More Time in Minors Needed? Victor Scott II Off to Sluggish Start with Cardinals

There’s no doubt whether or not former West Virginia outfielder Victor Scott II has the tools needed to play in the major leagues. It’s just a matter of when things will begin to slow down for him and really, his jump to the majors was a little untimely.

Sure, it’s nice to get the news that you’re making the Opening Day roster out of spring training, but if you’re not quite ready, it could end up showing. So far for Scott, that’s been the case. In 44 at-bats this season, Scott has just four hits which gives him a batting average of .091. Twelve of those plate appearances have resulted in strikeouts while he’s only drawn two walks (plus two hit by pitches). 

But the struggles don’t start and end at the plate. While no fielder is perfect, Scott had a crucial error in a game against the Phillies, dropping a fly ball in centerfield which allowed two runs to score. Later in the game, he had a critical baserunning blunder where after hitting a dribbler down the third base line, he reached first safely running through the bag but turned toward second inadvertently and was tagged out by the first baseman.

Again, this doesn’t mean the stage is too big for the former Mountaineer. The talent, skillset, work ethic… it’s all there. In an ideal world, he would have spent a little more time in the minors before coming up. He arrived to the organization in 2022 and flew through the system reaching Double-A by year two and completely skipped the Triple-A level. Giving him 150-200 at-bats at the highest level in the minors would do wonders for Scott and in my opinion, would better position him for success in the bigs.