RRod named Prospect of the Year by The Athletic

[Joe Shlabotnik]

RRod is The Athletics Prospect of the Year.

Free link above.

Rodriguez’s year would have been incredible if he were 22 years old. That he did all of this at 19, almost all in Double A, makes him a fairly easy choice for this honor. The Cardinals’ backstop and top prospect hit .324/.413 /.574 this year, with almost 80 percent of his plate appearances coming in Double A (the rest were in High A). He continued to catch and throw well enough that he could stay at the position — unless the Cardinals think his bat is so valuable they want him to play every day.

“We started (Rodriguez) in High A, and it was evident pretty quickly he was better than the competition at that level,” said Rob Cerfolio, Cardinals’ assistant GM, player development & performance. “With his maturity, the way he goes about his work, being bilingual, the way he sounds like a mid-20-year-old, we thought he could handle being the youngest player in (Double A).

“He was challenged for maybe 10 days, and from June on it was really impressive.”

[heyzeus]

It's pretty wild that we have a 19 year old who hits like Pujols and plays passable catcher, and we're still gonna have to find him another position if he wants to make the roster because Bernal looks like The Guy for the next decade.

[cardsfantx]

It's pretty wild that we have a 19 year old who hits like Pujols and plays passable catcher, and we're still gonna have to find him another position if he wants to make the roster because Bernal looks like The Guy for the next decade.

I dunno, Bernal really cooled off the last 2 weeks, after being on fire when he first came up the 2 weeks before that.

plus we've been burned before with catchers who could hit very well in the minors, but never translated to the majors (with us); Kiz, Kelly, Crooks, and bernal was hitting under 200 and struck out in half his ABs down the stretch.

I'm keeping RR at C primarily still next year (with some work at other positions, yes), while bernal gets 2027 FT at C to see if he's for real. (if there is a 2027 season, that is)

Plus I don't think RR is just passable; he looked very good back there behind the plate in the games I've watched. Plus he's got a cannon with a very quick release. The guy he threw out in the championship series looked like a Yadi carbon copy with the quick release. He threw out 30% of runners at AA as a 19 year old.

The only real reason I'd consider moving him off C, is not because I don't think he can't handle C very well at this level. It's that his bat is so damn special, I don't want C to eventually wear him down, and drag that bat down at all.

[ghostrunner]

Am I wrong to be concerned about his build w/r/t other positions? I'm not normally one of these people, but I look at him in particular and I don't see anything but a catcher or DH.

Not saying this supports anything, but if I had it handy I'd show how MLB the Show attempted to recreate him. I don't think their body model is capable of reproducing his level of stockiness. They tried to bulk up his thighs and they look like Popeye's forearms.

[CardsofSTL]

Am I wrong to be concerned about his build w/r/t other positions? I'm not normally one of these people, but I look at him in particular and I don't see anything but a catcher or DH.

Not saying this supports anything, but if I had it handy I'd show how MLB the Show attempted to recreate him. I don't think their body model is capable of reproducing his level of stockiness. They tried to bulk up his thighs and they look like Popeye's forearms.

He's built like a brick [expletive]

[Popeye_Card]

I don't know - Ronnie Belliard played 2B, and we now have seemingly 7 foot tall giants playing SS. Seems like anything is possible.

[mikechamp]

Am I wrong to be concerned about his build w/r/t other positions? I'm not normally one of these people, but I look at him in particular and I don't see anything but a catcher or DH.

Not saying this supports anything, but if I had it handy I'd show how MLB the Show attempted to recreate him. I don't think their body model is capable of reproducing his level of stockiness. They tried to bulk up his thighs and they look like Popeye's forearms.

He's built like a brick [expletive]

I'd never seen him, but this discussion made me curious so I looked up a video of him hitting a HR.

While he is listed at 5' 10", he's a very thick 19-year old. Like, big enough to make me wonder if he's actually 19. He's built more than a lot of MLB guys.

[WAR God]

Am I wrong to be concerned about his build w/r/t other positions? I'm not normally one of these people, but I look at him in particular and I don't see anything but a catcher or DH.

Not saying this supports anything, but if I had it handy I'd show how MLB the Show attempted to recreate him. I don't think their body model is capable of reproducing his level of stockiness. They tried to bulk up his thighs and they look like Popeye's forearms.

You’re not wrong. He’s a DH all the way.

[cardsfantx]

Am I wrong to be concerned about his build w/r/t other positions? I'm not normally one of these people, but I look at him in particular and I don't see anything but a catcher or DH.

Not saying this supports anything, but if I had it handy I'd show how MLB the Show attempted to recreate him. I don't think their body model is capable of reproducing his level of stockiness. They tried to bulk up his thighs and they look like Popeye's forearms.

You’re not wrong. He’s a DH all the way.

Kirk is a fat ass and pretty elite defensively behind the plate

RR is solid, not fat

[heyzeus]

I'd almost be worried if a catcher wasn't a little stocky.