Tekoah Roby is your #10 prospect
01/27/2025 09:00 AM
Also a chance to vote on the #11 prospect
As it turns out, the boost in votes for Darlin Saladin was artificial. It was a one vote thing. I legitimately almost removed him from last week's vote, but decided against it last minute. My reasoning was going to be that there was no shot he would win the vote based on where he was for the 8th best prospect, and I was correct about that. I'm glad I let the voters prove me right rather than just remove the option.
It also kind of happened again at a less extreme level in the most recent vote. I can't really explain why or how this is happening, but it is at least easy to monitor. Players with very few votes are getting huge boosts out of nowhere and they don't happen until the 2nd day of voting. I now know that is a thing that may happen, so I will pay attention to that. I don't know that I'll be able to notice if it's someone who "should" be the 2nd or 3rd place vote getter, but gets an artificial boost later on. But that's a potential problem for the future.
There is no question VEB readers think Tekoah Roby is the 10th best prospect, leaving the list at:
- JJ Wetherholt, SS
- Quinn Mathews, LHP
- Tink Hence, RHP
- Thomas Saggese, 2B/3B
- Jimmy Crooks III, C
- Michael McGreevy, RHP
- Chase Davis, OF
- Leonardo Bernal, C
- Cooper Hjerpe, LHP
- Tekoah Roby, RHP
Comparable Player Corner
Today we're covering two players who have actually made this list before! That's probably the only thing that makes them similar actually. They do not play the same position, they are two years apart in age, they were acquired differently, and they'll probably play at different levels. What makes them similar is they both had a year to put doubt in your mind, and ended up with a bit of a resurgence in 2024.
Your first candidate is Joshua Baez, a 22-year-old is about four days removed from being called a 21-year-old. One of those late June birthdays. Baez tried his hand at High A and was dead average with a very high strikeout rate, and for the last 15 games of the year, absolutely destroyed Low A competition.
Your second candidate is Jonathan Mejia, a 20-year-old who bounced back after essentially a lost year in 2023. He had a 127 wRC+ in the complex leagues, setting himself up nicely to start next year in Low A. Only downside is that he appears to be transitioning to 2B from SS.
New addition
There are two guys who I am absolutely sure would net at least one vote, and of those two, I know for a fact one of them would not do well based on how the voting has gone so far. So, the guy with less comps, so to speak, is the obvious choice. That person is Matt Koperniak.
Won-Bin Cho, OF - 21
LYR: #11
Stats (High A): 107 G, 428 PAs, .227/.307/.305, 8.4 BB%, 31.3 K%, .078 ISO, .343 BABIP, 81 wRC+, 74 DRC+
BP: "Cho profiles favorably in the field, a solid corner outfield defender thanks to above-average speed and adequate reads, but is likely stretched in center field."
It's pretty clear I added him too early, but it doesn't really matter. The alternatives to choosing him would not have been selected either. Your belief in Cho will not be seen by how he played in 2024, assuredly, but by his age and how he played in the previous two seasons.
Gordon Graceffo, RHP - 25
LYR: #6
Stats (AAA): 27 G, 130 IP, 18.4 K%, 8.6 BB%, 40.2 GB%, .328 BABIP, 4.85 ERA/5.17 FIP/5.17 xFIP
BP: "He averaged 92.8 in Triple-A and 93.5 in a brief spell in the majors this season, and at that velocity his fastball shape really isn't enough to miss bats and his changeup doesn't play as well as a swing-and-miss pitch."
One reason that Roster Resource probably has Gordon Graceffo making the Opening Day roster in the bullpen is space. I don't know if you've seen the AAA pitching rotation, but not everyone can start. And picking a guy with two years of experience in AAA so that he can learn how to get MLB hitters out in short bursts is a logic the Cardinals have used with Matthew Liberatore.
Travis Honeyman, OF - 23
LYR: #20
Stats (Low A): 14 G, 60 PAs, .321/.367/.446, 5 BB%, 13 K%, .125 ISO, .375 BABIP, 133 wRC+
BP: Honeyman has a punchy little line-drive oriented swing, a tight barrel loop that generates explosive impact out in front of the plate. He's geared to turn and burn, sending most of his contact to the pull side.
It's good that we finally saw a little bit of evidence that Honeyman can hit, because the bulk of why to select him as a prospect is rooted in his scouting and potential, not his performance. Not that his performance is bad, it's just incomplete. 14 games is not much to work off of.
Chen-Wei Lin, RHP - 23-years-old
LYR: Unranked
Stats (Low A): 22 GS, 116 IP, 26.6 K%, 7.8 BB%, 45.3 GB%, .282 BABIP, 2.79 ERA/2.94 FIP/3.38 xFIP/3.82 DRA
BP: "Lin turns 23 next week and has yet to pitch above Low-A, but whenever a pitcher pairs this sort of velocity on his fastball with an extremely high-whiff changeup, the right dev team is going to have a lot to work with."
Lin is a 6'7 giant who was old for his level, but did the three things you're supposed to do as a pitcher: strike hitters out, don't walk them, and get groundballs. He wasn't necessarily elite at any of them, but he was good at two of them and a little better than average at the third.
Matt Koperniak, OF - 27
LYR: Unranked
Stats (AAA): 513 PAs, .309/.370/.512, 8.4 BB%, 18.7 K%, .203 ISO, .351 BABIP, 128 wRC+, 116 DRC+
BP: I'm going to be real. I don't think BP has written a single word about him. And I mean ever.
Koperniak went from a guy left off the 40 man and exposed to the Rule 5 coming off his age 25 season to a man who seems to be the next in line if literally any outfielder gets injured. So I'd say he had a pretty good 2024.
Max Rajcic, RHP - 23
LYR: #12
Stats (AA): 25 G, 131 IP, 23.1 K%, 7.7 BB%, 39.2 GB%, .314 BABIP, 4.33 ERA/4.41 FIP/4.03 xFIP/4.59 DRA
BP: "He has a very pretty looking but humpy curveball, though his changeup has actually taken a step forward to claim the title of his best offspeed offering (to go along with various flavors of slider)."
I'm not saying we should be higher on Rajcic as a prospect, but it is slightly odd that he didn't really have a down year - he more or less did what he needed to do - and yet his stock as a prospect seems down. I find that odd.
Sem Robberse, RHP - 23
LYR: #10
Stats (AAA): 16 G (14 GS), 84.1 IP, 21.8 K%, 7.8 BB%, 44 GB%, .273 BABIP, 4.59 ERA/4.77 FIP/4.61 xFIP/5.25 DRA
BP: Robberse at least has some whiffier offerings in his sweeper and hard changeup—which is only four mph off his fastball—and his cutterish slider has utility too, so of this group he might have the most relief conversion potential.
In the record keeping, Robberse has actually been a professional ballplayer for six seasons, which is kind of wild for a player who is 23-years-old. Technically, 2020 is counted as one of those six and he didn't pitch professionally that year. Nonetheless, he's been around for a while and it really feels like his midseason injury torpedoed his season last year.
Rainiel Rodriguez, C - 18
LYR: Not in organization
Stats (DSL): 41 G, 184 PAs, .345/.462/.683, 16.3 BB%, 13.6 K%, .338 ISO, .345 BABIP, 186 wRC+
BP: "He hits the ball pretty hard for his age, makes enough contact, controls the zone well, and might stick behind the dish."
The good news with Rodriguez is that he's a catcher. His bat can fall off quite a bit and he'd still be considered a legitimate prospect. And for now at least, his bat was good enough that he might still be considered a prospect even if he did move off catcher. So there are at least multiple avenues to success.
Darlin Saladin, RHP - 22
LYR: Unranked
Stats (Low A): 11 G, 60 IP, 26.8 K%, 7.4 BB%, 44.7 GB%, .287 BABIP, 1.95 ERA/2.61 FIP/3.29 xFIP/3.16 DRA
High A: 12 G, 63 IP, 27.9 K%, 6.2 BB%, 42.8 GB%, 42.8 GB%, .344 BABIP, 3.43 ERA/2.73 FIP/3.29 xFIP/4.00 DRA
BP: "Saladin is another low-VAA fastball oddity king; you can really see the Cardinals trending hard in this direction over the past few years. After three years mostly bopping around the complex, he showed up in A-ball this year and torched both levels working primarily off a low-to-mid-90s heater from a flat angle."
I'm guessing you don't see a player perform better at both Low A and High A than they did in the DSL or complex leagues very often. Especially for players who were not young for those levels and who took three years to advance past them. And now Saladin is a 22-year-old in High A primed for a promotion to AA if he pitches similar to last year. Fortunes can change quick.
Zack Showalter, RHP - 21
LYR: #21 (He was close to winning 20th vote)
Stats (Low A): 24 G, 34.1. IP, 38.6 K%, 11.8 BB%, 43.9 GB%, .373 BABIP, 2.62 ERA/2.48 FIP/3.02 xFIP
BP: "His low-90s, sub-4 VAA fastball out of an extremely funky delivery was absurdly dominant against Low-A hitters, and he also weaponized a sweeper against same-side batters for a very tough look."
Showalter is the upside prospect. We've seen the Cardinals handle a younger and better version of him in Tink Hence, and since they are handling him like Tink Hence, it requires a lot of patience and hope. But it is hard to ignore a 38.6 K% as a 20-year-old in Low A.
