Exit Interview: Michael Blazek

Last year, I spent the time immediately after the season examining each player that had made an appearance in St. Louis during the season.  This series was well received and so I’m bringing this idea back for the 2013 offseason.  More summaries than anything, I imagine the player coming into Mike Matheny‘s office and having a short conference before heading home for the winter.  Stats are just the ones accumulated for the Cardinals during the regular season.

This year’s Exit Interview series is brought to you by Bonfyre.  A large number of the United Cardinal Bloggers used Bonfyre all season long and found it a great way to interact and discuss things in a limited audience.  No need to worry about some pseudo-fan crashing your Facebook conversation or trying to explain fine points in 140 characters on Twitter. Invite who you want to the group and get to talking.  Share pictures as well–Bonfyre is a great way to document parties or other events, especially for folks that can’t be there.  Sign up today and give it a try.

Name: Michael Blazek

Season stats: 0-0, 6.97 ERA, 11 games, 10.1 IP, 10 H, 10 BB, 10 K, 1.94 WHIP

Hero/Goat: Goat 1

Overall grade: C

Positives: Blazek climbed his way up the ladder and made it to St. Louis, which is a positive in its own right.  He was unscored upon in his first three outings and if you take out the two terrible outings he had, his ERA was just a shade over 2.00.  He was not necessarily the most heralded of prospects, but he had a good live arm and averaged a strikeout per inning before being traded to Milwaukee for John Axford.

Negatives: The two terrible outings were doozies, as he combined for six runs in 1.2 innings in those games against Houston and Cincinnati.  His command was shaky as well–many of those runs in the Houston came due to him walking three batters, including one with the bases loaded.  With the other strong arms in the Cardinal pen, he was expendable.

Outlook:  He was a bit more successful with the Brewers, though he still walked three in seven innings.  He may need a little more minor league seasoning, but there’s no obvious reason why he can’t be a serviceable bullpen arm for Milwaukee in years to come.

  • stlCupofJoe November 12, 2013, 9:05 am

    This may be way way off, but he reminded me of a Cleto a little bit. He has above average stuff, especially his fastball, but at times (okay, a lot of the time), he was searching for it. You never knew what you were going to get, and to be frank, I don’t really know if he knew where some of his pitches were going. Yet, he is VERY young, so I hope he harnesses it in–except against the Cardinals of course. 🙂 Loving these posts, by the way.

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