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: Shelby Miller
Season stats: 15-9, 3.06 ERA, 31 games, 173.1 IP, 152 H, 57 BB, 169 K, 1.21 WHIP
Hero/Goat: Hero 8, Goat 3
Overall grade: A-
Positives: Any season when you finish in the top three in the Rookie of the Year voting is a pretty darn good year. Miller’s first half was better than his second, but neither was anything to sneeze at. He dominated righties (.205/.269/.319) and was almost unhittable at home (.199/.254/.310 to lead to a 10-3, 1.75 ERA mark). Putting up almost a strikeout an inning in his first full year in the big leagues is pretty nice as well as throwing an almost-perfect game.
Negatives: He had trouble settling into games–batters hit .294 on his first 25 pitches and eight of his 20 homers came in that frame–and did have command issues in the second half, walking almost the same number of hitters in about 35 fewer innings. He also barely pitched in the playoffs, but while that’s a negative, that’s not one that could be laid on him.
Outlook: The vultures are going to be circling this winter, hoping that the lack of playoff usage means that John Mozeliak will sell low on him. I don’t believe that’ll be the case and Miller is likely to slot in as the number three starter next season behind Adam Wainwright and Michael Wacha, even though he could be an ace most anywhere else.
Well said…. Mo won’t be desperate enough to trade him for a SS and the lack of playoff usage is, more than likely, due to an innings limit that was a great idea and another great idea to not be announced (look at the heat the Washington Org took regarding Straus) Then after lack of use in the NLDS, NLCS, it was risky to throw him in there.