Friday’s opponents: New York Mets (Memphis and Springfield at Port St. Lucie with Palm Beach and Quad Cities at home)
Saturday’s opponents: Camp day, so they’ll have to take it out on each other!
Memphis defeated Buffalo, 2-1
Memphis pitching
Mitchell Boggs, 3 IP, 3 hits, two K’s
Katsuhiko Maekawa, 2 IP, 3 hits, 1 K
Brandon Dickson earned the win, 2 IP, 3 H,1 unearned run, 0 BB, 1 K
Ian Ostlund one scoreless IP with a K
Francisco Samuel one scoreless IP, with 2 K’s for the save
Memphis hitting
Shane Robinson’s two-run HR provided both Memphis runs; also walked and stole a base
Brandon Yarbrough, 2-for-4
Casey Rowlett (run scored) and Brian Barton both 1-for-4
David Freese played 3rd base, 0-for-2 with a walk
Jarrett Hoffpauir walked twice
Springfield tied with Binghamton, 7-7
Springfield pitchers
Adam Ottavino 4 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 4 K’s
Trey Hearne, 2 IP, 1 H, 0 R
Jared Bradford, 1.2 IP, 5 H, 4 R, 3 ER, 0 BB, 3 K’s
Russ Haltiwanger, 1 IP, 2 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 1 K
Springfield hitters
Daniel Descalso 3-for-4, with a HR, 2 RBIs and a walk
James Rapaport, 2-for-3 with two walks
Tyler Henley 2-for-5 with two RBIs
Donovan Solano 2-for-5, 2 runs scored
Brett Wallace hit a two-run double
Palm Beach defeated St. Lucie, 11-3
Palm Beach pitchers
Thomas Eager was the winner, 2 IP, 1 H, 0 runs
Blake King, 2 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 3 K’s
David Carpenter, 2 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 1 K
Jose Mateo, 2 IP, 2 H, 2 ER, 0 BB, 1 K
Adam Reifer struck out the side in his inning of work
Palm Beach hitters
Shane Peterson, 3-for-4, 3 runs, 2B, HR, 2 RBIs and a walk
Colt Sedbrook, 3-for-4, 2 runs, 2B, 2 RBIs and a walk
Oliver Marmol doubled and tripled
Curt Smith two hits, including a double
Jon Edwards two hits and a walk
Paul Vasquez hit a three run HR to start the scoring
Brian Cartie and Aaron Luna both doubled
Quad Cities lost to Savannah, 3-1
Quad Cities pitchers
Arquimedes Nieto and Scott McGregor had identical lines, 2 IP,1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K
Dylan Gonzalez, 2 IP, 2 hits, 1 ER, 0 BB, 4 K’s
LaCurtis Mayes, 1 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 1K
Santo Maertz and Joel Pichardo each threw a scoreless inning
Quad Cities hitters
Brett Lilley, 2-for-4 and a diving play up the middle
Domnit Bolivar, 1-for-4, made a great play on grounder to his backhand at third base with strong throw from foul territory to save run in 2nd inning
Frederick Parejo and Beau Riportella were 1-for-3
Ryde Rodriguez was 1-for-3 and threw runner out at the plate
Chris Swauger doubled and D’Marcus Ingram was 1-for-4
These reports are provided through the courtesy of the St. Louis Cardinals by Director of Minor League Operations John Vuch.
It will be interesting to see where Aaron Luna plays. He played 2B as a sophmore at Rice U, moved to LF for his junior year, where he also played in the minors last summer. If Luna can transition from OF back to 2B, easier in his case than for Schumaker, then Luna could become a pretty good prospect, because his bat would be strong at 2B.
I agree. They moved Luna to second in instructs last fall. I will find out if that move stuck this spring.
As with OFs, there are getting to be more middle infielders in the system. Descalso should play 2B at Springfield. In 08, they added Curtis, Luna, and Castellanos, who seem 2B candidates for the A level. Luhnow is going to home grow some middle infielders or die trying.
Small point, but Curtis is a third baseman.
There will be no minor league report for Saturday as the games were rained out. 30% chance of scattered showers on Sunday.
with skip being under team control for four more years, there is adequate time to let low level 2B develop without being rushed, assuming skip can stick at 2B. skip type leadoff numbers are rather affordable through arb years, in comparison to the hr/rbi players.
Good point, bip. He surely won’t get Ryan Howard-type money.
It was said Curtis would need to move as a pro, because he lacks the arm and bat to project as a ML 3Bman. He could play 3B at A level, like Solano at Quad Cities, but Curtis’ final position will need to be 2B. I don’t think the Cards would take Curtis in the 5th round if they did not plan to move him to 2B. Descalso similarly played 3B in college, but moved to 2B.
Both Descalso and Curtis were California collegiate 3Bmen who the Cards were higher on in the draft that other teams.
Descalso hit for a high average at UC-Davis, controlled the strike zone, got the fat head of the bat on the ball. The Card must have hoped his lefty swing would be suited to 2B, so he could become a stronger version of Adam Kennedy, albeit slower.
Curtis played at UCLA and is supposed to have a good attitude. He hit for average in the Cape Cod league after his sophmore year. He has much more collegiate pedigree than Castellanos, from a Division 3 school, so must have been drafted before Luna and Castellanos as probabilistically a better bet for 2B. Luna would have much more power and Castellanso would offer more speed, among these three right swinging 2B candidates in one year group.
Like Tyler Henley, Aaron Luna was a good running back in Dallas area high school football who focused on baseball at Rice U. Both would have been “tweeners” at running back, more agile than fullbacks, but not quite fast enough to be an elite halfback, so they reasonably focused on baseball in college. The Cards have sought ex-footballers during Luhnow era drafts (Jones, Boggs, Stavinhoa, Roth in 05 for instance). Since it is hard to reach the majors, its good have toughness, cultivated in football. Luna probably has the speed and agility to return to 2B.
Another aspect of the Luhnow era is seemingly more readiness to encourage players to shift to an optimal position. Tony Cruz, Steve Hill, and now Stavinoha are being pushed toward trying catcher. The Cards would have drafted Descalso in the 3rd round premised on shifting him to 2B, as they since have. I expect the same will happen with Curtis. Descalso mostly played 3B in rookie ball, before concentrating at 2B in 08. Luna continued as an OF in 08, but will have the most upward projectability if he too can shift to 2B.