I was on vacation for the week and only just got back to following the Cardinals as closely as one with internet access and FSN Midwest can, but I can’t let a day go by without mentioning the performance of long-time GUB-Overrated Prospect Jon Edwards. For new readers (ha ha), this is why I like Jon Edwards. (Warning: what follows is a dense, scientific defense.)

1. He’s 6′5″
2. He joined the system as an eighteen year-old.
3. He had a .200+ isolated power as an eighteen year-old.
4. He’s got the same name as this guy.

Some would call it intense analytical rigor; I just call it doing my job. The point is that I’ve always been a big fan of Edwards, for reasons justified or not, and I think he’s as much of a sleeper prospect as the Cardinals currently possess, save for the inexplicably off-map Daryl Jones. Edwards sort of dropped out of the prospect trade last year after failing to improve upon his pro debut, and returning to short season ball this season did him no favors. But this year he’s gotten off to what we scientists call a Good Start, capped off by a showing tonight in which he tripled and homered. His (fully short season) career so far, so you can decide to jump or not jump on the forthcoming re-bandwagon:

       G   AB   R   H  2B 3B  HR  BB   K  AVG  OBP  SLG  SINNERS
2006  48  154  23  41  16  1   4  20  33 .266 .360 .461    PIOUS
2007  64  221  28  59  16  1   8  30  75 .267 .357 .457   VENIAL
2008   8   28   6  11   3  1   2   4   8 .393 .469 .786  IN HAND

Sample sizes are small and strikeout rates–promising after 2006, ugly after 2007–are always a concern. But according to First Inning Edwards’s start isn’t all smoke and mirrors; his heretofore mediocre line drive rate and too-high-for-this-kind-of-player groundball rate have both perked up in his first eight games of the season, and the result is that the extra balls in play luck has been granting him are going farther than usual. As with another from-draft-on GUB-approved tools prospect, Tommy Pham, the key thing to remember here is that he is hitting for a lot of power despite being all of three months older than Pete Kozma. The other key thing to remember–and we have another GUB guy to thank for this object lesson–is that a lot of times I’m totally wrong.