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Prospects On Deck: RHP Jordan Hicks – Cardinals

If you like athletic pitchers with electric stuff, Jordan Hicks might be a guy you want to keep an eye on. A St. Louis Cardinals 2015 draft pick, Hicks has made quick progress through the Redbirds system. He didn’t pitch in 2015 due to some shoulder concerns, but has been flying up the ladder since.

The Houston native started 12 games in his debut 2016 campaign, six in Rookie ball and six in Short Season. After a 4.20 ERA and a 1.53 WHIP during his Rookie ball stint, Hicks turned things around to absolutely dominate New York-Penn League hitters after his promotion. The WHIP dropped to 1.34 and the ERA dove down to an eye-catching 1.76. The strikeouts and walks stayed relatively even at both levels, but hitters only batted .217 against him over 30 NYP League innings.

After 78 innings and a Midwest League All-Star appearance, the then 20 year old made the jump from Single-A to Advanced-A and joined the Palm Beach Cardinals in the Florida State League in 2017. This made it four levels in just two years for Hicks and he has impressed at each of them. Although he tossed just 27 innings in High-A, he posted a 1.00 ERA, not a typo, but the stat that caught most people’s attention wasn’t an ERA in the basement. Hicks struck out 32 hitters and walked just six in a league where he was more than three years younger than the average player.

We kicked this thing off by talking about Hicks’ stuff, and for good reason. His high 90’s fastball and solid breaking ball are the cornerstones of his repertoire. The fastball has touched triple digits on occasion and scouts say that it has good sink to it. There are mixed reviews over his breaking ball, but to me it already looks like a plus pitch, especially when the command is on. He will be just 21 years old for the 2018 season, so look for him to work on improving the off speed pitch to round things out.

If I had to guess, I would say Hicks gets another run at High-A to start the season with a very real possibility of a midseason call up to Double-A if he stays true to his past professional results. Hicks has struck out six over 3.2 innings of work this Spring and while he is being developed as a starter, he may be on the fast track to the big leagues to play a key role in the Cardinals bullpen.

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