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Rookies to Look For: Joe Mather

Christopher Solberg, Editor
6/01/2008

Joe Mather was recently called up by the St. Louis Cardinals after they sent down struggling left fielder Chris Duncan.  Some actually say that Mather is somewhat of a right-handed version of Duncan.  Joe is somewhat of a slow developer, he started in professional ball in 2001 after he was selected in the third round of the 2001 draft, and he’s not just reaching the bigs.

After a slow rise through the minors, he really turned it on last season as he hit .303/.387/.607 at Double-A.  Between Double-A and Triple-A last season, Mather hit 31 home runs, showing some of the power potential that the team had always envisioned from his 6’-4” frame.  This season he was hitting .310/.403/.682 (1.085 OPS) at Triple-A with 12 home runs in 129 at-bats.

His defense is pretty average and scouts say that he has enough of an arm to be a passable right fielder.  Although he’s a defensive improvement over Duncan, he’s nothing to write home about. 

If given a full season, I could see him produce at .270 with 20 home runs, 25 home runs at the most, depending on his walk rate.  He seems to be more of a fourth outfielder type.  But then again, we’ve seen them get good results out of another fourth outfielder type in Ryan Ludwick.








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