As most of you know, I was lucky enough to be invited to attend Winter Warmup as a reporter. Last year, I used that experience to write several season previews. Due to the late start of the top 20 prospect series (caused by waiting for Brendan Donovan to be traded), my Winter Warmup stories have been pushed to now instead of at the beginning of spring training. Thus technically, these could also be called season previews, but there\u2019s a good chance I write a couple of these after the season has already started. I\u2019ll try to pick stories that are not outdated for the ones during the season.
There is a maxim in baseball that you can never have enough pitching. The Cardinals tested that last year. They had a starting five backed up by Steven Matz and Michael McGreevy. It was an extremely reasonable assumption that Matz would be needed in the rotation on Opening Day and McGreevy would be in the rotation for good in May.<\/p>\n
But then, awkwardly, nobody got hurt. The Cardinals never got the opportunity to put Matz back in the rotation, who ended up throwing the second most innings of his Cardinals tenure despite both being in the bullpen and only being in St. Louis for four months. The Cardinals squeezed every doubleheader start they could out of McGreevy and then it took Erick Fedde performing his best Todd Wellemeyer impression for a spot to be cleared for him.<\/p>\n
It probably won\u2019t go that way again. The Cardinals don\u2019t think so, or at least, the way they\u2019ve constructed their pitching depth certainly tells us they aren\u2019t counting on it. They acquired Hunter Dobbins and Richard Fitts in separate trades, both of whom would absolutely be starting big league games on day one if they were needed. Right behind them is Quinn Mathews with a year of experience at AAA that did not go the way he wanted it to go.<\/p>\n
\u201cLast year was definitely not what I had anticipated or expected,\u201d Mathews said. \u201cA lot of things did not pan out and didn\u2019t happen the way I would have loved to. At times it was like watching a movie where I\u2019ve been given bits and pieces of advice that I probably should have paid more attention to early in the year even before the season started, in the spring.\u201d<\/p>\n
That advice probably came from Sonny Gray. Mathews called himself Sonny Gray\u2019s dog in last year\u2019s spring training and at various points in his season, Gray\u2019s words would ring in his head suddenly. But mostly his problem was a matter of health. It was his first time dealing with a lingering injury, an injury that was still there when he woke up the next day.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor the first time in my career, I couldn\u2019t take my health for granted,\u201d Mathews said. \u201cI had never missed a game at any sport ever – that I\u2019ve ever played.\u201d<\/p>\n
You can see how that might throw a player off, just assuming you\u2019ll always be healthy and then getting hit with the stark reality that you\u2019re going to have to worry about injuries. He was what he referred to as \u201cout of whack.\u201d And as a consequence, he had trouble with control.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith where I was at physically, I really didn\u2019t know where the baseball was going whatsoever,\u201d Mathews said. \u201cIt was just kind of a fight against myself for most of an outing to be completely honest.\u201d<\/p>\n
He\u2019s trying to handle failure better, but I\u2019m honestly not sure what he considers a success. If he were more well-known, I would call him a notoriously harsh critic of himself. He says he likes to think of himself a realist but he probably trends towards a pessimist and well, I\u2019ll just share a quote of his and let you decide.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t think I really had a good outing all year last year to be completely honest with you,\u201d Mathews said. \u201cI was pretty out of whack from day one unfortunately.\u201d<\/p>\n
He had two starts with 9 strikeouts and one walk. In one of them, he did not allow a run and in the other he allowed two earned runs in 6.2 IP. Hopefully his good buddy Michael McGreevy can be a voice of reason.<\/p>\n
\u201cI try to be that voice of reason for him, because I don\u2019t think he\u2019s thinking logically,\u201d McGreevy said. \u201cAs smart as he is, he\u2019s like \u2018oh dude McGreevy I suck.\u2019 I\u2019m like Quinn \u2018You just struck out 12 guys;\u2019 He says yeah but I walked two.\u2019 I\u2019m like whaaat? Are you kidding me?\u201d This season is so long, this game is so hard, I think just giving himself some grace here and there will help him a lot.\u201d<\/p>\n
It seems like one of those objectively unhealthy attitudes that\u2026. might really work for sports. I mean in a sport like baseball, there\u2019s certainly a danger when failure comes so easily. But there are a number of some of the very best players in all kinds of sports who were famously never satisfied and it kept them driven despite success. I can virtually guarantee that if Quinn Mathews becomes a great pitcher, he will still feel like he needs to be a better pitcher.<\/p>\n
Mathews isn\u2019t the only extra depth behind the MLB ready guys. Behind Mathews on the depth chart, at least for now, is Brycen Mautz, who probably has his work cut out for him to get more than a spot start this season. For one thing, he made his first two starts in AAA this year, so he\u2019s behind two guys with MLB experience and another guy who has an entire season in AAA. For another, a couple guys should be getting healthy right around the time a spot might open up. But if he can keep his momentum from his breakout 2025, we should see him in an MLB game this year.<\/p>\n
Despite pitching at a higher level, Mautz struck out more, walked less, and induced more groundballs at Springfield than he had in Peoria. Thanks to some mechanical changes, he managed to drop his ERA more than two runs.<\/p>\n
\u201cInitially, I was super upper-half focused with my mechanics, it had been something that had been an issue with me for a while, but in chasing that for so long, I got into some bad habits with my legs as a little pushy to the first base side, losing my direction,\u201d Mautz said.<\/p>\n
With those more cleaned up, his velocity was harder, more consistent, and more sustainable throughout the season. There has been a difference in the way he was coached to help spur his changes.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think the communication\u2019s just way better,\u201d Mautz said. \u201cI think some of the ideas were right before, it just wasn\u2019t necessarily talked about to the degree it is now. In the past, it might have been like \u201cwe see this, it\u2019s kind of like an off-hand comment in passing,\u201d but now it\u2019s \u201cokay this is it, we\u2019re gonna lay it out for you, we\u2019re gonna give out multiple options of how you can get there, so now ball is in your court.\u201d<\/p>\n
He believes the improved communication comes from the direction of Matt Pierpoint, Director of Pitching. He had a hand in the Mariners\u2019 pitching success, so there\u2019s no reason to doubt Mautz. So it seems like the real value of the coaching emphasis is simply communication, which sounds so simple but is so important.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf there\u2019s ever a question of why we\u2019re doing something, they\u2019re always available to talk and actually make you understand why you\u2019re doing what you\u2019re doing,\u201d Mautz said.<\/p>\n
Another huge advantage the young pitchers will have in Memphis: having two MLB quality defensive catchers in their corner. I had not actually thought of this advantage until writing this, but the defensive reputation of both Jimmy Crooks and Leonardo Bernal has to be a significant advantage for a young pitcher.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou try to be in a good relationship with those guys because you\u2019re going to go war with them,\u201d Crooks said. \u201cThey have a high stressful job, we try to make it less stressful than it already is. It all starts from us, watching videos from past outings and what works best for them and also just communicating with them on a daily basis to figure out how they work and how they operate.\u201d<\/p>\n
For Crooks, he\u2019s still in Memphis because of offense, not defense. Which is why his main goals were centered around offense.<\/p>\n
\u201cJust the tempo and the rhythm of my swing,\u201d Crooks said. \u201cAnd then obviously using my core and lower half, which I unlocked a little bit this offseason. Definitely controlling the plate like how I used to by taking more walks and not trying to go after every pitch.\u201d<\/p>\n
Well results-wise, it\u2019s hard to argue with, although his swing decisions have still not been very good and he\u2019s 8th percentile in whiff% among AAA hitters. But when he makes contact, boy is it good contact. In the offseason, he was trying to be more explosive, and the ball is sure exploding off his bat.<\/p>\n
I wouldn\u2019t expect him to be promoted just because I think they (and Crooks himself) wants those lower numbers to be better, mostly because it is extremely difficult to maintain the great batted ball data if you have those lower numbers. And obviously, this is a very small sample. Nonetheless, a very encouraging start to his season.<\/p>\n
He\u2019s not the only catcher in Memphis and on the 40 man. And the other man won a Gold Glove himself last season while at Springfield. But he\u2019s still trying to get better defensively.<\/p>\n
\u201cI will try to be better on my receiving side,\u201d Bernal said. \u201cI know I can throw some guys out, but (I\u2019ll) put some extra effort and try to be better at framing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kind of seems like neither of these guys have a problem throwing out runners. Out of 69 attempts, Bernal caught 27 runners for a 39% caught stealing rate, which very easily is in the territory of being an extremely dumb decision to steal for a baserunner. In Memphis last year, Crooks had a respectable 29.4% caught stealing rate, but his goal to be more explosive was more than just for offense.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt translates to everything,\u201d Crooks said. \u201cWith the throwing down obviously and on the hitting side, being more explosive with your lower half. It all starts from the ground up.\u201d<\/p>\n
So far, four attempts, and he\u2019s got two stealing. That\u2019s a 50% success rate. Bernal, if you\u2019re wondering, has caught one runner stealing and allowed two stolen bases. Crooks was added to the 40 man roster when he was promoted to the big leagues last season, but Bernal got the call over the offseason.<\/p>\n
\u201dI was so happy, because you know the 40 man roster, you\u2019re almost there,\u201d Bernal said. \u201cBut we got work to do.\u201d<\/p>\n
Coming up with Bernal was frequent battery mate Mautz, who has gotten to see his growth up close. They were teammates in Palm Beach, Peoria, and Springfield.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s still so young, but the growth he\u2019s had with having seized the game, the conversations we now have in the dugout between innings has been really cool to see,\u201d Mautz said. \u201cHe\u2019s become more of a student of the game. He\u2019s always had the raw talent, so now that those things are coming together, it\u2019s going to be special for him.\u201d<\/p>\n
And it doesn\u2019t stop there. Coming soon behind these two is Rainiel Rodriguez, someone who Bernal is kind of taking under his wing. Bernal credits the culture of catching in the organization, citing both the past and present examples. Crooks would assuredly concur.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have a good core group with the catchers,\u201d Crooks said. \u201cWe\u2019re all good buddies. We talk all the time. Me coming up, I was always a sponge to those guys (Pages, Herrera). They\u2019ve been up for a while so I kind of learn from those guys and try to figure out and pick their brains on how they handle a game, how they handle a staff, etc. Those guys know what they\u2019re doing.\u201d<\/p>\n
I have no idea how the catching situation will resolve itself, there\u2019s going to be trades because there has to be trades, but I do feel secure in the knowledge that however it shakes out, the important thing is that the Cardinals will have two good catchers in the big leagues.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As most of you know, I was lucky enough to be invited to attend Winter Warmup as a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":667239,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2403],"tags":[5,160,4,6213,673,67,4311,4310,38503],"class_list":{"0":"post-667238","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-st-louis-cardinals","8":"tag-baseball","9":"tag-cardinals","10":"tag-mlb","11":"tag-st-louis-cardinals-news","12":"tag-st-louis","13":"tag-st-louis-cardinals","14":"tag-stlouis","15":"tag-stlouiscardinals","16":"tag-veb-daily"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116360313806109794","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/667238","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=667238"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/667238\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/667239"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=667238"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=667238"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=667238"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}