Sleeper Alert: Joe Mather

The St. Louis Cardinals have sent both David Freese and Brett Wallace (their two best third base prospects) to minor league camp. This leaves Joe Mather, a converted outfielder, as the favorite to begin the season at third base. As I am certain most of you realize that the Cardinals expected third baseman, Troy Glaus, will begin the season on the disabled list and miss at least the first month of the season recovering from shoulder surgery. This will be the winner's chance to shine in the eyes of Tony LaRussa who already seems to have a slight man-crush on Mather.

"But", you might say. It will only be for a month or so and then Glaus will be back and our man will be out of a job. "Well", I would answer, "not exactly."

If Joe Mather impresses Tony LaRussa (and I obviously believe that he will), he is very likely to favor him coming off the bench as an extra infielder and outfielder. This is easily a recipe for finding 350-400 at-bats. I also happen to think Mather is a 30-plus homerun hitter waiting to break out.

Mather was drafted in the third round out of Mountain Pointe high school in Phoenix, Arizona - as a shortstop. He spent way too long in short season leagues and did not develop as quickly as the cards would have liked. But for two years he has been solid (if a little old in AA and AAA). He did not embarass himself in short stents in the major leagues either.

The best news for fantasy owners is that you're likely to get him for just a few bucks in even the deepest leagues. The Cardinals have another guy who began his major league career playing out of position as a temporary replacement for a more established but injury prone player. Damn, I wonder who that was???

Season	Team	AB	PA	2B	HR	R	RBI	BB	SO	SB	CS	AVG	wOBA
Total	- - -	133	147	7	8	20	18	12	32	1	0	0.241	0.335
2006	Cardinals (A+)	432	482	33	15	63	71	36	89	9	0	0.266	0.359
2007	Cardinals (AA)	234	272	17	18	48	46	29	32	4	0	0.303	0.426
2007	Cardinals (AAA)	249	283	10	12	30	29	22	51	5	0	0.237	0.337
2008	Cardinals (AAA)	211	254	14	17	45	41	32	36	7	2	0.303	0.44
2008	Cardinals	133	147	7	8	20	18	12	32	1	0	0.241	0.335
2009	Bill James	162		9	10	26	24	17	28	3	1	0.253	0.354
2009	CHONE	415		22	19	63	61	41	88	6	2	0.253	0.343
2009	Marcel	245	274	13	10	35	33	24	51	3	1	0.261	0.334
2009	Oliver	360	401	22	19			30	77			0.253	0.343
2009	ZiPS	428		22	18	53	63	34	79	7	1	0.243	0.325

More on Joe Mather:

Sportsnet.com Scouting Report
Future RedBirds Profile
FanGraphs.com Statistics Page
The Baseball Cube Report
WikiPedia Page