Two lessons came to mind when Cardinals prospect Victor Scott II reflected on what his first sample of the majors showed him.
There was what baseball felt like at its highest level.
“Just how to manage the game,†Scott told the Post-Dispatch in a recent interview in Memphis, Tennessee. “Guys can tell you word of mouth of how it is, but it’s not really the same until you’re there. Being able to get there and learn, ‘OK, this is how everything works.’ It’s still the game of baseball.â€
And there was the challenge the league can present to a player working through adjustments.
“But one thing you cannot do, or it’s hard to do, is go up there and try to work on something. It’s super hard to do that,†he added.
A breakout prospect in 2023 after getting drafted in 2022, Scott raced up the prospect pipeline after he batted .303, won a Rawlings minor league Gold Glove and stole a MiLB-leading 94 stolen bases following 132 games in Class High-A and Class AA. The center fielder backed up his regular season with a strong Arizona Fall League performance. He earned a non-roster invite to his first big league spring training and batted .317 with a .404 on-base percentage in Grapefruit League games.
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Scott was originally set to begin his 2024 season in Triple-A, but a shoulder injury Dylan Carlson suffered in the second-to-last spring training game paved the way for the 23-year-old to skip Triple-A and claim the Cardinals’ starting center field job for opening day.
In his first test of the majors, Scott batted .085 with 15 strikeouts in 65 plate appearances. The search for offense led him to be optioned to the minors following 20 games in the major leagues.
“The train doesn’t stop here,†Scott said while seated inside the Memphis dugout at AutoZone Park. “It went up to ºüÀêÊÓƵ a little bit. You learn a little bit. You come down and look and say, ‘OK, this is what we need to work on,’ and you come work on it and you get back up. It’s kind of how the system works. I was pretty positive about it. Pretty optimistic.â€
Since his option to the minors, Scott has played in 37 games for Memphis. Entering Saturday, the left-handed hitting outfielder had a .209 average, a .297 on-base percentage and six doubles. He’s nabbed 16 stolen bases on 19 attempts and has continued to stick exclusively to his natural spot in center field.
The speedster walked in 10.1% of his first 159 Class AAA plate appearances and struck out in 12.6%. His opposite-field contact rate has increased from 23.9% for ºüÀêÊÓƵ to 32.2% for Memphis, per FanGraphs. His 21.2%-line drive rate in the minors is an increase of over 10% from where it was during his time in the majors.
As he searches for average, Scott feels like he’s rediscovering what helped him on his fast track through the minors.
“I mean, you look at the box score and you see maybe an 0-for-2, but what people don’t see is maybe two lineouts or maybe three walks because average is such a big piece of the game today,†Scott said a day after going hitless in two at-bats and drawing three walks in a May 29 game for the Redbirds. “Everything I feel so far has been a learning experience. Up until now, I feel like I’m more of myself in playing the game I was playing last year.â€
Through video work and in conversations with Memphis hitting coach Howie Clark and Double-A Springfield hitting coach Casey Chenoweth, the latter of whom the outfielder worked in when he was assigned to High-A Peoria and Chenoweth was the affiliate’s hitting coach, Scott saw that a rotational issue with his hips was a “common denominator†to his issues at the plate.
He said the issue led him to be “more handsy to the ball†rather than keeping him closed off as he was throughout 2023. He lost that “cue†and had to rely mostly on upper body strength to generate power behind the ball. The speedster with a knack for forcing infielders to rush on groundballs had a 46.7% flyball rate in the big leagues, per FanGraphs.
“A lot of what you probably saw early was just the front hips were gone … so I didn’t have as much control as I did in the past to it,†Scott said.
Scott said he “was still kind of trying to find where my swing was like last year†in his immediate arrival to Triple-A. Adjustments to his setup have helped Scott “see the ball a little longer†and aided him in recognizing pitches.
“As a hitter if you buy yourself some time, which to the layperson isn’t a lot, but when you’re in the box, it’s extremely helpful,†Clark said.
The 23-year-old said he regained the feel of the 2023 version of his swing during Memphis’ late May road trip to Durham. In 14 games since the start of that road trip, Scott owns a .245 average and a .339 on-base percentage while producing a 27.5% line drive on balls he’s put in play over that span, per Statcast.
The improvements with his body position have allowed him to do what he did “successfully before†as he’s worked from a stretch he’s had experiencing breaking out from before.
“Sometimes you may do something right that you like and you continue to do it and you have success,†Scott said. “And sometimes you are trying to work on it; trying to figure it back out. That was the position I was in early. But it gives me kind of leeway to when I’m down the road in my career to look at a rookie and say, ‘Look man, I went through the same struggles that you’re going through,’ and be able to kind of help them through that. I feel like that’s pretty important to me.â€