Homework before play: Cardinals top draft picks deliver clubhouse reports on team legends
One of the benefits for college baseball players who are drafted by and sign with a big league team is that they can, if they want, put an early end to their homework obligations.
Getting up in the morning to hit the weight room and the batting cage can oftentimes be a lot more appealing than getting up at the same time to trudge off to class.
Imagine the disappointment, then, for the University of Arizona’s Chase Davis and West Virginia University’s JJ Wetherholt when they were summoned to stand up in front of their St. Louis Cardinals teammates and provide oral reports.
The team’s two most recent first round draft picks took center stage in the major league clubhouse for a minute each on Thursday morning after having been given their assignments by bench coach Daniel Descalso the night before.
The subjects of their work, David Freese and Ozzie Smith, were in the room to take in the scene, and both passed with flying colors.
“It was pretty good,” Freese assessed. “It was quick. They hit some good points. It could have been a long day hearing about a lot of things, but yeah, it was good.”
Davis would have received an A-minus from Professor Freese, though his teammates were a touch more forgiving. Cooper Hjerpe, the team’s 2022 first rounder who was teammates with Davis at both High-A Peoria and Double-A Springfield last season, was impressed that Davis “memorized the whole thing.”
“So, I mean, A-plus for sure,” Hjerpe said, adding that he was a little confused that Davis included Freese’s middle name and wondered where he might’ve located that information (it’s Richard, and it appears on both Baseball Reference and Wikipedia).
“Both of them are really interesting personalities,” manager Oli Marmol said. “They carry themselves well. Even hearing them speak today, they put a lot of thought into it, which is something you want to see. Like, are you gonna wing it, or can you actually put some thought into it, memorize some facts? They both did a really nice job with that.”
Wetherholt is less than a year removed from campus life at West Virginia, so his presentation skills were still sharp. In a camp that’s designed to maximize his exposure to the expectations that come with life in the majors – as well as one which gives him opportunity to shine on the field – he wanted to be sure to pay proper tribute to the spring’s most accomplished instructor.
“That was probably one of the coolest things I’ve gotten to do in my life,” a beaming Wetherholt said. “He came up to me and was like, ‘thank you man, nice job.’ I was like, ‘dude, it’s pretty easy to talk about you.’”
Some things that are well known as part of the Smith legend in St. Louis had escaped Wetherholt’s radar. He was unaware that Smith was originally drafted by the Padres or that he attended California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo, years before he would become a permanent fixture in the city with the French variation on the same name.
“His son was actually a finalist on American Idol,” a clearly impressed Wetherholt added. “That was cool.”
Nikko Smith finished in ninth place on the hit show’s fourth season and was eliminated for good five months before Wetherholt’s third birthday. The younger shortstop can be forgiven for missing out on some parts of the pop culture ephemera, and he clearly had a strong grasp on the more important parts of the lesson he was assigned.
“What a special guy to have around the clubhouse and just be able to talk to,” Wetherholt said. “Especially me trying to develop as an infielder, you have literally one of the greatest defensive shortstops of all time. It’s just a blessing, and then me being able to do a little homework in front of the guys and get to brag about how good a player he is in front of him is pretty cool.”
Wetherholt’s skill display wasn’t limited to the classroom. He was a participant in live batting practice reps against big league pitchers, rapping a sharp ground ball against closer Ryan Helsley that likely would’ve gone for a ground out to second.
Against reliever Nick Anderson, who has played parts of five seasons in the majors, he waited back on a breaking ball and stung a sharp drive which collided with the fence in left-center field on the fly. For the lefty swinging Wetherholt, it was precisely the kind of impressive contact that would likely have seen him drafted first overall last summer had he not slid to the Cardinals after suffering a hamstring injury.
Delivering a speech is a valuable skill, but more than anything else, the Cardinals need him to deliver well enough at the plate that, perhaps one day, he might be the subject of someone else’s spring assignment.
“Those are the things you remember when you want to see how you measure up against arms that are already up there,” Marmol said, “and it’s a really great opportunity.”
As long as they get their homework done before it’s time to play.
