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.
