Highlights from Saturday’s St. Louis Cardinals minor league spring training games from Jupiter, Florida.
On Saturday, the St. Louis Cardinals minor leaguers faced off against the New York Mets, just like their major league counterparts. Memphis and Springfield entertained their New York counterparts in Jupiter, while Palm Beach and Quad Cities took the short trip to the Mets’ home in Port St. Lucie.
Cardinals director of minor league operations John Vuch continues to share game highlights with this site and several others with interest in Cardinals prospects. As always, the raw data is his, but the comments mine.
Team summary: The location was irrelevant as it was a rough day for the system at any site. Memphis, Springfield, Palm Beach and Quad Cities all lost – by a combined score of 41-13. Needless to say, the Cardinals pitching had an especially rough, rough afternoon.
Team records: (0-4) on the day, (6-10-2) on the spring.
My Pitcher of the Day: Palm Beach’s Miguel Tapia posted a pair of shutout innings, something no other Cards minor league pitcher at any level on the day could claim.
My Hitter of the Day: Springfield’s Curt Smith was most productive. His three RBI led the system on Saturday.
Sunday’s schedule: The Cardinals’ five squads will hike over to the western part of the Jupiter complex to the home of the Marlins’ minor leaguers.
Cardinals top prospect day. Each of the players from The Cardinal Nation / Scout.com Top 40 Cardinals prospect list from this past off-season (2010) or most recent prior listing will be noted below.
Memphis (1-2-1) lost to Buffalo, 7-1
Memphis Pitching
Ryan Kulik – 2 IP, 3 H, 1 ER
Charlie Zink – 2 IP, 2 H, 1 ER
Nick Additon (#23) – 2 IP, 2 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 1 K
Justin Fiske – 1 IP, 2 H, 2 ER, 1 BB
Tyler Norrick (#26 in 2008) – 2 IP, 2 H, 1 ER 2 BB, 1 K
Memphis Hitting
Mark Hamilton (#19) – 3-for-4
Bryan Anderson (#13) – singled and walked
Mike Folli – tripled and scored the Redbirds’ only run
Amaury Cazana (#23 in 2007) and Shane Robinson (#33 in 2009) – 1-for-2
Springfield (1-2-1) lost to Binghamton, 12-6
Springfield Pitching
Brian Broderick – 2 IP, 5 H, 4 ER, 2 BB, 3 K’s
David Kopp (#34 in 2009) – 2 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 1 K
Thomas Eager – 2 IP, 1 H, 1 unearned run
Casey Mulligan (#31) – allowed all five batters he faced to reach base, allowing 5 ER
Jason Buursma – 1 scoreless inning, 1 BB, 1 K
Adam Reifer (#20) – 1 IP, 1 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 1 K
Blake King (#34 in 2008) – one perfect, six pitch inning
Springfield Hitting
Curt Smith (#39 in 2009) – 2-for-4 with a homer, two runs scored, a HBP and 3 RBIs
Aaron Luna (#24) – 2-for-4 with an RBI
Pete Kozma (#14) – two hits
Antonio DeJesus – tripled and had 2 runs scored
Adron Chambers (#29) – singled and was HBP in his two plate appearances, stole a base and scored a run
Palm Beach (1-3) lost to St. Lucie, 9-2
Palm Beach Pitching
Jared Bradford – 2 IP, 4 H, 3 ER, 2 K’s
Eric Fornataro – 0.1 IP, 3 BB, 2 ER
Scott Schneider (#37) – 1.2 IP, 2 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 1 K
Miguel Tapia – two hitless innings with a walk and 2 K’s
Joel Pichardo – 0.1 IP, 2 hits, 2 unearned run, 1 BB, 1 K
David Carpenter – one perfect inning, 1 K
Palm Beach Hitting
Xavier Scruggs – 2-for-3 with a walk and RBI
D’Marcus Ingram (#39 in 2008) – 1-for-2 with two BB’s
Ryde Rodriguez – singled and was HBP
Domnit Bolivar – singled
Jason Stidham – walked twice and scored
Quad Cities 1 (2-2) lost to Savannah, 13-4
Quad Cities 1 Pitching
Joe Kelly (#32) – 2 IP, 2 H, 1 unearned run, 3 K’s
Anthony Ferrara (#33) – 1.2 IP, 2 H, 4 unearned runs, 2 BB, 2 K’s
Travis Lawler – 2.1 IP, 2 H, 3 ER, 2 BB, 1 K
Hector Hernandez – 1 IP, 5 H, 5 ER, 1 BB, 1 K
Andres Rosales – 1 IP, 2 BB, 2 K’s
Quad Cities 1 Hitting
Matt Adams (#38) – 2-for-4 with a stolen base
Michael Swinson (#39) – homered and walked in his two plate apps and scored twice
Niko Vasquez (#34) – singled and had three RBIs
Travis Tartamella – doubled and scored
Travis Mitchell – singled and scored
Luis Mateo – singled
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When will the minor leaguers officially get assigned to specific rosters for the start of the 2010 season? As of now, for example, guys playing in the QC game are shown on various short season team rosters.
Minor league rosters will remain extremely fluid until spring training is done. I would guess rosters will be set around April 4.
One change in recent times is reducing barriers between minor leaguers and the ML squad. Shelby Miller made a couple of appearances, virtually direct from high school.
Oh, you mean like when Rick Ankiel started a spring game at the age of 18 in 1998? It has nothing to do with changes, reducing barriers and other fanciful ideas and everything to do with talent. Special players cause special actions.
Derek Goold claimed, before Miller, Braden Looper was the last Cardinals top draft pick pitcher to go from amateur ranks to spring training camp the next spring. In his case, Looper came from Witchita State U, rather than high school like Shelby. http://www.baseballamerica.com/online/majors/organization-reports/st-louis-cardinals/2010/269613.html
Goold claims before Miller, the previous top pick pitcher in spring training was Looper in 1997. For his part, Walton claims it was Ankiel in 1998.
The Cards also had 1998 top pick Brett Wallace in camp during spring 2009. TLR seemed not to like seeing Wallace around and shipped Wallace down pretty quick. TLR may be a bit more traditional than Mo and Jeff.
Wow, Wallace bounced around the minors for 11 years before he got a shot