Highlights from Wednesday’s St. Louis Cardinals minor league spring training games in Florida.
On Wednesday, the St. Louis Cardinals’ five clubs made the shortest of walking road trips over to the Florida Marlins’ side of the Roger Dean Stadium complex.
As always, Cardinals director of minor league operations John Vuch shares game highlights. The raw data is his, with the comments mine.
Team summary: Only Quad Cities 1 was able to collect a victory, while Springfield tied. The other three clubs, Memphis, Palm Beach and Quad Cities 2 were defeated on the scoreboard.
Combined records: The Cardinals records on the day were 1-3-1. Spring totals are now 10-20-3 overall and 6-16-1 versus external competition.
My Pitcher of the Day: Springfield’s Scott Gorgen fanned five in two scoreless innings of work.
My Hitter of the Day: Memphis’ Kevin Howard (pictured) collected eight total bases, three RBI and scored twice.
Thursday’s schedule: Once again, the Mets are the primary opponent with Memphis and Springfield entertaining their New York opponents in Jupiter, while Palm Beach and Quad Cities 1 again take the short drive to the Mets’ home in Port St. Lucie.
Quad Cities 2 will take on World Free Agent Spring Training. WFAST is a 17-day spring camp for free agents, offering instruction from independent league coaches and of course, game competition for young men looking for professional contracts. The Cardinals minor leaguers play a game against WFAST each spring.
Memphis (1-5-1) lost to New Orleans, 9-8
Memphis Pitching
Lance Lynn – 3.2 IP, 7 H, 5 ER, 2 BB, 4 K’s – Uncharacteristic tough outing for the reigning Minor League Pitcher of the Year.
Charlie Zink – 0.2 IP, 1 H, 4 ER, 4 BB – Can anyone catch his knuckleball?
Tyler Norrick – 2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 K – Quietly effective
Josh Kinney and Fernando Salas – one perfect inning with two K’s each – Two guys we may see in St. Louis before too long.
Memphis Hitting
Kevin Howard – three hits – single, triple and homer – 3 RBIs and 2 runs scored – Just the Player of the Day!
Donovan Solano – three hits including a double, run, RBI – Provided a pleasant surprise in limited action in big league camp – 11-for-19 (.571), though ten were singles.
Shane Robinson – two hits, an RBI and run scored – Another nice limited-time showing with St. Louis – 4-for-11 (.364) with two doubles and three RBI.
Mike Folli – tripled
Daniel Descalso – double, walk in two plate appearances
Matt Pagnozzi, Tyler Henley and Mark Shorey – singled and scored
Springfield (3-2-2) tied Jacksonville, 4-4
Springfield Pitching
Nick Additon – 2.2 IP, 3 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 1 K
Ryan Kulik – 3 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 1 K
Scott Gorgen – 2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 5 K’s – Pitcher of the Day
Thomas Eager – 1 IP, 1 H, no runs – Cards’ 2007 fifth-rounder had a very quiet 2009.
Eduardo Sanchez – 1 IP, no hits, no runs, 2 BB – Needs to find that elusive control.
Springfield Hitting
Steven Hill – double, triple, RBI and scored – Hill can hit anywhere. Where to play him?
Aaron Luna – three hits – single, double and triple – OBP is always fine, but an improved average could be a difference-maker.
Daryl Jones – 2-for-4, run – Needs to continue the bounceback.
Colt Sedbrook – single, walk
Palm Beach (2-5) lost to Jupiter, 6-4
Palm Beach Pitching
Justin Smith – 2 IP, 3 H, 2 ER
Pedro Rodriguez – 2.1 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 2 K’s
Matt Frevert – 2.2 IP, 1 H, no runs, 0 BB, 3 K’s – Very nice line that was next on my list for Pitcher of the Day. Was ranked in the top ten in the system in strikeout to walk ratio last season at 4.40.
Andrew Moss – 1 IP, 2 H, no runs
Ramon Delgado – 1 IP, 1 BB, 1 K – Sixth in the system with 53 game appearances in 2009.
Michael Thompson – 1 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 2 K’s
Palm Beach Hitting
Oliver Marmol – 2-for-3, HBP, 2 runs – Sixth-rounder in 2007 has a career .200 batting average.
Domnit Bolivar – 2-for-4 with a double
Rich Racobaldo – 2-run HR
Quad Cities 1 (3-4) defeated Greensboro, 4-2
Quad Cities 1 Pitching
Eric Fornataro – 3 IP, 4 H, 2 ER, 0 BB, 4 K’s
Anthony Ferrara – two scoreless innings, no hits, 2 BB’s, 1 K
Joe Kelly – 3 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 K – Another very strong line from a player getting a lot of kudos in camp. Last season, retired 138 opposing hitters without yielding a home run.
Daniel Calhoun – 2 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 4 K’s – Also a strong performance. His 0.95 WHIP last season was fourth-best in the entire system.
Quad Cities 1 Hitting
Jarred Bogany – 3-for-4, run
Ted Obregon – 2-for-2, game-winning 3-run double
Robert Stock – single, run
Travis Mitchell – single, walk and scored two runs – Local St. Louis product making noise.
Quad Cities #2 (2-6) lost to Marlins 5th club, 6-1
Quad Cities #2 Pitching
Angel DeJesus – two perfect innings
Tyler Lavigne – 0.2 IP, 2 H, 3 ER, 1 BB, 1 K
Kyle Heim – 1 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 1 BB
Keith Butler – 1.1 IP, 1 K – Did not allow a home run to any of 122 batters faced last season.
David Kington – 2 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 1 K
Chris Corrigan – one perfect inning
Quad Cities #2 Hitting
Cesar Valera – 2-for-3
Hector Alvarez – single, walk, run
Anthony Garcia – RBI single – 18th-rounder in 2009 recently turned 18. Being a Puerto Rican catcher is especially good in this system.
Follow me on Twitter.
Follow The Cardinal Nation Blog on Facebook.
The island of Puerto Rico has produced catchers: Pudge Rodriguez, Benito Santiago, the Molina brothers, etc. Anthony Garcia can follow in great footsteps.
I read a claim Joe Kelly only tossed 20 innings at U Cal Riverside during 3 seasons. Had a sore arm. As a freshman, Kelly should have been on the same squad with Adam Reifer, both hard throwers who did not get a lot of innings at Riverside.
Some candidates for least exciting draftees: Furnish, Eager, Fornataro.
An underestimated player may be LHP Ryan Kulik. He had LOOGY potential. The Cards hustled him up to AA where he gets smacked around, though as a starter. If moved to relief, Kulik might excel.
The Cards should have been aware SS Ollie Marmol was not a strong hitter when drafted in 2007. They may have selected him for fielding and running, in hopes he could improve with the stick.
Astros playing catch up in Latin America: link.
Belated Congratulations Brian, on winning the Tout Wars National League 2009 Championship!
Thanks, chief. Given the primary focus of this blog, I rarely discuss fantasy baseball here, but I continue to also write for Mastersball.com. We merged CreativeSports.com into MB over the winter. The six of us who are principals are longtime friends and fantasy league competitors.
I have been in Tout Wars fantasy expert competition for about five years and 2009 was my first win. I amassed the highest total in the 13-year history of the NL version, so it was an excellent showing. I have also finished last, so I won’t be needing a bigger hat size anytime soon.
SABR is now sponsoring Tout Wars, which is how I imagine you were reminded of this. They issued a press release yesterday. I will be receiving a trophy in a ceremony at Citi Field tomorrow (Friday afternoon).
Just this week, a documentary has been released on the web loosely based on Sam Walker’s book, “Fantasyland.” Like the book, it is focused on American League Tout Wars, so I am not involved, though many of my friends are. It is an amusing watch if you are or know someone who is obsessed with fantasy baseball.
The 2010 drafts are this weekend. Prep time is tight with writing deadlines, but sleep is highly overrated, anyway!
Indeed Brian, people can sleep when they are dead. I don’t mean that to sound as grim as it does.
Along with sleep being highly overrated, i have always felt that memory is vastly overrated. Except for memory of the future.
I meant to link to the SABR press release in my earlier comment but I was still in a fog (too much sleep!).
I haven’t been to CreativeSports for awhile , not since Jim Vail wrote for that site, but will be checking out Mastersball.com soon.
That’s cool you are getting a trophy.
Jim was a good man and a good Cardinals fan. I used to run his annual Hall of Fame predictions on the main site. I last had breakfast with him in Phoenix several years back. Terribly sorry that he passed away.
Jim seemed to really nail those HOF predictions year after year. We met at the San Fransisco SABR
convention and bonded quickly being Cardinal fans but not LaRussa fans. We had a lot of fun picking apart Tony’s “mistakes” in various playoff games.
I definitely miss Jim’s writing and it was a sad day to see his obit in the bulletin this past year.
Chris started answering the call today. It almost seems like Ryan is the guy breaking through the tension……………..he seems fresh, and a little loose. Gotta love that kid.
Freese had some beautiful swings yesterday. Albert was turning away a bit more today. His upper body is still to fast……. his speed is incredible. His impulse to hook it up is dominating his reason. He is showing little finesse away and almost no power to right. That is going to be exploited by front line pitching. His opposite right now is Freese. Beautiful tempo and hands. He wants to put a charge in it but he isn’t dictating where. MM is trying to slow Albert down a bit. Watch Albert’s hands and bat angle. He will be pushing it behind him even more than today and laying the bat off a bit if he is going to break out. If he doesn’t, I’m looking for him to be hitting 285 in April and that’s if he takes the singles away that will be gifted to him.
I’m surprised at the Garcia situation. And encouraged. It really is the right decision from a baseball and business standpoint . BD/Mo want to enhance player values. Garcia can help and K-Mac has a better chance to be successful in the Pen. If K-Mac gets the nod, Garcia probably flattens out in Memphis in all likely hood. Momentum is everything here
The way things are going, Garcia and McClellan could both be making starts before long.
By the way Westy, there is no momentum, haven’t you been paying attention.
Right!!! The failure of an ” I can do this”, affirmation from the minors to the pro’s kills at least 50% I would guess. Outright! The rest are left wounded……….. like a shot from RC’s 50 cal.
By the way RC……….is that sniper rifle one step below an RPG…………….. or above?
Colby is supposed to be recovered from his skinned knee tomorrow, it will be interesting to see if Tony bats him second any more.
Looks like nice weather ahead for the Minneapolis games.
“I put that in my head,” Garcia continued. “Even if it’s not true, I had it in my head that I’m ready.”
Timely observation by WC, aye…………………………….. I told you about the weather BB. There is a bundle of guarantee money involved here with TV and such…………….I wonder if they play in the Dome if it rains……..or has it been converted to Foot Ball permanently?