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St. Louis Cardinals / Wainwright / Francoeur

by Jason Vernon
2006-04-24

St. Louis Lurking
This Monday through Wednesday expect the Cardinals to take at least two out of three at home against the visiting Pittsburg Pirates. At the end of play on Sunday the Cardinals were sitting two games back in the National League Central with an 11-7 record. The Cardinals are second in the National League in pitching with an ERA of 3.66. So far this season their staff has been very steady and consistent in the starting rotation and relief corps. But even with the solid record they are exhibiting they're not playing their best baseball yet. The Cardinal hitters have prevented St. Louis from breaking out at a furious pace so far this season. They currently rank 15th in batting average, 9th in on-base percentage and 12th in slugging percentage. The only regulars off to good starts are Albert Pujols and Scott Rolen. Once the rest of the lineup gets up to their average offensive playing level this team is going to take off.

Wainwright in the Pen
Cardinal reliever Adam Wainwright has been delivering in a role he's unaccustomed to this season. Relieving for the first time in his career Wainwright has tallied eight and two-third innings with an ERA of 1.04 and six strikeouts. The first round pick from 2000 is getting his first extended look in the major leagues and has quickly established himself as one of the top dogs in St. Louis's fantastic early season bullpen. Wainwright will probably be first in line to replace any Cardinal starter who falters or gets injured this year.

Francoeur Needs to Walk
Halfway through last season the Braves made a call to the minors and brought right fielder Jeff Francoeur to the major leagues. The athletic youngster went on a tear for seventy games and was a big part of the reason why the Braves were able to squeeze out a fourteenth straight divisional title. His fourteen homeruns in 257 at-bats helped to produce an impressive .549 slugging average. Yet there were whispers when he didn't draw walks the first month he was up and ended the year with only eleven. Those whispers didn't turn into open concern, though, since he had those fourteen homers on his stat sheet.

This year is a different story, though. In over seventy at-bats Francouer has yet to take a base on balls. He's slugging at an anemic .333 clip and the whispers will soon be turning into open concern if he doesn't start developing some plate discipline. History shows that there are very, very few hitters who can remain regulars for the breadth of their career if they have anemic walk totals. Francouer swinging at multiple first pitches each game is not going to be cute anymore if he doesn't have a slugging percentage that at the very least cracks .450. With a continued lack of plate discipline Francouer could find himself back in the minor leagues come May.

Check out Vernon's Daily Baseball Notes.