Highlights from Monday’s St. Louis Cardinals minor league spring training games in Port St. Lucie, Florida.
On Monday, the St. Louis Cardinals’ Memphis and Springfield clubs were to entertain their New York Mets opponents at home in Jupiter, while Palm Beach and Quad Cities took a short trip to the Mets’ home in Port St. Lucie.
Cardinals director of minor league operations John Vuch continues to share game highlights. As always, the raw data is his, but the comments mine.
Team summary: Well, the Jupiter games could not be played due to rain, despite the major league club getting their game in against Boston. Palm Beach (win) and Quad Cities (loss) split over on the Mets’ fields.
Combined records: 1-1 on the day, 8-15-2 on the spring.
My Pitcher of the Day: Kevin Siegrist of Quad Cities (pictured) with three shutout innings. Palm Beach’s Scott McGregor also had a good case.
My Co-Hitters of the Day: Quad Cities Michael Swinson tied with teammate Matt Adams. Swinson drew a walk to go along with his three hits while one of Adams’ three safeties was a double.
Tuesday’s schedule: As the Mets and Marlins will likely face off against each other, the Cardinals have no other organization in the area to play other than themselves. At least that is the case for the top four clubs as Quad Cities 2 will face external competition in Gildea’s Raiders. Gildea’s is a traveling team that regularly makes the rounds of Florida spring camps. They have visited the Cardinals yearly for at least the last decade.
Memphis (1-3-1) was rained out
Springfield (2-2-1) was rained out
Palm Beach (2-4) defeated St. Lucie, 7-4
Palm Beach Pitching
Shelby Miller – 2 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 2 K’s – The Cardinals first-rounder makes his first appearance in a spring game in minor league camp. Others have suggested Miller may start the season in extended spring training and join Palm Beach when it warms up. That doesn’t compute to me since EST and Palm Beach start at about the same time and play in the same place!
Scott McGregor – three shutout innings, allowing two hits
Aaron Terry – 2 IP, 2 H, 1 ER
Jose Rada – 1 IP, 3 H, 1 ER – 21-year-old Venezuelan led the 2009 Appalachian League with 23 appearances while posting a tidy 1.76 ERA. Fanned 30 and walked eight in 30 2/3 innings.
David Carpenter – 1 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 2 K’s
Palm Beach Hitting
Osvaldo Morales – walked, 2-run HR – 22-year-old was tied for third in the system with 15 home runs in 2009 and his 82 RBI was second-highest. Did most of his damage with Quad Cities.
Domnit Bolivar – 2-for-4 with a double and 3 RBIs – Starting fifth year in the system and has yet to turn 21.
Hector Alvarez – 2-for-3, 2 runs – Only has 18 regular-season runs scored and a .201 career average in 60 career games.
David Washington – doubled, RBI
Devin Goodwin – RBI single in only AB
Ryde Rodriguez – singled
Quad Cities #1 (2-4) lost to Augusta, 7-4
Quad Cities #1 Pitching
Kevin Siegrist – 3 scoreless innings with one hit and 2 K’s – See above. Has a career ERA of 3.07 in two seasons.
Mike Blazek – 2 IP, 6 H, 4 ER, 1 BB, 2 K’s
Justin Edwards – 2 IP, one hit, no runs, 1 BB – Posted 3.25 ERA in 15 games, including eight tandem starts for Batavia in 2009.
Michael Thompson – 1 IP, 4 H, 3 ER
Chris Corrigan – 1 IP, 1 H, 1 K – 3.80 ERA in 16 games / 7 tandem starts for 2009 Muckdogs.
Nick McCully – one perfect inning – 21-year-old placed in Quad Cities after being taken in the ninth round and struggled to a 7.20 ERA in first 20 professional innings.
Quad Cities #1 Hitting
Michael Swinson – 3-for-4 with a walk, run and RBI – Can play defense too with only one error and five outfield assists in 2009.
Matt Adams – 3-for-4 with a double, RBI, run – His .355 average between Johnson City and Batavia led the entire system in 2009.
Ryan Jackson – 2-for-3
Romulo Ruiz – 2-for-4
Jonathan Rodriguez – a 2-strike RBI single, run – 17th round pick is an official sleeper after finishing first in the system with a .421 OBP last season and third in OPS (.858) between Gulf Coast League and Johnson City. Now 20 years old.
Kevin Moscatel – RBI single
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In the3 2009 draft, the Cards selected McCully in the 9th round. He got a normal bonus nowadays for a college junior, $100K. In the same round, the Red Sox dropped $550K on a 6’5″ college junior pitcher who had been a pre-season favorite with scouts, before having a bad season and falling in the draft. But the Red Sox bonused this guy, Volz, like he was a second rounder. Its a way a rich team can work with agents to get more talent via bonuses rather than mere draft picks.
The Sox also gave $1.4MM to the 3rd rounder pick (about $1MM more than normal); $975K to the 7th rounder (about $875K higher than MLB recommendation); $750K to the 10 round signee; $300K in the 11th round; and $335K down in the 26th round. Adding this up, the Sox invested $3.5MM more than normal in these 6 signees. This is like gaining 6 higher draft picks, without the pain of losing ML games to earn them. It uses bonus money to circumvent the redistributive principle of the draft, rewarding amateurs whose bonus demands are sufficiently high that other teams pass on them and leave them to the Sox. It makes economic sense for the Sox, because US amateurs are older, more developed, and safer gambles than 16 year old Latins.
The Cards generally tend not to do this, but conform more to conventional bonus expectations of the draft, though they did go about $1.5MM over slot guidance to sign Shelby Miller, a positive step in the right direction for the amateur talent wars.
No real surprises in the minor league releases. I think Dustin had one of the Gonzalezes in his top 50 (though not sure why). A little surprised on Fiske (mostly because he is a LH relief candidate) but he must not have been throwing as well after his surgery.
You have a good memory, CC. He had Reynier #45.
For everyone, the Cardinals released seven minor leaguers, pitchers Justin Fiske, Andres Rosales, Jonathan Gonzalez, Reynier Gonzalez and Marco Gonzalez, first baseman Matt Arburr and catcher Blake Murphy. The roster matrix has been updated, though it does not reflect all the interim spring training roster churn across levels.
Well, it was so strange, I couldn’t forget it! I think he said once he based on a personal observation.
Andres Rosales was one of Luhnow’s early signings, October 2004. Back in 2007, there was some buzz about him. He must have gotten to Quad Cities at a young age. Yet many Latin players will sign young and later be released young. What seems governing about how high they rise is pitch quality and durability, less so age.
The only reason there was (fan ) buzz about Rosales is that he was ranked among the top prospects in the GCL by BA a few years ago. Before that, no one had heard of him. He never did anything notable in following seasons and dropped off the radar.
I do not recall this, Carioca. BA saluted of Delacruz, Hooker, and Ingram circa 2007, but not Rosales. But Luhnow was being asked about Rosales about the time Walt got removed, so I can remember the time when there was Rosales buzz.
In the DSL in 2006, Rosales averaged 14.4 K’s per nine innings and continued strongly in the GCL and Appy League in 2007. He was extremely hittable in 2009 between QC and Batavia. Rosales never ranked in our top 40.
Rosales comes from a city along the coast, in Colombia, west from Venezuela. I bet its a pretty locale.
He had a couple of nice seasons when 18 and 19, pitching in the DSL and US. So he must have excited a few forward looking fans, looking for the Cards to rejeuvenate their international program. He must have had an injury by 2008, during which he did not throw many innings. Its a long, tough climb from Latin America to the majors, years and years, with chances for arm injuries. Many begin, few arrive.