Jeremy Hazelbaker is a nobody. The 28-year-old, who didn’t have a professional at-bat until a week ago, is batting .526 though seven games with the Cardinals and suddenly everyone in the fantasy game thinks he’s a somebody. Have things changed or is Hazelbaker exactly what we thought he was – someone not to even ponder adding in fantasy leagues?

MINOR LEAGUE WORK

Folks,Jeremy’s 28 years old, seven months, and 29 days as of this writing. How many players took until that age for their first big league game? Remove players who arrived from foreign countries and what are you left with? Satchel Page? Not quite, but you get the point I hope.

Hazelbaker has appeared in 751 minor league games through seven seasons after he was drafted in the 4th round of the 2009 Entry Draft. In the more than 3,100 minor league plate appearances Hazelbaker has hit .264 (even if he hit .313 last season). Hazelbaker is also the owner of a .341 OBP and .434 SLG, pretty much league average type of stuff in the minors (OK, it’s slightly better). He’s also struck out a 789 times in 751 games. Moreover, per 500 at-bats he’s hit an average of 15 homers. So we’ve got a guy who has hit .264 with 15 homers and a .775 OPS over the course of 500 minor league at-bats. What there gets you excited? Oh yeah, don’t forget to add in the 145 strikeouts either.

The only thing that Hazelbaker has done that stands out is that he can run with 239 steals in 751 games. Per 150 games played, that’s an average of 48 thefts, and that is something significant. However, a lot of that work was accomplished in the lower minors. Here are his steal totals the last four seasons when he’s played at Double and Triple-A: 36, 37, 21 and 24. Impressive, but not elite level stuff.

MAJOR LEAGUE WORK

He’s appeared in seven games this season, hitting .526 with two homers, five RBI and five runs scored. Jeremy’s also done his running best with two steals. At the same time, he hasn’t walked, his OBP is lower than his average (.522) and there’s kinda no way that he maintains his .571 BABIP, just to name one number amongst the litany of measurements that show him to be a completely sample size driven monster.

SCOUTING REPORT

Baseball America ranks players, and does a pretty good job at it. We can all agree on that, right? In their Prospect Handbook this season Hazelbaker wasn’t even in the top 30 prospects in the Cardinals organization. MLB.com ranks the top 30 prospects for the Cardinals and they too don’t have Hazelbaker listed. Folks, I’m sorry, no one even thought of Hazelbaker coming into the year when discussing Cardinals minor leaguers.

PLAYING TIME CONCERNS

The Cardinals, when healthy, will role with an outfield of Matt Holliday, Randal Grichuk and Stephen Piscotty in the outfield. That means Hazelbaker will be battling with Tommy Pham, who is a few weeks away from returning from an oblique issue, in the near future, for playing time. The Cardinals could move Matt Holliday to first base more frequently, but don’t forget that they still have Matt Adams and Brandon Moss to man that position. Given all those options, do you really think Hazelbaker will be starting consistently when the team is healthy?

CONCLUSION

Add away if you want folks. However, I don’t know how you can if you’re applying any level of discernment, foresight, or study. The only place Hazelbaker is going to help this season, and he might not even be much help there, is in an NL-only league.

There’s no pedigree.

There’s only moderate talent.

There’s no conceivable way he plays daily if the Cardinals are healthy.

Add that all up and all he’s got is a week of big league success. Maybe he ekes out some value, but it won't be on my team.

There's just not enough here for me.  

 

Ray Flowers can be heard Monday through Friday, 7 PM EDT and Friday on SiriusXM Fantasy Sports Radio (Sirius 210, XM 87). You can also hear Ray Sunday nights at 6 PM on the channel talking fantasy sports. Follow Ray’s work at Fantasy Alarm and on Twitter (@baseballguys).