Crooked Pitch

On Friday the Cardinals called up outfielder Joe Mather, a 25-year-old minor league slugger, and sent down Chris Duncan. It’s a surprising move, as even though Duncan wasn’t hitting for power, he wasn’t playing all that badly. That, along with the standing-room-only state of the Cards outfield, has caused most fantasy experts to deem Mather not worth your time. I wouldn’t be so quick to judge.

While Mather faces an uphill battle to win playing time, he just might be the best hitter in the St. Louis outfield picture. Like Duncan, he’s a tall, late-blooming power hitter that can play the the outfield corners and 1B. Unlike Duncan, Mather plays the outfield pretty well, makes good contact, and can even run a little.

A busted tools-prospect until last year, Mather’s 2007 numbers put him on the map:

He’s even stolen 24 of 25 bases since 2005. The contact rate and K:BB ratio approaching 1:1 are the things to like the most. There are a lot of AAAA sluggers that can hit for big power in the minors, but not many of them have the discipline and pitch recognition to make it work at the next level. Mather does.

Chances are, Mather’s going to go back to AAA and Duncan will be up before long. That said, he’s started four of five games since his call up, and the development he’s shown the last two years may represent a new skill level for the toolsy former third-round pick.

In a deep keeper league, like the 20-team dynasty leagues that are becoming increasingly popular, you have to take a chance on high-reward free agents to build a winner. That means grabbing a guy like Joe Mather when you have the chance, and moving on to the next guy if things don’t pan out.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 3rd, 2008 at 11:20 pm and is filed under Fantasy Baseball. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.