With the release of nine players on Thursday, the current count of minor leaguers in St. Louis Cardinals in camp sits at 151.
A sure sign the regular season is approaching is the change from listing the minor leaguers as part of four more loosely-defined “groups” to now being ordered with the attached label of the four full-season minor league clubs.
There is one addition, the second Quad Cities team, which might instead be considered those players most likely to not make a full-season club. Rather than heading north with the others, the players on that roster as it looks next week will remain behind in extended spring training.
Again, there is still plenty of time for movement, which there will surely be. There will also be another round of cuts, so don’t assume these will be the final rosters.
Once the regular season begins, I will publish a refresh of the entire organizational roster matrix. The current version is accurate in terms of player names in and out, but the individual teams are still organized in the manner the players reported to camp.
Remember you can always find the current version from the “Players/Staff” tab on the top of the page. Look for “Depth Charts/Roster Matrix”. I prefer not to call them depth charts as I am not tracking playing time, but I use the label since I can see that many are searching for the information in that way.
Eight of the nine players in the second cut-down were pitchers. The chart pictured above helps show why. Its a nicely concise information display.
If we add Ring, assuming he reports to Memphis, there would be 67 competing for 48 pitching slots (within the top 4 minor league squads). (This does not necessarily imply another 19 pitchers will be released, since some may be bumped down to EST. )
The minor league system is well stocked in numbers of pitchers. This seems a good thing, because the team can DL a kid at the first sign of a sore arm. The EST squad can supply a pitcher to either of the A level teams, should someone be hurt or ineffective. And the 8 man rotations at PB and QC cultivate extra pitchers who can be drawn on to supply pitchers up to Springfield, when they are needed.
Tyler Norrick seems focused on reliever now, not a bad idea. Elvis the Mosquito is back in action, now a reliever. A quintet of McCormick, Maiques, Hernandez, Freeman, and Samuel could pump gas out of the AA pen.
I was thinking yesterday that there must be at least 10 OFs competing for a spot in QC that based on their age and skill set time clock should probably be hitting the low A level this year. The combination of QC #1 & QC #2 list above highlights that thought. Some interesting names that will have to wait in the wings for short season teams.
Jim
Brian, the paper is a little hard to read but it is still cool to show a semi-official document like that!
I am assuming at this point that, with rare exceptions, no one is moving up but some will still move down. Amazing how few surprises (guys not being moved up). There are some upward surprises possible but until the dominoes fall we won´t really know if they happen.
Of the few suprises of guys not moving up:
Looks like they now are programming Lynn for PB. That~s not really surprsing just different than they were indicating earlier.
Strange tha Zawacki is competing for a spot at QC while Blazeck it appears is out of the running there. Blazeck has pitched better than Zawacki each of the last few years.
Andres Rosales may be back in short season ball. He pitched OK in QC last year so that is a little surprising.
Is it possible they keep Mitchell for a 4th year of short season ball? (I doubt it).
I doubt Zawacki will stick at QC Hard to go from a mess at Johnson City to Midwest League ready in one off-season.
Mitchell is a St Louis area kid who was headed to the U of M, until the Cards persuaded him to go pro. It would be unusual for somebody to spend a 4th season in short season, but there is a near precedent: Joe Mather spent the first half of his 4th year in EST. Mitchell’s challenge is hitting, not D. He could get reps at EST and report to Batavia. Its not impossible.
There could be a handful of guys due to report later to try out for a short season club. SS Juan Mateo and RHP Matt North might classify.
Mitchell did not hit well enough at Johnson City last summer to be a serious candidate for Quad Cities this spring. He took a backward step. Maybe he was trying to change his swing, like Edwards did in 2007. If the Cards were ready to give up on Mitchell, he could have been released last fall or early this spring training. I would guess he is a candidate to play at Batavia in 08.
Pagnozzi?
Quite a catching logjam at Memphis with
Knoedler, Anderson, Yarbrough, and (perhaps?) Pagnozzi vying for time.
ArR, Pags has improved his stock substantially this spring to the point he is the last remaining extra catcher in camp. TLR likes him. There were whispers that Knoedler’s defensive skills are what led to him being a surprise part of the first cuts, the area in which Pagnozzi excels.
CC, sorry for the quality of the roster photo. Sort of looks like the Dead Sea Scrolls as I took it without a flash. I didn’t have enough time to enter all the names by hand and probably won’t since this will be obsolete next week.
Brian, I was serious, I think it is cool the way you did it.
Regarding how many seasons the Cards would stay with a guy they sign out of high school, there should be multiple factors, including tools and the system’s strength at a position. While you like to have a kid who can make the jump to the Midwest League after just one rookie league season, (Rasmus, Anderson, and Kozma), Darryl Jones took 1.5 seasons, Mather 3. Longer would be unusual. In contrast, college grads need to move up fast.
Some rookie league OFs signed in recent years include Travis Mitchell (2006), Riportella and Hage (07), Swinson (08). Swinson is raw and had a rough go in the GCL last summer, but he’s fast, plays CF, and swings left, so the Cards will be patient. Riportella was impressive in 07, not so last summer. Hage was ho-hum last summer. Mitchell’s strong suit is fine defense, but he will need to lift his batting average. He has had 3 seasons. 4 seems imaginable, 5 not.