Best of the Rest… of Cards Prospects: Walton

The last of four articles on top St. Louis Cardinals prospects that just missed our Top 40 countdown. In the cleanup spot is Brian Walton, who looks at Daniel Descalso, Shaun Garceau, Eddie Degerman and Tony Cruz.

As those who followed our Top 40 Prospects countdown over the last month and a half know, the selection of the master list was a melding of the individual views from four of us here at The Birdhouse, stlcardinals.scout.com.

As a result, a handful of deserving players on each of our personal lists did not make the consolidated Top 40. This is the last of four articles where each of us highlighted those prospects – our “Best of the Rest” and the 48th and final article of the 2008 Top Cardinals Prospects series. We really enjoyed bringing our top prospects list to you again this off-season and hope you found our reports informative.

As a reminder, here is the overall Top 40, with my list next to it. Highlighted are the names unique to each list.

	Overall Top 40		Brian Walton
1	Colby Rasmus	1	Colby Rasmus
2	Bryan Anderson	2	Jaime Garcia
3	Jaime Garcia	3	Bryan Anderson
4	Chris Perez	4	Chris Perez
5	Adam Ottavino	5	Adam Ottavino
6	Tyler Herron	6	Clayton Mortensen
7	Jose Martinez	6a	Brian Barton
7a	Brian Barton	7	Tyler Herron
8	Joe Mather	8	Pete Kozma
9	Clayton Mortensen	9	Mark Hamilton
10	P.J. Walters	10	Jose Martinez
11	Allen Craig	11	Jon Jay
12	Mark Hamilton	11a	David Freese
13	Mitchell Boggs	12	Tyler Greene
13a	David Freese	13	Joe Mather
14	Jarrett Hoffpauir	14	Kenny Maiques
15	Kenny Maiques	15	Blake Hawksworth
16	Pete Kozma	16	Mitchell Boggs
17	Tyler Greene	17	P.J. Walters
18	Jess Todd	18	Allen Craig
19	Jon Jay	19	Jess Todd
20	Mark McCormick	20	Blake King
21	Josh Kinney	21	Mark McCormick
22	Jason Motte	22	Jon Edwards
23	Blake Hawksworth	23	Stuart Pomeranz
24	Luke Gregerson	24	Jarrett Hoffpauir
25	Jon Edwards	25	Nick Stavinoha
26	Tyler Norrick	26	Cody Haerther
27	Cody Haerther	27	Brad Furnish
28	Luis de la Cruz	28	Mike Parisi
29	Stuart Pomeranz	29	Daniel Descalso
30	Brad Furnish	30	Josh Kinney
31	Kyle McClellan	31	Jason Motte
32	Deryk Hooker	32	David Kopp
33	Mark Worrell	33	Mark Worrell
34	Blake King	34	Tyler Norrick
35	Mike Parisi	35	Luis de la Cruz
36	David Kopp	36	Luke Gregerson
37	Brandon Buckman	37	Shaun Garceau
38	Nick Stavinoha	38	D’Marcus Ingram
39	D’Marcus Ingram	39	Tony Cruz
40	Steven Hill	40	Eddie Degerman

In summary, the four players that made the group’s Top 40 but were ranked lower on my list are Kyle McClellan, Deryk Hooker, Brandon Buckman and Steven Hill. On the other side of the ledger, the four players I ranked higher than the others each have their pros and cons. Two received no votes from the others while one had one other vote and the third received support from three of the four voters, yet fell just short of our consolidated Top 40.

At number 29 on my 2008 list is third baseman Daniel Descalso. When picked in the third round of the 2007 draft, the now-21-year-old seemed to take a lot of heat from some vocal draft watchers.

I disagree as I saw Descalso play several times. I like his bat and legs as evidenced by this five triples, tied for fourth-most in the system and his 12 stolen bases, ranking him 13th overall. He posted a relatively power-free .268/.348/.338 line (BA/OBP/SLG) with Batavia last season, but demonstrated an ability to get on base. Descalso had a strong beginning (June - .316) and end (August - .333), but struggled in between (July - .196)

Though his defense is average, some scouts value Descalso highly. Yet, I was the only voter here who ranked him. It remains to be seen if he can find enough power to remain on the hot corner, however.

After missing 2006 due to two surgeries on his leg, Shaun Garceau’s comeback placed him as my number 37 prospect. I am again standing alone here in ranking him. With a fastball that touches 92-94 MPH helping him to 110 strikeouts last season for Quad Cities, almost exactly one per inning, the then 19-year-old righty just missed being in the top ten in the system in that category.

Garceau needs to keep the ball down to cut down on his home runs yielded (15) and most importantly stop issuing so many walks (51 in 111 IP). He seemed to often get into trouble early in his games (.350 BA in first three innings) before settling down in the mid and late frames (.220 BA the rest of the way). Garceau still has time to learn and improve.

Leonda Markee joined me in ranking right-handed starting pitcher Eddie Degerman. On my list, he was number 40. Last year, the now 24-year-old placed 32nd on our Top 40 list, but lost considerable support this time around.

Degerman was lights-out in a dozen appearances with Quad Cities (2.45 ERA, 71 Ks in 47 2/3 IP), but had trouble with control in his introduction to the Florida State League. The former Rice star walked 36 in 54 2/3 innings, but pitched better in August (.218 OBA) than in July (.276 OBA). It is also worth noting that Degerman has whiffed considerably more than one batter per inning at each stop as a professional.

With his funky over-the-top delivery, Degerman may be a long shot in terms of future large-scale major league success, but I believe with his low-90’s fastball and a plus curve, he has as good of a chance to make it as most any player in the bottom 20 of our prospect list.

The final name on my “Best of the Rest” list is third baseman Tony Cruz, ranked number 39 on my sheet and also making an appearance near the bottom of both Leonda’s and Ray Mileur’s lists. Like Descalso above, Cruz’ glove is not his claim to fame.

The 26th round pick can hit and draws walks, too, posting a .299/.347/.451 line (BA/OBP/SLG). That .299 batting average placed Cruz 12th in the system among players at any level. His 44 RBI across four levels last season ranked 22nd in the system, despite him getting just 268 at-bats in total.

Others who made it onto my spreadsheet but not into my top 40 (in alphabetical order): Brandon Buckman, Luke Gorsett, Tyler Henley, Steven Hill, Deryk Hooker, Kyle McClellan, Andres Rosales, Mark Shorey and Brandon Yarbrough.

To reference our entire list of top 40 Cardinals prospects for 2008 and read about each individual player, click here. You can also learn more about each of the voters’ philosophies in making their selections and much more.



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Brian Walton can be reached via email at [e-mail].

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