Note: This preliminary roster has been superseded by Batavia’s actual opening roster, located here. Changes are noted on the final roster.
Following is the current working roster for the defending New York-Penn League Batavia Muckdogs. Manager Mark DeJohn’s charges open their 2009 regular season on Friday the 19th at home against Auburn.
14 13 of the 31 named are members of the 2009 St. Louis Cardinals draft class. The group includes several new signees such as fifth-rounder Ryan Jackson, eighth-round pick Jason Stidham and ninth-round selection Nick McCully.
Seven players are returning Muckdogs, including pitchers LaCurtis Mayes and Dan Richardson, catcher Luis De La Cruz, infielders Jairo Martinez and Xavier Scruggs with outfielders Edwin Gomez and Beau Riportella.
Be advised the roster will change as more draft picks come to terms and are assigned to the club. I will update the roster matrix once all three short-season clubs’ rosters are set (including Johnson City and the Gulf Coast League Cardinals).
| # | PITCHERS (15) | B/T | HT, WT | BIRTHDATE | AGE | BORN | PREV PLAYED | Acquired |
| 20 | Blazek, Michael | R/R | 6-0, 180 | 3/16/1989 | 20 | Las Vegas, NV | Johnson City | Draft ’07 – 35th round |
| 45 | Calhoun, Daniel | L/L | 6-2, 205 | 9/5/1986 | 22 | Evansville, IN | Murray St. | Draft ’09 – 29th round |
| 55 | Edwards, Justin | L/L | 6-2, 188 | 12/3/1987 | 20 | Guyton, GA | Kennesaw St. | Draft ’09 – 28th round |
| 39 | Folino, Jonathan | L/R | 6-4, 190 | 1/15/1987 | 22 | Quincy, Mass | University of Connecticut | Draft ’09 – 27th round |
| 23 | Fornataro, Eric | R/R | 6-1, 195 | 1/2/1988 | 21 | Richmond, VA | Johnson City | Draft ’08 – 6th round |
| 40 | Hooker, Deryk | R/R | 6-4, 185 | 6/21/1989 | 20 | San Diego, CA | Johnson City | Draft ’07 – 7th round |
| 32 | Lavigne, Tyler | R/R | 6-0, 190 | 7/3/1988 | 20 | Las Vegas, NV | San Diego St. | Draft ’09 – 50th round |
| 7 | Maertz, Santo | R/R | 6-1, 220 | 5/9/1986 | 23 | Staten Island, NY | Johnson City | Draft ’08 – 44th round |
| 21 | Mayes, LaCurtis | R/R | 5-11,185 | 8/2/1988 | 20 | Riverside, CA | Batavia Muckdogs | Draft ’06 – 23rd round |
| McCully, Nick | R/R | 5-10, 195 | 9/5/1988 | 20 | Coastal Carolina | Draft ’09 – 9th round | ||
| 14 | Richardson, Dan | R/R | 6-2, 195 | 3/21/1985 | 24 | Christiana, DE | Batavia Muckdogs | Draft ’08 – 38th round |
| 31 | Schneider, Scott | R/R | 6-0, 175 | 6/7/1988 | 21 | St. Mary’s | Draft ’09 – 20th round | |
| 26 | Siegrist, Kevin | L/L | 6-5, 190 | 7/20/1989 | 19 | Wellington, FL | GCL Cardinals | Draft ’08 – 41st round |
| 33 | Squatrito, Josh | R/R | 6-1, 205 | 3/12/1987 | 22 | Willow Street, PA | Towson University | Draft ’09 – 25th round |
| # | CATCHERS (3) | B/T | HT, WT | BIRTHDATE | AGE | BORN | PREV PLAYED | Acquired |
| 9 | Ahmady, Alan | R/R | 5-11, 195 | 12/14/1987 | 21 | Fresno, CA | Fresno St. | Draft ’09 – 11th round |
| 30 | Castro, Ivan | R/R | 6-0, 185 | 11/17/1987 | 20 | Santo Domingo, DR | Johnson City | Non-Drafted FA in 2005 |
| 11 | Cawley, Jack | R/R | 6-3, 232 | 3/2/1986 | 22 | Bronx, NY | Johnson City | Draft ’08 – 34th round |
| 5 | De La Cruz, Luis | R/R | 5-10, 164 | 5/6/1989 | 20 | Santo Domingo, DR | Batavia Muckdogs | Undrafted F/A in 2006 |
| # | INFIELDERS (7) | B/T | HT, WT | BIRTHDATE | AGE | BORN | PREV PLAYED | Acquired |
| 4 | Carpenter, Matt | L/R | 6-3, 200 | 11/26/1985 | 23 | Sugar Land, TX | TCU | Draft ’09 – 13th round |
| 6 | Goodwin, Devin | R/R | 5-11, 185 | 10/2/1986 | 21 | Russellville, AL | Delta State | Draft ’09 – 33rd round |
| Jackson, Ryan | R/R | 6-2, 175 | 5/10/1988 | 21 | Miami Springs, FL | University of Miami | Draft ’09 – 5th round | |
| 44 | Martinez, Jairo | R/R | 6-1, 180 | 5/27/1987 | 22 | Santo Domingo, DR | Batavia Muckdogs | Non-Drafted F/A in 2005 |
| 15 | Scruggs, Xavier | R/R | 6-1, 210 | 9/23/1987 | 21 | Poway, CA | Batavia Muckdogs | Draft ’08 – 19th round |
| Stidham, Jason | L/R | 5-11, 170 | 2/26/1988 | 21 | Florida State | Draft ’09 – 8th round | ||
| Vasques, Niko | R/R | 6-0, 170 | 2/26/1989 | 20 | Oxnard, CA | Quad Cities | Draft ’08 – 3rd round | |
| # | OUTFIELDERS (6) | B/T | HT, WT | BIRTHDATE | AGE | BORN | PREV PLAYED | Acquired |
| Gomez, Edwin | R/R | 5-11, 170 | 3/10/1988 | 21 | Santo Domingo, DR | Batavia Muckdogs | Non-Drafted F/A in 2005 | |
| Heisler, Adam | L/R | 5-11, 180 | 6/7/1988 | 21 | Draft ’09 – 45th round | |||
| 28 | Ingram, D’Marcus | R/R | 5-9, 170 | 3/30/1988 | 21 | Little Rock, AR | GCL Cardinals | Draft ’096 – 25th round |
| 3 | Riportella, Beau | R/R | 6-2, 200 | 8/20/1988 | 21 | Exeter, CA | Batavia Muckdogs | Draft ’07 – 10th round |
| 24 | Rodriquez, Ryde | S/R | 6-3, 232 | 2/2/1988 | 20 | Havanda, Cuba | GCL Cardinals | Non-Drafted F/A in 2007 |
| 25 | Shepard, Devin | R/R | 6-3, 225 | 9/9/1987 | 21 | Oxnard, CA | GCL Cardinals | Draft ’08 – 11th round |
I didn’t hear Jackson, Stidham and McCully signed. That’s good news.
Good grief, we are piling up the signings. I figured Heisler and Lavingne might head back to school, but here they are, along with Jackson, Stidham, and McCully. That makes 38 so far (32 + Stock + 5 more). Wow. And more will be signing.
17 position players gives two for each position. When players get an at bat, they need to be focused and make it count.
Brian, you might want to update the “last played” for those who played somewhere in 2009 (Ryde ROdriguez for example) or indicate it is where they ended the year last year vs. last played.
erik, the formal signing announcements of the five have not occurred – same as Stock – but the players are on the working Batavia roster, so I have to assume it is a done deal. I agree it is good to see more signees from the top ten rounds. We do break some news around here!
Brain, can you try to find out what is going on with Landin. He’s 24 now (or maybe 25) so I don’t believe he will start at JC. Is he healthy? Is he still going to play somewhere this year?
CC, I changed the designation to “PREV PLAYED”. Once I have rosters for all three clubs (JC+GCL), then I will figure out where all the leftovers went and update the roster matrix.
This is the first I had seen of Ahmady at catcher however the total catchers show (3) and list (4)? The absence of RHP Matt North doesn’t seem to be good news with several years of Johnson City under his belt. Jairo Martinez in the infield (presumably 1B or DH) is also a position change I believe although I didn’t look to see what positions he played in his few appearances earlier this year with Quad Cities. Ryde Rodriguez finished the 2008 season in Johnson City and played (I think) for Quad Cities earlier this year (FWIW).
Ahmady is listed as catcher, Martinez an infielder. Maybe Ahmady is starting the Steven Hill conversion plan from the get go.
My guess is that Ahmady was just listed in the wrong place, given the 3-4 observation JC made. Don’t know about Martinez. There are also only 14 pitchers instead of 15, but the total of 31 seems correct. Obviously, this is still written in pencil.
[...] getting to be about that time as the short season teams are getting up and running. Brian Walton published the starting Batavia roster (defending champs!) and should be a very interesting team to [...]
Brian, CariocaCardinal referred to you as “Brain”. Was that a Freudian slip or have you just garnered that much respect in the industry?
While we’re being nit-pickey here, I don’t think D’Marcus Ingram was drafted in ’09.
I have to echo the surprise of the number of signees already. This is outstanding and of course most of the top picks are still to come. We may set a club record for players signed in a draft year. You wouldn’t happen to know what that is would you Brian?
By the way, there’s a great article on catcher John Baker of the Marlins on the Cardinals home web-site. It spells out his frustration of being an all-star player in the minors, but being passed over or not given a chance because he wasn’t a high draft choice. It’s a wonderful story of perseverence and determination. I like underdog stories.
To look at the past 5 years:
2004: 42 signed out of 47 drafted. DNS 7 (Cody) and 18 (Blair). Cody never tried pro ball.
2005: 44 of 51. DNS rds 12 (McCutcheon), 19 (Quigley) , 21 (Rohlinger), etc.
2006: 38 of 53. DNS rds 10 (Ericksen), 15 (Zawadzki), 20, 37, 40, etc. 3 sophmores at late rounds.
2007: 44 of 52. DNS rds 4 (Russell), 9 (Stutes), 24, etc.
2008: 42 of 51. DNS rds 30 (Bruening), 31 (Leith), 35, 37, 45-48, 50.
In recent years, the Cards have been good about getting people signed (in comparison with earlier times). 2009 will probably tun out among the best. Signing everybody through round 29 in 2008 was impressive.
In 2005, David Freese led the Univ. of S. Alabama with a .373 average
In 2009, OF Adam Heisler led S. Alabam with a .390 average.
Axcion, I made a new post with recent draft results. My numbers vary slightly from the ones Beau posted, as in 2008, he seems to have missed Adam Prange at 48.
If Tyler Lavingne has signed or is thought likely to sign, then this helps add to the Las Vegas tilt to the Batavia roster.
Lavigne was born in San Antonio (not Vegas as the Cards preliminary roster states). He playd at Centennial High in Vegas. After his freshman year at the Community College of S. Nevada, Lavigne was the 6th rated prospect on this team. After his second season, he was the 5th highest rated on this team, behind among others CCSN and now Batavia teammate OF Devin Shepard.
Others at Batavia with a Las Vegas area amateur connection include high school pitcher Mike Blazek. The X-Man, Xavier Scruggs, played for Ryan Ludwick’s college, UNLV. And last year’s 3rd rounder, Niko Vasquez, hails from a Vegas high school. 5 guys in all.
The area scout in Las Vegas, Manny Guerra, has served the Cards for approaching 30 years. He is credited with inking Joe Mather and Chris Duncan (from Arizona high schools) and Tommy Pham, among others.
Brad Thompson was drafted after his second year at Dixie Junior College, in or near Utah. Yet Brad too played prep ball in Las Vegas, in his case at Cimmarron (sp?) HS.
We like drafting guys based on “history”. Chances are we followed Thompson in HS, even if he did not want to turn pro until after two years of juco.
This can happen even with high school draftees. A nicely clear example this year is Bighames. Our Florida scout, now a short season manager, was Steve Turco. Steve’s brother Frank was the coach of the Estero High team on which Bighames played! Another example, I believe Chuck Fick had followed Casey Mulligan for a few years, before we signed him in 2006.
Bighames and Mulligan were not very high draft picks. Thus we would prefer not to select someone merely based on amateur metal bat statistics, but scout them and get to know them a little, if possible, not just for the top draft picks. This probably matters most when we try to sign a kid from high school, because this will generally imply a longer training commitment by the team.
On another thread, jrocke pointed out that Shawn Kerrick noted that pitcher Tyler Leach and infielder Hector Alvarez are also on the initial Batavia roster.
I will be updating the roster matrix when I get the Johnson City and GCL Cards rosters.