Is speedy Victor Scott II giving the Cardinals another center field option?
Not all spring training expectations are created equal.
There are players who arrive every year concerned about only minor refinements, secure in their spots on the roster. There are players on the bubble, competing hard for one of 26 jerseys on opening day and with clear (if contested) paths to securing one.
There are also players with no expectations at all, granted the opportunity to simply arrive, demonstrate what skills they have, and be eventually sent off for refinement in the upper levels.
Sometimes, though, a skill set bumps up against an opportunity which becomes undeniable, and a team like the St. Louis Cardinals finds a difficult dilemma.
It should come as little surprise that Victor Scott II is speed running the levels.
Last year’s winner of the minor league Gold Glove in centerfield, covering all levels of the minors in all systems across baseball, is making an undeniable impact on the spring games he enters and seems to be in the midst of receiving a surprising opportunity to impact the majors in the coming weeks, let alone the coming years.
That opportunity arrives as Tommy Edman’s spring recovery from wrist surgery continues to lag, but it’s also a demonstration of one of baseball’s more charming malapropisms – speed don’t slump.
“Trying to learn as much as I can, trying to be as fine detail as possible, because I don’t want people to see me as just a fast guy,” Scott said last week from the Cardinals clubhouse in Jupiter, Florida. “I’m someone who pays attention to those little details, who tries to do everything that the older guys are doing correctly. I try to implement those things, also, by playing my game too.”
After a game against the Boston Red Sox in which he delivered the fastest sprint speed, hardest hit ball, and hardest thrown ball by a fielder, it’s not difficult to see why Scott would be eager to highlight his own well-rounded skill set. Indeed, he was named the organization’s minor league player of the year for 2023, a feat unlikely to be managed by speed alone.
But, still, the speed.
In Monday’s game against the Washington Nationals, Scott bunted for a base hit without a close play at first, unnerved Keibert Ruiz so badly that a catcher with two full years in the big leagues threw down to second when Scott wasn’t actually stealing, and then took that bag with ease and sailed into third following a wild throw. That’s 270 feet of gained progress on the base paths from perhaps 30 feet of ball-to-bat contact.
“He’s done a really nice job, and it’s a matter of him going out there and getting more games under his belt,” Marmol said following Scott’s performance against Boston. “He’s shown well. He’s gone about it extremely well. He’s asking questions, taking notes. Everything about his last week has been good, so continue on that progression.”
One way to determine whether a team is taking a player’s chances of making a roster seriously is to examine the opportunities he’s being given for game action, especially relative to competition. It’s telling that the Cardinals had a lineup posted for Sunday’s rainout game in which Scott would have hit leadoff, giving them a glimpse at that construction and maximizing his at bats.
It’s further worth noting that he continues to get opportunities to start in center, while Michael Siani, a player with big league experience who would be a logical candidate to make the team should Edman be injured, is either starting in the corners or substituting in for Scott.
That’s not to say there aren’t natural impediments.
Even if Edman isn’t ready for opening day, he’s not likely to be out long into the season, and the Cardinals generally don’t promote top prospects for short runs, preferring to keep them up once they’ve made it up. Scott also would require a spot on the 40-player roster, which can be difficult to clear close to the season.
Dylan Carlson, too, is a complicating factor; Scott wouldn’t be promoted to sit on the bench, so he doesn’t have to just make the team. He’d also need to clearly beat out a former top prospect approaching something close to his last chance to make an impact in St. Louis, though Carlson’s 2-for-15 start to spring does crack open the door to precisely that.
Last week’s addition of Brandon Crawford all but boxes out Alec Burleson from an opening day roster spot. Crawford, Matt Carpenter and Iván Herrera will hold three of the four bench spots, and the fourth would seemingly need to be reserved for an outfielder who can handle center. The Cardinals have been clear in their preference to keep Lars Nootbaar in a corner, so if Edman is healthy, that spot is Carlson’s. If Edman is not, the door would seemingly be open for Siani.
Or, Scott could sprint straight through.
“When you talk about the total club and what it means to be on the Cardinals, just having the tools is cool and all, but I try to apply them in the best way possible,” Scott said. “Then add those little screws along the way to kind of help me either be a better base runner, a better hitter, a better defender to ultimately help the team win.”
It’s difficult not to see ways that Scott can help do the latter now, unsurprisingly ahead of schedule.
