What do the Cardinals have in Thomas Saggese?

[hmoss859]

His minor league pop has not translated at all

[Cusecards]

I think Saggese will at least prove to be a solid bench player.
Whether that keeps him on the 26 man long term who knows.
Of course he could surprise?

[Carp4Cy]

Another AAAA player. A JAG. May play a few games for a few years but not a needle mover.

Every franchise has players who have had a great year in the minors, but can’t put it together in the Majors.

And, every franchise has players who take off in their 2nd, or 3rd year. Very unfair to lable him as a "JAG" at this point in his career, after a season with only about 250 ABs. He may not be Matt Carpenter, or Donovan, but still could be a very good bench/role player.

a bench/role player is the very definition of JAG.

[cardstatman]

Group think is strong in Cards Talk.
Weird hate for Nootbar, Saggese, Church
Weird love for Gorman, Burleson, and Walker

Using fangraphs RAA as an estimated rate of production per 600 PA, Saggese hasn't faired that well so far in MLB.

fRAA/600 PA Player
+19.4 755 Iván Herrera
+08.7 1538 Brendan Donovan
+07.8 1311 Masyn Winn
+02.5 1491 Lars Nootbaar
-00.2 607 Pedro Pagés
-04.6 65 Nathan Church SSS
-07.6 618 Victor Scott II
-08.9 1268 Nolan Gorman... and getting worse
-11.7 1488 Alec Burleson... but getting better
-11.9 347 Thomas Saggese SSS
-12.1 168 Yohel Pozo SSS
-22.3 210 José Fermín SSS
-24.8 1039 Jordan Walker.. and getting worse
-73.0 46 Jimmy Crooks SSS

I'd rather see what Saggese and Church can do than take a 4th look at Gorman and Walker.

Saggese showed more power in miLB than anyone on the 40-man except Gorman and Burleson and he has a functional glove.

PA/HR MLB+miLB MLB AAA AA
20.6 21.4 16.6 17.3 Gorman
27.9 32.1 26.8 20.1 Burleson
30.8 116. 30.0 23.3 Saggese
31.6 --.-- --.-- 22.1 Baez
33.5 38.5 40.7 27.6 Walker
34.7 46.0 30.7 35.0 Crooks
35.2 40.8 21.3 --.-- Pozo
35.6 34.0 20.8 81.5 Nootbar
36.3 33.7 38.8 30.7 Pages
36.6 32.4 36.3 26.0 Herrera
40.7 --.-- --.-- 36.3 Bernal
44.6 50.4 25.6 36.6 Winn
47.5 --.-- 46.2 79.8 Prieto
49.9 50.3 28.3 56.5 Donovan
59.8 210. 36.8 58.5 Fermin
63.0 65.0 34.5 45.7 Church
73.9 88.3 60.3 47.7 Scott
133. --.-- 46.0 229. Torres

He seems like a potential 20 HR utility guy to me if not a decent starting 2B but you don't know till you give him a try for about 4 years like Walker and Gorman!

[Melville]

I often forget about him as a piece of the 2026 puzzle. After reviewing some of his numbers, I think it would be foolish to move on yet. I think he should be given a chance this year to play every day. (But where?)

He has not really enjoyed success at the big league level yet - .628 OPS in 324 at bats. But that way too few at bats to make a determination yet.

I went back and looked at recent minor league number:

2024 - AAA - .752 OPS with 20 homers and 23 doubles in 126 games.
2023 - AA/AAA - .903 OPS with 34 doubles, 6 triples, and 26 homers and 111 Rbis

The 2023 numbers are very good obviously. Any OPS .900 or above is elite, and over 100 Rbis is great.

So I think there still potential he could be a ~.800 OPS major league player who pops 18-23 homers, plays decent defense and drives in runs pretty well. Somewhere in the 3-4 WAR range.

5% walk rate and very limited XBH's indicate a player who is far too aggressive and therefore easily taken advantage of by MLB pitchers who can manipulate him into weak contact.
Could change.
But that is who he has been so far.

[DwaininAztec]

Another AAAA player. A JAG. May play a few games for a few years but not a needle mover.

Every franchise has players who have had a great year in the minors, but can’t put it together in the Majors.

Carp, I don't think you are looking at his track record. He would seem to have the kind of talent that can make a solid career. No, he won't be a "superstar," but he can have a productive role on just about any team.

[BrockFloodMaris]

A much slower, worse fielding, non-switch hitting Tommy Edman.

The Cards appear to have several AAAA players. Mo was great at acquiring and promoting them. Bloom will hopefully sort them out over the next year and jettison some/most/all.

You very wekk may be right about Saggese being a AAAA guy, but I'm not there yet after only 320 at bats. If in fact he sucks again this year, then by all means, boot him. I say if he shows improvement this year, stick with him a little longer.

Assessing talent is so important for mid-market teams, and Mo was really bad at it for the last decade. Bloom needs to up our game as it relates to talent assessment. Watching this endless string of AAAA players wears thin on this fan. I need to see some high upside potential every now and then.

[Melville]

A much slower, worse fielding, non-switch hitting Tommy Edman.

The Cards appear to have several AAAA players. Mo was great at acquiring and promoting them. Bloom will hopefully sort them out over the next year and jettison some/most/all.

You very wekk may be right about Saggese being a AAAA guy, but I'm not there yet after only 320 at bats. If in fact he sucks again this year, then by all means, boot him. I say if he shows improvement this year, stick with him a little longer.

Assessing talent is so important for mid-market teams, and Mo was really bad at it for the last decade. Bloom needs to up our game as it relates to talent assessment. Watching this endless string of AAAA players wears thin on this fan. I need to see some high upside potential every now and then.

When Super Slo Mo fell in love, he fell hard.
Playing time was gifted to whomever was the object of his affection at any given point.
Problem was, Mo always fell in love with the wrong guys for the wrong reasons - and protected them until after they had broken his heart.
Which left a trail of broken and tattered TOXIC relationships which inevitably broke the franchise.
Just as I alone was first and best to analyze and explain nearly a decade ago.
Bloom can't help but be better.
The bar is laying in the muck.

[Cardinals4Life]

we don't have much in the way of RH bats. The Cards need him to do better.

Here's hoping.

I don't recall if he has played any OF. If his bat did mature, he could solve an immediate problem of Rh hitting in the OF.

Reports are he has been working on OF some this offseason.

[Cardinals4Life]

I don't think anyone has given up on him. I think most people (me included) just see his name and think "meh." He reminds me of Matt Carpenter in that he looks like him and has kind of a surprising amount of power (at least he did in the minors)

Also a baseball rat like Carpenter was. He does have surprising pop for his size, but I think he will give us what a young Carp gave us. Lots of doubles and the occasional HR. I think he csn be a doubles machine. Knowing his work ethic, he is exactly the type of player Cardinals fans love. He may never be a superstar, but I think he has a chance to be very good! I would prefer he get his "runway" at 3B, but if he has to be a utility guy that can play everywhere (Donovan's role) to get his ABs, then he will be able to handle that just fine.

Lots on here like to say he is JAG (ROCK!!!!), but he will surprise. He has hit at every level given an adjustment period. He was a AA MVP. He is a baseball rat. Let's see what he can do with 500 ABs this year. I am willing (and have been) to bet on him!!!!
Let's go Thomas!!!

[Cardinals4Life]

He is a classic Cardinals triple-aaaa player...does pretty well in the minors, and is bench fodder in the majors. Yet, we will hold on to him until the bitter end, and he will leave and go hit .215 for the A's for a season and then retire.

Terrible take, guy.
Do some research. Have you followed him before this past season?

[Cardinals4Life]

I'll be honest, I've never seen a player have the quality minor league numbers Saggese has get so quickly written off by CT'ers. Is there something about Saggese that rubs people the wrong way, I don't get it. We've had many players with good MiLB numbers fail at the MLB level, but usually the pigeon-holing happens after at least 600 or so at bats, or more. Man, give the dude a chance. Then, and if, give him hell.
,

Exactly!
I think many on here may unfairly dislike him because Shady was on the bandwagon early and drove everyone crazy about him.

Dude can hit. Dude is super young. Dude is a baseball rat. Here's to Saggese being a strong addition and future part of the new "core".

[Cardinals4Life]

I often forget about him as a piece of the 2026 puzzle. After reviewing some of his numbers, I think it would be foolish to move on yet. I think he should be given a chance this year to play every day. (But where?)

He has not really enjoyed success at the big league level yet - .628 OPS in 324 at bats. But that way too few at bats to make a determination yet.

I went back and looked at recent minor league number:

2024 - AAA - .752 OPS with 20 homers and 23 doubles in 126 games.
2023 - AA/AAA - .903 OPS with 34 doubles, 6 triples, and 26 homers and 111 Rbis

The 2023 numbers are very good obviously. Any OPS .900 or above is elite, and over 100 Rbis is great.

So I think there still potential he could be a ~.800 OPS major league player who pops 18-23 homers, plays decent defense and drives in runs pretty well. Somewhere in the 3-4 WAR range.

5% walk rate and very limited XBH's indicate a player who is far too aggressive and therefore easily taken advantage of by MLB pitchers who can manipulate him into weak contact.
Could change.
But that is who he has been so far.

Should be noted that Saggese was called up to The Show before he was fully ready. Not his fault.

[cards53]

I watched most of Saggese's ABs this year.
To me he started out pretty much trying to pull everything.
When he started to realize that he wasn't ready to use that approach he changed.
He started to hit to all parts of the park and I didn't research it, but seemed his average began to climb.
His power went down IMO due to this changed approach.

My feeling is that as he grows into being able to handle MLB pitching better his power will return, but not quickly.

[ScotchMIrish]

His power numbers in milb are intriguing.

[Melville]

His power numbers in milb are intriguing.

True....though his extremely low 22 XBH's in 347 MLB PA's is concerning.
He will need to show a lot more than that in 2026.