Wednesday’s opponents: Florida Marlins on the Cardinals side of the complex.
Thursday’s opponents: New York Mets (Memphis and Springfield at Jupiter with Palm Beach and Quad Cities at Port St. Lucie) plus Quad Cities 2 entertains Gildea’s Rangers, a traveling squad.
Memphis lost to New Orleans, 7-5
Memphis faced ML pitcher Andrew Miller for the first four innings and led 3-1 when he left the game
Memphis pitching
Adam Ottavino 4 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 4 K’s
Charlie Manning, 2 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 1 K
Matt Scherer, 1 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 2 K’s
Tyler Norrick, 1 IP, 1 BB, 1 K
Marco Gonzalez, 1IP, 3 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 1K
Memphis hitting
Shane Peterson 2-for-3 with a run scored and RBI
Nick Stavinoha 2-for-4 with a run and RBI
Mark Shorey 2-for-4 with an RBI and a diving catch in RF
Casey Rowlett had an RBI double in his only AB
Justin Knoedler tripled and scored a run
Tyler Greene was 1-for-3 with a walk, SB and run scored. Made a tremendous play deep in the hole with strong throw to retire the runner by plenty.
Springfield defeated Jacksonville, 3-0
Springfield pitching
Justin Fiske 4 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 4 K’s
Kyle Mura two perfect innings with a K
Elvis Hernandez 1 IP, 1 H
Jon Mikrut 1 IP, 2 H, 1 BB
Ken Maiques 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K
Springfield hitting
Brett Wallace 2-for-4
Tony Cruz 2-for-3 with a run scored
Daniel Descalso hit a solo HR
Pete Kozma had a 2-run single in the 8th to snap a scoreless tie
Antonio DeJesus singled, walked and made a nice running catch in RF
Donovan Solano was 1-for-2
Palm Beach lost to Jupiter, 9-5
Led 5-1 after four innings
Palm Beach pitching
Lance Lynn, 3 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 3 K’s
David Kopp, 2 IP, 7 H, 5 ER ,1 K
Davis Bilardello, 1 IP, 1 BB
Casey Mulligan, 1 IP, 1 BB, 1 K
Matt Spade, 0.2 IP, 2 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 1 K
Eduardo Sanchez 1 IP, 3 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 1 K
Palm Beach hitting
Jermaine Curtis 2-for-4 with a walk and run scored
Curt Smith 2-for-5 with a double and two RBIs
Oliver Marmol and Jon Edwards both 2-for-4
Charlie Kingrey 2-for-5
Tommy Pham had a two-run single and scored in his only AB
Aaron Luna and Francisco Rivera both singled
Quad Cities #1 defeated Greensboro, 6-5
Quad Cities pitching
Arquimedes Nieto 2.2 IP, 3 H, 3 ER, 2 BB, 4 K’s
Gary Daley, 2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 3 K’s
Adam Veres 2 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 4 K’s
Zach Pitts 1 IP, 1 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 1 K
Matt Frevert 1 IP with two K’s
Quad Cities hitting
Osvaldo Morales 2-for-4 with a double and two RBIs
Domnit Bolivar 2-for-4 with an RBI
Xavier Scruggs 2-for-3 with a double and run scored
Alex Castellanos had a two-run single and scored a run
Chris Swauger doubled
Quad Cities #2 defeated Marlins 5th team, 4-3
Quad Cities pitching
Miguel Tapia two perfect innings with four K’s
Michael Blazek and Kevin Siegrist had identical lines 2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K
Randy Santos 2 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K
Jose Mateo 1 IP, 4 H, 3 ER
Quad Cities hitting
Beau Riportella 2-for-4
Yunior Castillo 2-for-4 with a big league play in the hole
Ivan Castro 1-for-3 with an RBI and gunned down a basestealer
Brett Lilley doubled
Travis Mitchell singled, walked and made a nice play on a sinking liner to avert a potential rally.in 7th
Edgar Lara doubled and had two RBIs
These reports as above are provided through the courtesy of the St. Louis Cardinals by Director of Minor League Operations John Vuch.
I want to acknowledge right up front that the pitchers don’t get their fair due in my reports. Flitting around from field to field means more of the highlights seen are by batters. Sorry about that, but the Vuch Report above fills in the blanks nicely.
Traveling men
Scout.com subscribers may have read my article this morning about the unique travel squad the Cardinals are using this weekend for Friday and Sunday games in Ft. Myers. The first wave includes Friday’s nine major league starters and eight minor leaguers to be used as reserves.
The six that have been named are Justin Knoedler, Daniel Descalso, Donovan Solano, Casey Rowlett, Shane Robinson and Daryl Jones. The final two will likely be pitchers.
Memphis notes
Adam Ottavino opposed Florida’s Andrew Miller, picked up from Detroit a year ago, but still struggling to achieve his potential. There had to be a half-dozen golf carts filled with Marlins’ bigwigs watching him pitch.
One of the Cards pitching coaches attributes Ottavino’s improvement from “doing his work in front of the rubber” instead of leaning back with unpredictable results.
Lefty Charlie Manning allowed a run, but an alert throw into second base caught the runner to end an inning.
Springfield notes
Though he had been penciled in Tuesday’s lineup, third baseman Brett Wallace was sidelined after taking a ball off his shin. He was back in the lineup and in the game on Wednesday. In his first at-bat, Wallace shot a single deep into the right field corner. Steven Hill followed with what would have been a home run had it not been for the strong wind blowing in from left.
Another well-known Marlins prospect, Taylor Tankersley, fanned Jim Rapoport and Brandon Buckman in the same inning.
Antone DeJesus legged out an infield single to deep short. He then stole second but was called back due to catcher’s interference on Buckman. DeJesus was nailed in his second attempt to swipe the base as Pete Kozma fanned in the process.
Later after Buckman fanned again, Kozma picked the club up with a two-run single.
Palm Beach notes
I was really looking forward to seeing Lance Lynn, the second rounder from 2008 who had to be shut down early last season due to heavy use at Ole Miss. Lynn was greeted rudely by one of the Fishes’ top prospects as Michael Stanton took him deep.
In his first at-bat, Tommy Pham shot an RBI single up the middle and alertly moved up on the throw home. Charlie Kingrey plated Pham and a second runner with a single, but was subsequently cut down trying to steal second.
David Kopp had a rough outing as the Marlins plated five against him while I was watching. Only one ball, an RBI triple to deep center, was really hard-hit. Several others were seeing-eye grounders. Stanton brought home the final two runs.
Quad Cities notes
Arquimedes Nieto started for QC #1 and was a bit rough in the early going. Florida’s Isaac Galloway took him deep, but the wind blew it foul. A couple of pitches later, Galloway went all the way the second time.
One of the internal surprises of camp is Gary Daley, Jr. In his first two outings, he has been sharp, drawing raves from coaches and peers alike. The latter say he was hitting 94-95 mph, while the coaches were more conservative at 93-94. Even more importantly, the location was there, which was his biggest problem in 2008. Outing #3 was on Wednesday. More on that later.
Chris Swauger fanned with the bases jammed, but second baseman and cleanup hitter (doesn’t that sound nice?) Alex Castellanos brought two home with a sharp single to right center.
Sorry, but QC #2 was played elsewhere and I didn’t get over there to see them, but I should catch them Thursday.
| Lineup | Memphis | Springfield | Palm Beach | Quad Cities 1 | QC2 |
| 1 | Robinson cf | Jones lf | Curtis dh | Gomez dh | Mitchell cf |
| 2 | Barton lf | Solano ss | Sedbrook ss | Buck rf | Lilley 2b |
| 3 | Stavinoha ib | Wallace 3b | Luna 2b | Swauger lf | Riportella lf |
| 4 | Cazana dh | Hill c | Peterson rf | Castellanos 2b | Lara rf |
| 5 | Greene ss | Descalso 2b | Rivera 1b | Morales 1b | De La Cruz 3b |
| 6 | Folli 2b | T Cruz dh | Pham cf | Bolivar 3b | Martinez 1b |
| 7 | Shorey rf | Rapoport cf | Kingrey lf | N Vasquez ss | Swinson dh |
| 8 | Knoedler c | Brown 1b | Edwards dh | Parejo cf | Castro c |
| 9 | Rowlett 3b | De Jesus rf | Cartie 3b | Espinosa c | Castillo ss |
| 10 | Shorey dh | Cutler c | Scruggs dh | Polanco dh | |
| Pitchers | Ottavino | Fiske | Lynn | Nieto | Tapia |
| Manning | Mura | Kopp | Daley | Blazek | |
| Scherer | Hernandez | Bilardello | Veres | Siegrist | |
| Norrick | Mikrut | Mulligan | Pitts | Santos | |
| Gonzalez | Maiques | Spade | Frevert | Mateo | |
| Samuel | Sanchez |
The lighter side of the news
I thought I would share a view of the fantastic sunrise from this morning.
I was thinking about Daley this morning, after commenting about McCormick.
Daley went into the 2006 college season as a potential first round pick, owing to being a top prospect in the Alaska collegiate league in summer 05. He was represented by Boras, who has his own scouts and wants big bonus amateurs. To be Boras-worthy is a compliment to an amateur. He could throw 92 mph deep into games.
Daley had a mediocre junior year at Cal Poly (the Cards most favorite institution, according to the resarch of Domeboys). So he fell to the Cards at the end of the 3rd round in 06. He would get behind in counts and then get smacked around.
Daley signs and was impressive at State College in 06. BA was impressed with Daley’s arm strength. In 07, Daley gets assigned to Palm Beach, along with Ottavino. He began the season ok. And then it seemed like he wanted to compete with Ottavino as to who could throw the hardest. He started walking people and it got worse and worse. The Cards had to send him to the GCL roster, where he continued to be awful. In 2008, he kept hitting batters, walking them, Steve Blass disease times 10.
I tend to get pessimistic about such situations, because a guy gets confused and loses confidence, despite his fine arm. If a player has to think too much about what he is doing, then its in his mind and self-perpetuating. I thought Daley should take a year off.
One thing Daley has going for him is the Boras connection. Boras can probably get him a pitching coach on the side and attitude advisers. This could help.
And the Cards could try to simplify things for Daley, suggest he try one inning at a time as a reliever. He needs to get back to where he was in the New York Penn league in 06, in terms of not being a wildman, able to throw some strikes. If he can do this, he could pitch in the majors. He has a strong and resilient arm.
On Ottavino’s “doing his work in front of the rubber,” I assume this means he is implementing a better tilt to his body, leaning forward more. It would probably be difficult to overcome years of leaning too far back, but if he has overcome this, it should really help things come together for him.
Dejesus stole a base on a first try, then was caught on a second. That seems in keeping. If he could improve his success rate, it would help him.
Jumbo, actually Cal Poly was second behind Nebraska: link
Was Solano a late scratch for Springfield and Kozma subbed for him ? Nice to see Pete be able to contribute at that level.
I think Lance Lynn could be in the rotation in a couple of years. At least I hope so.
Speaking of Boras connections, does anyone know what happened to Boras’s son, whom we drafted in the 217th round or something. Is he still in baseball? Do we have brownie points accumulating with the Bora$ Corporation? If no one knows, don’t worry. I’m pretty sure WestCoast will be around anytime now with transcripts from the hidden-microphone recordings he has of Boras speaking Bill DeWitt in the men’s lavoratory behind home plate.
Shane Boras is riding the pines for the University of Southern California Trojans. He is just a freshman, so not getting many at bats, literally 4 according to the team stats. There is a picture of the lad, among the player profiles. Pa and Ma are Scott and Jeanette, has a brother and sister. Another name on the roster for the Trojans is the grandson of a long-time baseball coach, Rod Dadeaux. Didn’t Mark McGwire and Anthony Reyes play for USC?
Mark McCormick, Gary Daley Junior, and now to add Kenny Maiques. Three candidates to rebound in 2009. All have arm strength. McCormick could benefit by moving to relief, Maiques was wild last year as a reliever, so maybe he should try to sharpen up by trying starting again, as at Rio Hondo JC (Whittier CA). Daley is the nephew of a major leaguer in the 1950s.
Speaking of freshmen riding the pines, Maiques collected modest innings when he was a freshman; IIRC, it was Long Beach State and they had Jared Weaver as one of their top pitchers. And speaking of arm strength, maybe reliever Miguel Flores was released early in spring training was because he was not showing enough velocity to encourage the Cards.
And as for the Cards drafting Nebraska Corn-huskers….the Cards have tradtionally drafted college players (though they are changing a bit) and not discriminated too much against age. The Huskers will red-shirt baseball players and they can get oldish for when they turn pro. Buckman and Brown were seniors, Sillman too. They also do not discriminate too much against players with odd sizes, hence drafted short pitcher Shane Komine from Nebraska, though he held off signing until drafted the next year by another Moneyball team, the Athletics.
Chief, Solano and Kozma both played. Pop Warner made several in-game substitutions. Buckman was another that came in midway through.
Antone Dejesus was a three year starter in an elite league, the SEC, IIRC. It will be interesting to see how high he climbs in due course. Hes a little guy who works walks and this helps his on base percentage, which is nice. But his steal success rate seems fringy. And basehits are better than walks, given a choice between the two in the construction of an on base percentage.
Derrick Goold has written that Shane Robinson may be 5’7″. Robinson’s advantages are that he sprays hits, and he is a high percentage success basestealer. Robinson could help the Cards in the years ahead as an all purpose 5th OF.
Two things to like in prospects: centering the ball (getting the fat part of the bat on a ball); and aggression. Although working counts and plate discipline are important, aggression is important too. You want hitters who are eager to get the fat end of the bat on a ball. This is what I like about Tommy Pham. Yeah, he may K and have a long swing, but he has the aggressive impulse to develop into a hitter. My guess is swingers are generally better bets to reach the majors than walkers. Pham can steal bases and has a strong arm too. Its too bad he could not stay at SS, but he must have had a funky throwing motion for an infielder.
would someone bring me up to speed on jose martinez. is he dinged up, or has he fallen out of favor with the org on the middle infield depth charts? i’m losing track of him.