sportsfreak2744 781 Posted March 28, 2018 Share Posted March 28, 2018 21 year old RHP Jordan Hicks just made the Opening Day roster after only pitching in A-ball. 100 mph fastball with sink, touching 102 and a slider from what I've read. Yadier Molina was impressed: He struck out two, spotted three pitches, and left Molina convinced. “Big arm. Electric,” Molina said Tuesday night. “Everything was moving and hard. He’s got a bright future. Hopefully we’ll see him soon.” In one minor-league start, Hicks touched 102 mph with his second or third pitch. He threw 11 of 14 offspeed pitches for strikes. A scout with an opposing team charted Hicks throwing seven consecutive fastballs at 100 mph of faster, and each had movement. He brought that back to the big-league game this past Wednesday and pitched so well in two innings, the Cardinals gave him a third. Multiple clubs that spoke to the Cardinals that winter about trades attempted to get Hicks in the deal. The interest intensified this winter as clubs looking to move an elite hitter to the Cardinals — like, say, Baltimore with Manny Machado — sought Hicks, often in the same sentence that teams would ask about Alex Reyes. Hicks spent most of 2017 as a starter for Peoria, and he had 95 strikeouts in 105 innings to go with a 2.74 ERA in 22 games. He was clocked at 102 mph. Scouts saw him throw 98 mph and 99 mph with sink. The Cardinals invited him to spring training to set him up for a midseason promotion, similar to the ones Carlos Martinez and Trevor Rosenthal had to jump-start their big-league careers. He's not in ESPN player pool yet, but this kid could be lightning in a bottle. Thoughts? Link to post Share on other sites
jimbo504 440 Posted March 28, 2018 Share Posted March 28, 2018 I've grabbed him in a few leagues to take a flier, he can definitely run away with the closer role if given the chance. Link to post Share on other sites
illasakhil 41 Posted March 28, 2018 Share Posted March 28, 2018 is he an sp or rp? Link to post Share on other sites
BMcP 8,612 Posted March 28, 2018 Share Posted March 28, 2018 I think it’s only a matter of time before he becomes the Cards closer - he’s basically on par with, if not better than, Reyes. And Mozeliak has already spoken of him as a future closer. Oh, and he has SP eligibility in Yahoo. Link to post Share on other sites
Caelum 717 Posted March 28, 2018 Share Posted March 28, 2018 12 minutes ago, BMcP said: I think it’s only a matter of time before he becomes the Cards - he’s basically on par with, if not better than, Reyes. And Mozeliak has already spoken of him as a future closer. Oh, and he has SP eligibility in Yahoo. He's very much being touted as their closer of the future, and an exciting one at that. For this year for redrafts, I'm not sure how eager they will be to throw him into that role at age 21 with only eight games at high-A. He obviously won't get first crack at it, but it's something to watch if he's dominating out of the chute and others in the ninth are faltering. A young Rosenthal didn't have much experience when they thrust him into the role. Link to post Share on other sites
BMcP 8,612 Posted March 28, 2018 Share Posted March 28, 2018 Good points - it sort of seems to me like one of the main reasons they did promote Hicks so soon was they were less than enthused by their current crop of late-inning options. Link to post Share on other sites
sportsfreak2744 781 Posted March 28, 2018 Author Share Posted March 28, 2018 1 hour ago, BMcP said: I think it’s only a matter of time before he becomes the Cards closer - he’s basically on par with, if not better than, Reyes. And Mozeliak has already spoken of him as a future closer. Oh, and he has SP eligibility in Yahoo. Woah... What's this based on? I've seen a lot of hype but nothing to suggest he's more talented than Reyes. Link to post Share on other sites
BMcP 8,612 Posted March 28, 2018 Share Posted March 28, 2018 “It’s an open debate for me right now who has the best pure stuff in the system between Hicks and Alex Reyes. Reyes is further along in his development, yes, but Hicks’s fastball has better movement and is more of a groundball pitch, in addition to the great velocity. If forced to choose, I would probably go for Reyes, but it’s a close call.” https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.vivaelbirdos.com/platform/amp/2018/2/20/17033182/viva-el-birdos-cardinals-2018-prospect-rankings-10-jordan-hicks Link to post Share on other sites
countseth 276 Posted March 28, 2018 Share Posted March 28, 2018 And of course, he's not even in ESPN's system yet. God I hate this platform. How can they not have him in there? How hard is it to add players who are in Spring Training, especially in mid-late March? Link to post Share on other sites
illasakhil 41 Posted March 28, 2018 Share Posted March 28, 2018 I emailed them... This was their response: Hello,Thank you for playing ESPN Fantasy Baseball. I apologize for any confusion. As a general rule, a player will be added to the player pool 24 hours after he plays in his first MLB game. Minor league players are not always available in ESPN Fantasy Baseball. Please note that before the start of each season, some minor league players are added. However, once the season has started, we generally do not add new players until after their first start. For live assistance with this or any other issue, please call Customer Care at 1-888-549-3776 (ESPN) between 9:00 a.m. and 1:00 a.m. EST. Link to post Share on other sites
Dark Kn19ht 449 Posted March 28, 2018 Share Posted March 28, 2018 6 minutes ago, illasakhil said: I emailed them... This was their response: Hello,Thank you for playing ESPN Fantasy Baseball. I apologize for any confusion. As a general rule, a player will be added to the player pool 24 hours after he plays in his first MLB game. Minor league players are not always available in ESPN Fantasy Baseball. Please note that before the start of each season, some minor league players are added. However, once the season has started, we generally do not add new players until after their first start. For live assistance with this or any other issue, please call Customer Care at 1-888-549-3776 (ESPN) between 9:00 a.m. and 1:00 a.m. EST. That's their boiler plate response. They don't even stick to the "24 hrs after he plays" and then he will be subject to a waiver claim. Good luck to everyone trying to get him. Link to post Share on other sites
illasakhil 41 Posted March 28, 2018 Share Posted March 28, 2018 we have a rule in our league.. if you keep a roster spot open and claim a player on the message board.. he's all yours as soon as he is eligible.. Link to post Share on other sites
Dark Kn19ht 449 Posted March 28, 2018 Share Posted March 28, 2018 nice work around Link to post Share on other sites
sportsfreak2744 781 Posted March 28, 2018 Author Share Posted March 28, 2018 27 minutes ago, countseth said: And of course, he's not even in ESPN's system yet. God I hate this platform. How can they not have him in there? How hard is it to add players who are in Spring Training, especially in mid-late March? To be fair, the guy has only ever pitched in A-ball. Link to post Share on other sites
Backdoor Slider 8,292 Posted March 28, 2018 Share Posted March 28, 2018 Fangraphs article: https://www.fangraphs.com/fantasy/jordan-hicks-talented-with-unknown-role/ Link to post Share on other sites
JFS179 3,772 Posted March 28, 2018 Share Posted March 28, 2018 1 hour ago, BMcP said: “It’s an open debate for me right now who has the best pure stuff in the system between Hicks and Alex Reyes. Reyes is further along in his development, yes, but Hicks’s fastball has better movement and is more of a groundball pitch, in addition to the great velocity. If forced to choose, I would probably go for Reyes, but it’s a close call.” https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.vivaelbirdos.com/platform/amp/2018/2/20/17033182/viva-el-birdos-cardinals-2018-prospect-rankings-10-jordan-hicks IMO, that's a dumb 'hot taek' by the author. Hicks was always a major project as a SP, but could be a dominant reliever. Reyes has a very, very bright future as a SP, something Hicks likely never sniffs. Would you rather have Scherzer or Kimbrel? Teams will take Scherzer all day long. Hicks is heading down the Papelbon/Rosenthal path. He's extremely talented, but better than Reyes is an asinine statement. Link to post Share on other sites
JFS179 3,772 Posted March 28, 2018 Share Posted March 28, 2018 Also, this situation has a lot of parallels to the Blue Jays keeping Castro and Osuna out of Spring Training one year, directly from hi-A. One of those guys went on to become a dominant closer. The other guy flamed out pretty spectacularly. Link to post Share on other sites
BMcP 8,612 Posted March 28, 2018 Share Posted March 28, 2018 5 minutes ago, JFS179 said: IMO, that's a dumb 'hot taek' by the author. Hicks was always a major project as a SP, but could be a dominant reliever. Reyes has a very, very bright future as a SP, something Hicks likely never sniffs. Would you rather have Scherzer or Kimbrel? Teams will take Scherzer all day long. Hicks is heading down the Papelbon/Rosenthal path. He's extremely talented, but better than Reyes is an asinine statement. I’m not sure I agree - he’s headed down one of two paths: either the “closer of the future” path or the Waino “reliever to starter” path. Which one it will end up being is yet to be determined. But from a pure arm-talent perspective, I don’t think it’s asinine to suggest that the two are comparable. Link to post Share on other sites
handyandy86 2,451 Posted March 28, 2018 Share Posted March 28, 2018 1 hour ago, Dark Kn19ht said: That's their boiler plate response. They don't even stick to the "24 hrs after he plays" and then he will be subject to a waiver claim. Good luck to everyone trying to get him. Also fyi to anyone on ESPN, I believe in most settings he goes on waivers once he's added. So whenever the next time after he's added your waivers or FAAB runs, that's when you could claim him. I'm not 110% sure that's the case in all ESPN formats though. Link to post Share on other sites
STLSU 543 Posted March 30, 2018 Share Posted March 30, 2018 Doesn't seem to be a good stash with Holland on the roster even in 10 team dynasty leagues. Not unless you have a deep farm team league. Link to post Share on other sites
motown magic 736 Posted March 30, 2018 Share Posted March 30, 2018 Agree. They are paying Holland 14 million for one year. Maybe next year Link to post Share on other sites
JFS179 3,772 Posted March 30, 2018 Share Posted March 30, 2018 He might end up as this team’s Archie Bradley. I could also see them letting him get his feet wet and then stretching him out if they have a rotation need. The arm is electric. Link to post Share on other sites
shakestreet 4,103 Posted March 30, 2018 Share Posted March 30, 2018 get your waiver claims or the FAAB bids Saturday night Christmas (Easter) is Sunday Link to post Share on other sites
illasakhil 41 Posted March 30, 2018 Share Posted March 30, 2018 On 3/28/2018 at 5:11 PM, handyandy86 said: Also fyi to anyone on ESPN, I believe in most settings he goes on waivers once he's added. So whenever the next time after he's added your waivers or FAAB runs, that's when you could claim him. I'm not 110% sure that's the case in all ESPN formats though. That's the case. He is a WW... Luckily we have a way around this... Link to post Share on other sites
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