I’ll let them hit the bombs. I need to be more direct to the ball, get my singles, steal, get a double. Know my game.”

Winn is climbing toward a crowded middle infield with the St. Louis Cardinals. Paul DeJong has reclaimed the shortstop position after a rehab stint with Memphis. Tommy Edman (a Gold Glove winner at second base), Brendan Donovan (utility Gold Glove in 2022), and Nolan Gorman are also in the mix. “I’m gonna play a long time,” notes Winn. “I don’t need to rush anything. I’m enjoying every step. I can’t wait to be [in the big leagues], but I’m having a lot of fun. I get to play baseball.”

Categories
From My Seat Sports

Redbirds Welcome Jordan Walker

(Credit: Springfield Cardinals / PJ Maigi)

The St. Louis Cardinals have demoted prize prospect Jordan Walker to Memphis and there’s a sniff of panic in the air. The Cardinals are off to the franchise’s worst start in half a century, having lost 16 of their first 25 games. (The 1973 Cards opened with a 5-20 record and somehow finished the season break-even, at 81-81.) St. Louis pitchers are getting clubbed (ERA of 4.45, ninth in the National League). St. Louis hitters are not clubbing (32 home runs, ninth in the National League). So their solution is to demote a young man who set a franchise record by opening his career with a 12-game hitting streak? Cardinals Twitterverse, do your thing. Yikes.

The fourth-ranked prospect in baseball according to Baseball America, Walker turns 21 on May 22nd, exactly 20 days after his debut at AutoZone Park. How young is 21 in the career of a baseball player? Consider the Cardinals’ two current superstars. Paul Goldschmidt — last season’s National League MVP — had a season of Rookie League ball behind him on his 21st birthday. Nolan Arenado — owner of 10 Gold Gloves at third base — turned 21 in Double-A. And yet there are citizens of Cardinal Nation screaming that Walker is being punished, vanquished to the land of Triple-A for not having what it takes to carry the St. Louis Cardinals right now.

This is silly. Walker made headlines by starting his big-league career with that hitting streak, a record first achieved by a player his age in 1912 (Eddie Murphy of the Philadelphia Athletics). And this may have been the worst possible development for the Georgia native. Walker earned the Cardinals’ Minor League Player of the Year award in 2022, but his first game with the Redbirds last week was also his first above the Double-A level. Players who skip the highest tier of the minor leagues and make an immediate impact in the big leagues are few and far between. The last such player in the Cardinals’ system was one Albert Pujols, and that was 703 big-league home runs ago.

With St. Louis, Walker found himself in a five-man battle for three outfield positions. And this is a crucial component of his recent demotion. Walker was drafted (in 2020) as a third-baseman, and spent the majority of his first two professional seasons at the hot corner. With Arenado entrenched at the position for the Cardinals, Walker is tasked with learning to play right field. The innings he puts in defensively with Memphis will be as important to Walker’s long-term success as his plate appearances.

There’s one more factor to consider in Walker’s change of scenery: classroom culture. The Cardinals are in their second season under 36-year-old manager Oliver Marmol, but their first in 20 years without franchise icon Yadier Molina, who retired after the 2022 season. And something’s amiss in the St. Louis clubhouse. Stars aren’t starring. Role players aren’t filling their roles. Meanwhile in Memphis, the Redbirds are playing their fourth season under 41-year-old Ben Johnson, a relentlessly positive skipper who has overseen the two longest winning streaks in franchise history (one of 15 games in 2021, then a 12-gamer just last month). 

For a young man of college age, atmosphere is everything. At least for the time being, Jordan Walker is likely better off in the Memphis “classroom” than he would be in a confused, turbulent Cardinals setting. The irony, of course, is that the long-term beneficiary of Walker’s baseball growth will be the St. Louis Cardinals. Triple-A exists for a reason: the final test for a player with a lengthy big-league career in sight. It should be fun watching Jordan Walker hit the books in Memphis.

Walker homered in his second game with the Redbirds, a Friday-night loss at Durham.

Categories
From My Seat Sports

Silver Season

Redbirds shortstop Masyn Winn (Credit: Ben Munson/St. Louis Cardinals)

The Memphis Redbirds have begun their 25th season — 23rd at AutoZone Park — with a flashback of sorts. Way back in 2001, a 21-year-old slugger by the name of Albert Pujols was to be the team’s headliner, having delivered the home run that won the 2000 Pacific Coast League championship for Memphis. Pujols stole the show, though, at the St. Louis Cardinals’ spring camp, made the big-league roster, and 703 home runs later, is bound for the Hall of Fame when he becomes eligible in 2028.

Jordan Walker would like to be “the next Pujols,” at least by measure of his predecessor’s Rookie of the Year season 22 years ago. The 20-year-old Walker excelled at Double-A Springfield last year (.306/.388/.510), and climbed to fourth in the Baseball America rankings of all minor-league prospects. With a strong performance in Jupiter, Florida, Walker earned a roster spot with the Cardinals and made his big-league debut last week following the annual Opening Day Clydesdale parade at Busch Stadium. Fans of the Cardinals’ Triple-A franchise may not see Walker until St. Louis returns for an exhibition game at AutoZone Park.

Into the headliner’s spotlight for Memphis steps another top-50 prospect, shortstop Masyn Winn. Blessed with an arm that would be the envy of many big-league pitchers — he’s hit the high 90s on throws to first base — Winn brings extraordinary athleticism to a premium infield position, calling to mind Hall of Famer Ozzie Smith, the Cardinals’ acrobatic legend of the 1980s and ’90s. Only 21 years old, Winn led the Cardinals’ minor-league system with 36 doubles last season (split between Class A and Double A). He hit .333 and slugged .556 in 18 spring-training games with the Cardinals, but last Friday’s opener at Charlotte was Winn’s first game at the Triple-A level. With the St. Louis middle-infield currently occupied by Tommy Edman and Brendan Donovan (both former Redbirds), Winn will have to perform to earn his call to The Show.

• Three familiar faces are back with the Redbirds after extended time in the big-leagues. Dakota Hudson earned Pitcher of the Year honors from the Pacific Coast League in 2018, then won 16 games for the Cardinals as a rookie the next season. But he’s struggled with control, a problem compounded by the fact Hudson can’t overpower hitters with velocity. This is likely a make-or-break season for the 28-year-old righty, at least in the Cardinals’ system.

Juan Yepez slammed 22 homers in 92 games for the 2021 Redbirds, then spent most of 2022 with the Cardinals, shadowing the great Pujols as he learned the ropes in a supporting role (12 homers in 76 games) for St. Louis. But Yepez essentially lost his spot in the outfield/DH rotation to Walker this spring, so like Winn, he’ll need to hit — hard and often — to regain a roster spot with the Cardinals.

Oscar Mercado may have the most compelling story as the Redbirds open their season. Mercado played an electric outfield for the 2018 Redbirds and stole 31 bases in 100 games for Memphis. But a crowded Cardinals outfield led to a trade to Cleveland, where Mercado finished 8th in voting for the 2019 American League Rookie of the Year. He’s battled injuries for the last three years, though, and signed a free agent contract with St. Louis last November. Still only 28 years old, Mercado finds himself in somewhat of a Groundhog Day season, aiming to prove himself a major-league talent five years after doing precisely that here in Memphis.

• There’s a new playoff format for Triple-A this season. The International League (and Pacific Coast League) will award a first-half champion on June 25th, then a second-half champion at season’s end in September. The two teams will play a best-of-three series for the league title, then face the opposing circuit’s champ in Las Vegas on September 30th for the Triple-A National Championship.

Categories
From My Seat Sports

Hardaway: Hall of Famer?

Credit: U of M Athletics

The Basketball Hall of Fame will announce its 2023 class this weekend in Houston, part of the festivities at what is certainly the least likely Final Four in the sport’s history. Among the finalists for induction, Dirk Nowitzki and Dwyane Wade are first-ballot locks. And if Tony Parker and Pau Gasol don’t get in this year, they will be Hall of Famers soon.

I’ve got a question for you. On their best days as basketball players — or best months, or best season — were Parker and Gasol better than Anfernee Hardaway? Any living person who saw the three players in their primes would answer this question with a resounding … no. Yet Parker and Gasol will stroll into the Hall of Fame, while Hardaway has yet to even be named a finalist. It’s a glaring omission for basketball’s shrine to greatness, for Penny Hardaway should be a Hall of Famer.

Here we are, more than 15 years since the pride of Treadwell High School played his last NBA game (December 3, 2007) and Hardaway cannot be found among the greatest to play the sport he commanded for an all-too-brief professional career. And that’s the catch for Hardaway: However great he may have been, we’re tortured by the question of what he could have been, perhaps what he should have been with stronger knees. (Note: Hardaway played in more NBA games than Pete Maravich, and the Pistol was inducted without pause.)

There’s actually an advantage Hardaway holds as a former basketball great. His sport’s Hall of Fame has a significantly lower standard for induction than baseball’s Hall, and even lower than pro football’s. Unless your name is Sandy Koufax, a career abbreviated by injury eliminates you from consideration for Cooperstown. You have to have played ten seasons just to reach baseball’s ballot, and most inductees enjoyed careers of at least 15 years. As for football, Kurt Warner and Terrell Davis have been inducted, joining Gale Sayers among gridiron greats who starred brightly enough during brief careers to earn enshrinement.

Then there’s the hoop Hall. Here’s a look at four recent inductees to factor into the equation of Penny Hardaway’s qualifications:

• Maurice Cheeks (inducted in 2018) — Four-time All-Star. Never named to an All-NBA team. Played a supporting role (to Julius Erving and Moses Malone) on one of the greatest teams in NBA history, the 1982-83 Philadelphia 76ers. Played 15 years in the NBA.

 • Sarunas Marciulionis (2014) — The face of Lithuanian basketball (particularly at the 1992 Olympics). Played seven seasons in the NBA. Never an All-Star.

• Jamaal Wilkes (2012) —Three-time All-Star. 1974-75 NBA Rookie of the Year. Played supporting role (to Magic Johnson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar) for three L.A. Laker championship teams. Never named to an All-NBA team.

• Satch Sanders (2011) — Played supporting role (to Bill Russell and John Havlicek) for eight Boston Celtic championship teams. Never an All-Star and never named to an All-NBA team. Never averaged more than 12.6 points in a season.

Sorry, but these four players don’t so much as approximate the star power of Penny Hardaway in his professional prime. Let’s consider 50 games a “full” season for an NBA player. Penny played nine such seasons, so it’s not as though he went down after five or six no-look passes and a reverse dunk. He was named All-NBA three times, and twice first-team (after the 1994-95 and 1995-96 seasons). Consider his company on the 1996 All-NBA team: Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen, Karl Malone, and David Robinson (all members of the 1992 Olympic Dream Team). Hardaway was a four-time All-Star and averaged more than 20 points per game three times.

Let’s forget the stats and accolades, though. Basketball doesn’t have a significant counting number — 3,000 hits or 10,000 rushing yards — that introduces a player into discussions about Hall of Fame status. In nearly every case, it’s an eye test. Did the player do things on a basketball court we don’t see many (if any) others do? This is where Penny Hardaway’s creative, artistic case becomes lock-down secure. Beyond Michael Jordan or Magic Johnson, who can fill — to this day — a two-minute highlight reel like Hardaway? (Hardaway is on my Rushmore of basketball passers, along with Maravich, Magic, and Jason Kidd. He saw the court differently from others.)

Hardaway was the national high school player of the year (according to Parade magazine) in 1990. He was named first-team All-America as a junior at Memphis State in 1993. And he remains an unforgettable performer at basketball’s highest level, an Olympic gold medalist and a member of the only team to beat Jordan’s Chicago Bulls in the playoffs between 1991 and 1998 (the 1995 Orlando Magic). Get this: Every member of the 1996 U.S. Olympic team is a member of the Hall of Fame . . . except Penny Hardaway. 

In 2018, SLAM magazine published an issue ranking the 100 greatest players of all time, and Hardaway checks in at 92. None of the Hall of Famers mentioned above made the cut. I’m convinced the Naismith selection committee will someday get this right. But make no mistake: the Basketball Hall of Fame is incomplete without Penny Hardaway.