Rainiel Rodriguez's second Player of the Week award is the least Cardinals' top prospect deserves

It's a somewhat arbitrary cutoff, but since the trade deadline, Rainiel Rodriguez has been one of the best players in professional baseball. That might sound like hyperbole, but I assure you it's not.

Quickly garnering attention for his newly bestowed "Hulk" nickname due to his ability to "smash" the baseball, Rodriguez is hitting .444/.471/.825 (220 wRC+) with 14 extra-base hits over the past three weeks. The numbers are obscene, and it's no surprise that he just won Texas League Player of the Week honors after going 14-for-24 this week during a six-game sweep of the Arkansas Travelers.

And what's truly crazy about this stretch: The cutoff date I used doesn't include his previous Player of the Week honor, which he won for his work from July 27-August 2, when he hit a gobsmacking .526/.571/1.105 (312 wRC+). He's on an all-time heater in Double-A right now, and even that might be underselling it.

Rainiel Rodriguez's blistering hot streak sets Cardinals up for complicated questions about defense vs. offense

What word do you even use to describe a hot streak like this? Even just calling it a "hot streak" feels like it doesn't quite meet the moment compared to what Rodriguez is doing. Perhaps "incandescent" is more apt?

Regardless of the semantics, what's clear is that he's simply too good for Double-A pitching. At just 19 years old, he holds a 145 wRC+ at the level, becoming only the sixth teenager ever to hit 15 or more home runs in a single Double-A season. The other members on that list? Giancarlo Stanton, Fernando Tatis Jr., Jackson Chourio, Samuel Basallo, and Leo De Vries.

That's historically elite prospect territory, and it's made all the more ridiculous by the fact that Rodriguez is a catcher. That position is notoriously slow to develop offensively, with most young backstops focused on improving their receiving skills and defensive intuition behind the plate.

There may be some concern that his bat is too advanced for his glove, which could force the Cardinals to move him elsewhere on the diamond. For now, those fears should be unfounded; he's played just 16 games at first base compared to 41 at catcher for the Springfield Cardinals, also getting some reps at designated hitter in an effort to just keep his bat in the lineup as often as possible.

Because there's so much catching depth in the organization, it wouldn't be outrageous to suggest he move. But a catcher who can hit at his level is extraordinarily rare and worth investing in. A promotion to Triple-A should be on the horizon, perhaps as soon as September once the MLB roster expands.

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