Continuing my reflections on the 1991 Cardinals. Part 1 is here.

Todd Zeile

Zeile was drafted by the Cards in the second round of the draft in 1986, he was the 55th selection. Zeile was the Cardinals can't miss hitting prospect, the mashing catcher who would go on to have a hall of fame career and lead the Cardinals back to the series. If I had been more sophisticated I might have realized I was being sold a dream by a team with a vested interest in convincing me Zeile would be great, but at the time, bereft of the cyncical shell I would later develop, I bought it.

If, Dickens Style, I could go back and enlighten myself what would I see?

Minor league numbers:

          AVG   OBP   SLG   OPS
1986 A   .258  .358  .492  .850
1987 A   .292  .384  .511  .895
1988 AA  .272  .393  .491  .884
1989 AAA .289  .357  .486  .843

Zeile hit for some power, got on base at an excellent clip, and he was a catcher. So yeah, an .843 OPS is a little exciting (Yadier Molina managed a .759 in Memphis last year, 15 years later).

When Zeile hit the Majors he struggled:

      G      AVG   OBP   SLG   OPS
1989  28    .256  .326   .354  .680
1990  144   .244  .333  .398   .731

You should notice that a lot of Zeiles problem is low batting average (He struck out 77 times in 495 at bats). In 1990 his Walk Rate was .089 and his slugging percentage just missed .400. He was 24 years old. And then history intervenes. Joe Torre came up as a catcher, bounced between catcher and first for a few years until he was 30 and finally switched to 3rd and 1st full time in 1971. Torre hit .363/.421/.555 in that year after catching 90 games and batting .325/.398/.498 the year before. Hoping to save Zeile the wear and tear of catching and ignite his bat the same way his was Torre moved Zeile to 3B full time in 1991.

When Zeile didn't set the league on fire there was grumbling and prior to the season it was widely assumed the move to 3rd would put him back on the world beater track we expected.

Zeile Responded with:

      G      AVG   OBP   SLG   OPS
1991  155   .280	.353	.412   .765

His walk rate dropped but a 40 point surge in batting average lifted his stats accross the board. He was a decent hitter but not the star we expected. In 1995 he was traded to the Cubs, then signed with the Phillies in 1996 and traded to the Orioles to make room for the Phillies phenom third baseman and on and on until he became known more for his breadth of employers (He's played for 11 clubs) than his on the field exploits.

Zeile was always a decent player. His career high in OPS was .842 with the Rangers in 1999 and he hit 30 home runs in 1997 with the Dodgers. Despite never having an awesome season he did manage a 16 year career with 2000 hits and 250 home runs. But at the start of the 1991 season everyone expected a huge breakout from him, finally freed from the tools of ignorance. It just never really happened. He cruised along and made a bunch of money but he was never an All Star and only widely known because he played so long.

If you told me today that Yadier Molina would enjoy a 16 year career and amass those totals I'd be thrilled at the idea, but Zeile in St. Louis always labored under the weight of our expectations. A long steady career wasn't what we were promised, we were promised greatness. 91 was the year Cards fans began to grow impatient waiting for that greatness, he wasn't catching, he had a few years experience, but he was still just a decent hitter.

I can't help but think that if Zeile would have been left behind the plate he would have had the same batting arc and be a star. As a third baseman he's just a decent hitter, but as a catcher he'd have been a very good hitter and the main flaw in his career, my perception of him, would be fixed.