Cardinals Farm Report

I was trying to hold this one off as long as possible, but I can only do prospect profiles for so long until I spotlight this guy. To put it very simply, Shelby Miller is the top prospect in the Cardinals farm system, and one of the best pitching prospects the organization has ever had.

Miller was the 19th overall player to be selected in the 2009 MLB Draft and was considered by some to be the best prep arm in the draft. At the very least, his fastball was certainly the best. While he usually has it around 93-94 mph, his MLB-ready fastball tops out at 98 and reaches 97 consistently. Not only does it light up the radar gun, it also has amazing, late, natural sink to it that makes it virtually unhittable to minor league batters.

The rest of his repertoire includes a good, biting slider, a plus curve with natural 12-6 movement on it, and a decent changeup. His slider may be his best secondary pitch at the moment, but from what I have heard, Miller’s curveball could be brutal to hitters if he can control it. It comes in at 77-80 mph and, if pollished, could be fooling hitters for the next several years.

Like most first round pitchers that are drafted out of high school, Miller is a very raw talent but has all the talent anybody could ask for. The Cardinals organization believes he’s the first potential ace selected under Jeff Luhnow. The kid has the upside to become a 5 WAR starting pitcher (staff ace), his skill-set just needs to be refined.

Drafting any player, especially a pitcher, out of high school is extremely risky. Because of that, the Cardinals are going to be VERY careful with him. Miller has pitched all season for the mid-level Single-A Quad Cities River Bandits, and I would expect him to stay there for the remaining month. Depending on how things go, I think we could see Miller finish up the season with Double-A Springfield. The earliest Cardinal Nation would see him take the mound in St. Louis will likely be 2013. I would expect him to make his debut then, if everything goes to plan. Come 2014 however, Miller very well could be a regular in the Cardinals rotation.

Quad Cities has Miller on a very strict pitching schedule this season, and a very unique one at that. Basically, the team wants Miller to work on his secondary pitches during games. Which means Miller’s 6-5 record, 3.84 ERA, 11.7 SO/9 is being acheived without him using his best pitch, the already MLB-caliber fastball. That is pretty impressive.

That’s not the extent of it though. The club actually has Miller limited to a 70-80 pitch count (roughly five innings) so he can pitch more in-between starts to keep his dominating fastball where it has been.

Not throwing his fastball during starts and relying on his breaking pitches is the main reason his ERA has been a little higher than what fans want to see (if you can call a 3.84 ERA “high”).

The Cardinals have been hit-and-miss with prospects in the past, but I can assure you that Shelby Miller is the real deal. He’s the classic big, strong, tough-minded, competitive Texas athlete that everybody falls in love with. The big thing he needed to work on this season was his command, and his 4.23 SO/BB ratio proves that he has improved on that.

Coming up: The Redbirds will finish off their series against Colorado Springs on Monday before hosting Salt Lake Tuesday through Friday.

Coming up: The Cardinals will host San Antonio for a three-game set before traveling to Corpus Christi for another three-game series that will run through Friday.

Coming up: The Baby Birds will finish up a three-game series with St. Lucie before heading to Bradenton for four games for a fight for first place.