Highlights from Tuesday’s St. Louis Cardinals minor league spring training games in Florida as the Memphis Redbirds hammered Mets ace Johan Santana.
After a rain-soaked day on Monday in which the pitchers were able to throw on the side, but the five games against the Marlins were washed out due to wet grounds, the St. Louis Cardinals again faced their New York Mets counterparts on Tuesday.
Just like the major league Cardinals, the Memphis and Springfield teams boarded buses for Port St. Lucie while the two A-level clubs entertained the Mets in Jupiter.
As always, Cardinals director of minor league operations John Vuch shares game highlights. The raw data is his, with the comments mine.
Team summary: Any time any club can hang seven earned runs on a two-time Cy Young Award winner and four-time All-Star, it is a great day, let alone when it is a Triple A club doing the damage. That’s right – Memphis inflicted that pain on the Mets’ Johan Santana, assigned to Triple A Buffalo for the afternoon to get his work in prior to starting for New York on opening day.
(I readily admit that this photo of Santana was from another spring game, but it seemed too appropriate to let pass.)
Mets star Jose Reyes joined Santana as a Bison-for-a-day on Tuesday. Out the entire spring to-date due to a thyroid condition, the two-time All-Star shortstop managed just one hit, a double that could have been a triple, in five plate appearances.
The other three Cardinals teams ran into some good pitching, managing just three runs among them. Springfield encountered a two-hitter by the opposition and was shut out, Palm Beach collected two tallies while Quad Cities scored just once.
Combined records: The Cardinals records on the day were 0-3-1. Spring totals are now 18-29-8 overall and 13-24-4 versus external competition. None of the five clubs, including Quad Cities 2 at 2-4-1, currently has an above-.500 record.
My Co-Pitchers of the Day: Springfield’s Brian Broderick and Quad Cities Scott Schneider each allowed just three baserunners in three scoreless innings.
My Hitter of the Day: Memphis Tyler Henley tripled, walked, scored twice and had two RBI, but I could easily give the award to his entire offense as eight different Redbirds collected and RBI and eight of them scored.
Wednesday’s schedule: The Cardinals have a camp day in which intersquad games will be held. I am hearing there will be an 11 a.m. start.
Memphis (2-7-3) tied with Buffalo, 9-9
Memphis Pitching
Adam Ottavino – 2.1 IP, 4 H, 3 ER, 1 BB, 1 K – First outing since being sent down from St. Louis could have been better.
Rich Rundles – 1.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 K – Veteran lefty was the only Redbirds pitcher to keep Buffalo off the board.
Tyler Norrick – 2 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 1 K
Josh Kinney – 1 IP, 2 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 1 K – Continues to get beaten up. If he is healthy, there could be a real problem.
Fernando Salas – 1 IP, 2 H, 1 ER – Needs to stand out in case he is under consideration to replace Blake Hawksworth due to injury. A shutout inning would have been better.
Matt Scherer – 1 IP, 2 H, 2 ER, 0 BB, 1 K – Once was on the 40-man roster, but was never called up.
Memphis Hitting
Bryan Anderson – 2-for-3 with a run scored and RBI – Remember him? Injuries in St. Louis could open the door a crack after he received just one at-bat in MLB spring training.
Amaury Cazana – 2-for-4 with a double, RBI and run scored – Where will he play this year? I am not talking position, I mean which country?
Daniel Descalso – 2-for-5 with a double, run scored and RBI – Had the game-winning walkoff home run for St. Louis on Monday.
Shane Robinson – 2-for-4 with a run scored – Just keeps producing. Seeing some time at second base.
Tyler Henley – tripled, walked, scored twice and had two RBIs – Hitter of the Day
Mark Shorey – doubled, walked, scored a run and had an RBI – Not giving any ground in outfield battle.
Tony Cruz – doubled and had an RBI – Catcher is having a nice spring and may get to stay in Triple A for awhile to continue to prove his mettle.
Kevin Howard – RBI single – Minor league veteran may be playing a lot at third for the Redbirds this season.
Tyler Greene and Jon Jay – singled, scored a run and had an RBI
Check out the following video of the Memphis battery of Adam Ottavino and Tony Cruz doing battle against Reyes.
| Jose Reyes doubles off Adam Ottavino |
Springfield (4-5-3) lost to Binghamton, 1-0
Springfield Pitching
David Kopp – 3 IP, 1 H, 1 ER, 3 BB, 1 K – Comeback from injury continuing well.
Brian Broderick – 3 IP, 2 H, 1 BB – Co-Pitcher of the Day.
Blake King – 1 IP, 1 H, 2 BB, 1 K – The walks didn’t stay away long.
Adam Reifer – 1 IP, 1 BB – Not sure if we should read anything into the order with Reifer apparently pitching the eighth and Sanchez the ninth.
Eduardo Sanchez – 1 IP, 1 BB – Identical line to Reifer. Francisco Samuel out with shoulder pain.
Springfield Hitting
Adron Chambers – singled and stole a base – Has stolen 40 but caught 25 times over three professional seasons.
Aaron Luna – had the only other Springfield hit
Pete Kozma, Matt Carpenter, Daryl Jones, Andrew Brown and Jim Rapoport – all walked – A’s for effort
Palm Beach (5-6-1) lost to St. Lucie, 4-2
Palm Beach Pitching
Rich Hill – 4.2 IP, 4 H, 2 ER, 3 BB, 5 K’s – Major leaguer facing A-level hitters. Hmmm…
Ramon Delgado – 1 IP, 1 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 2 K’s
Joel Pichardo – 1 IP, 1 H, 1 ER, 1 K
Matt Frevert – 1 IP, 2 K’s – 28th rounder in 2009 quietly ranked in the top ten in the system in WHIP (6th at 0.99), strikeouts per nine innings (6th with 11.21) and strikeout to walk ratio (tied for 9th at 4.40). Sleeper alert!
David Carpenter – 1 IP, 2 K’s – Only starting his second full season on the mound and doing nicely.
Palm Beach Hitting
Tommy Pham – 2-run HR – Owner of one of the Cardinals hottest sticks this spring.
Osvaldo Morales – 2-for-3 with a double
Jose Garcia – tripled and scored a run – Had five of his career eight triples in four pro seasons last summer.
Ryan Jackson – singled in his only AB
Quad Cities 1 (5-7) lost to Savannah, 8-1
Quad Cities 1 Pitching
Deryk Hooker 3 IP, 4 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 4 K’s – Not terrible, but I keep expecting Hooker to dominate at this level.
Scott Schneider – 3 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 1 K – My Co-Pitcher of the Day was our Batavia Pitcher of the Year for 2009.
Zach Russell – 1.1 IP, 4 H, 4 ER, 1BB – Bumpy outing for the former 49th rounder in 2007.
Michael Thompson – 0.2 IP, 1 H, 1 K
Aaron Terry – 1 IP, 3 H, 2 ER
Quad Cities 1 Hitting
Jon Edwards – 2-for-2 with a double – Has always been streaky, but needs longer, more consistent play to realize great potential.
Ted Obregon – doubled – An oft-forgotten middle infielder.
Michael Swinson – walked twice and scored a run – Keep an eye on him…
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I just happened to notice that this is the 9,999th comment posted on this site since I started it up in December 2008. The next poster will be recognized as number ten thousand. Who will it be?
10,000! Love this site! Great information! Thank you Mr. Walton!
Congratulations, bisc917. Now I will have to rename you bisc10K! I had to stay up to see the counter flip, sort of like Times Square on New Year’s Eve, I guess… And feel free to call me Brian…
Brian, nice column, as always. What a tough situation for the Walters family. My heart goes out to them.
Tony Cruz Jr. has had unusual minor league stats.
http://www.baseball-reference.com/minors/player.cgi?id=cruz–001arn
In 2007, the Cards started Cruz at their bottom rung, Gulf Coast League team. He was quickly promoted to JC, then to Batavia, before a 3rd promotion led to 200 at bats in the Midwest League, normally an assignment for a junior or senior from a baseball elite college. His QC batting average was .282, about the same as Shane Robinson the summer before.
In 2008, Cruz had a solid hitting campaign in the Florida State League by the standards of a catcher, a position he began to play, in addition to 3B. He had an OPS above 700 and was on a mid-year all star team.
Many hitters get a lift in going to Springfield. However, in 09, Cruz’s batting average tumbled to .220. He did more catching, 73 games versus 43 at PB.
Cruz is a stubby guy, 5’11″, unspeedy. Slowness does not hurt at catcher. If he can handle catcher defensively, Cruz may be a better latent hitter than he showed last season at Springfield. This could be why the Cards have moved him up to Memphis ahead of others.
Thanks, Lou. I want to help keep people informed on the Walters’ situation, but respect the family at the same time. When I talked with PJ in camp, after the first day, I did my best to keep the discussion on baseball, though I did quietly acknowledge his 25th birthday. Having sons his age only makes the compassion greater. I wish there was more any of us could do besides prayer.
Congrats Brian. Just wondering which article drew the largest number of comments.
Could anyone who has been watching the games comment on how Mather looks in center field?
Another minor leaguer who went to Palm Beach State (formerly community college) is southpaw Kevin Siegrist, who Brian picked as a pitcher of a day.
This college has campuses very near Jupiter, so the Cards should have abundant opportunity able to scout its players well.
One of the more famous Palm Beach grads is the Bandit himself, movie celebrity of decades past, Burt Reynolds.
bb, I am not sure which article drew the most comments. My rough guess is that the subject of the day’s post might draw half the comments while other topics of the day make up the rest. From the very start, I made it clear that people could remark on any Cardinals-related topic on the thread of the day. Sometimes it makes for a bit of a mishmash as multiple conversations are going on at once, but I want people to feel comfortable here. Still, hundreds more read each day than post.
Others can certainly chime in, but my assessment of Mather in center is positive. He demonstrates the most important attribute out there, in my opinion, a take-charge attitude. While a large man, Mather is graceful enough to make the plays. To make sure I don’t go overboard, Colby’s job is certainly not in jeopardy, but I think Mather’s defense is good enough to be a reserve.
Mather also blasted a ball yesterday into the wind that hit off the base of the wall. Late inning power off the bench is a good thing to have. His line this spring, .224/.318/.362, isn’t good, but his 11 RBI in 58 at-bats puts him just behind Colby (with 12) for third on the team. Of course, the big money RBI men have seen only limited action…
One could argue that Cruz had his best offensive year of all last year. His LD rate rose (for the 3rd consecutive year) and his fly ball rate dropped. He showed isolated power numbers similar to his first 2 years as well. The only real negative was his K rate approached 20% but he also raised his walk rate so that his K:BB rate was better than 08 and about the same as 07. He was just terribly unlucky with a BABIP of .255. If you isolate out the “luck” factor in his stats using the calculator at minorleaguestats.com you get a .784 OPS for Cruz last year. If he can become an average defensive catcher (looks like he already has the catch and throw skills) than Cruz will probably play in the major leagues in the future.
I have yet to see any picture of Cruz where he looks “stubby”.
If catchers keep going down at the current rate, we may see Cruz in the major leagues this week!
Brian, speaking of catchers, have you had a chance to see Bryan Anderson this spring? If so, what’s your impression?
I only saw Anderson in bullpens and batting practice this spring, but I saw him play in the AFL last November. In a league with players like Buster Posey to compare directly against, Anderson looked very ordinary. Even at that point, he insisted his shoulder was ok.
Note that my prophecy came true today as Tony Cruz appeared in this afternoon’s game against the Nationals! link to box score. (Actually, he was also in two games earlier, so it isn’t quite as exciting as I made it out to be…)
Anderson was the 27th out.
Are you talking defense or offense Brian? I’m more concerned about his defense.
It was just my general impression. It wasn’t as if runners were stealing like crazy on him or he was having a boatload of passed balls. He just looked like an ordinary catcher, not a top prospect. His OPS and SLG were near the very bottom of the league with hitting his supposed strength.
Before signing with the Cards in 07, Arnold (Tony) Cruz did not sign with the LA Dodgers in June 05, drafted in round 42. Cruz was then at Okaloosa-Walton Community College in the Florida panhandle. The Dodgers selected him as a catcher, helping explain why he has been able to convert to catcher so quickly for the Cards; maybe it is actually reversion to an earlier position. Cruz may have been a catcher at Okaloosa-Walton in 05, 3B for Palm Beach CC in 2007. The great Ivan Pudge Rodriguez, a future Hall of Fame catcher, is 5’9″. Catcher is a good position for an untall, unspeedy player, like Cruz.
With Dave Duncan a former ML catcher as pitching coach, the Cards seem to expect strong defense from a catcher. As Molina and Matheny have shown, the Cards do not look for a high OPS at catcher. Anderson could fit-in as Molina’s backup, contributing a lefty swing. But this may still depend on his defense.
Pags rose to the top of the system without regard to offense. It seems defense and handling pitchers the path upward as a catcher in the Cards system.
I remember an interview with Cruz where he said when he worked out for the Cards before the drat it was strictly as a catcher. He was surprised when they moved him to 3B initially.
IIRC, Pagnozzi played at an Arizona juco, but did not go on to a big school. Since his uncle played in StL, he was family and we selected him in about the 8th rd in 2003. Cruz may be similar. A juco catcher, 42nd round by the Dodgers, 26th by the Cards. No big time college star who would be grabbed at a high round.
The Cards have had some luck harvesting some talent at low rounds, like the reliever Gregerson traded to San Diego. Cruz may be an under-rated catching prospect, because it would be easy to assume he would be new to the position so unskilled defensively. However, if his defense is sufficient, then he should be a better hitter than Pagnozzi.
The Cards have a lot of interesting catching prospects up and down the system. Nobody may have emerged as a mega prospect but there are quite a few possibilities. Anderson and Cutler can hit for average. Luis Delacruz made a NYPa all star team on his defense. Stock has a good arm and swings left. Audry Perez may be able to hit. And Cruz may be able to field and hit a bit. Its a deep position within the system.
Every position has possibilities about which you could write an optimistic and hopeful report. I don’t see catching as being deep. Like the rest of the system in general, I see catching as being wider than deep.
I’m glad that sticky little bit of business is over. One more surprise coming.
I’d agree Brian. I see the system as having more possibilities than 4-5 years ago but I often wonder if that is true or we just perceive it that way as we have so much more info about these prospects than we did even a few years ago.
Wide can be a variant of deep.
The worst case is to have little in a system. We used to be there. The best case would be to have several Wieters-like prospects. We are not there either. Somewhere in-between these extremes is having a collection of nice catching prospects. This is where I think the Cards are. I like Anderson, Cutler, Stock, Delacruz, and Perez, with Cruz as a sleeper.
The Cards may have done something today indicative of the team’s direction. They moved a celebrity overpaid 34 year old who wanted to play more in Lugo. We let namebrands Glaus and DeRosa depart earlier, replacing them with Freese. Last year it was goodbye to Aaron Miles, who had become too pricey for a bench player. There seems a preference for homegrown talent, like Mather, Stavinoha, guys grateful for any at bats. If we need a middle infielder, we can bring up Greene or Solano, because the system provides depth at high rungs.
Discontent over playing time or not, I don’t think that I like seeing them trade Lugo and carrying six outfielders on the major league team. It seems dangerous to have Ryan, Schumaker, and Lopez as the only three middle infielders on the roster. Is there anyone who could even pretend to field SS or even 2B in a pinch? Freese?
To clarify, I would not write an optimistic opinion about every minor league position. I like the systemic depth at catcher, CF, and SS. I would not be as optimistic about starting pitchers, 3B, corner OFs, 2B.
Nutlaw, the situation is fluid. There are three right swinging reserve OFs for the time being. If we need another infielder, one can be sent down and Greene or Solano or Gotay obtained within a day. There will probably be a fair amount of to/fro with Memphis.
Craig does first……….Mather does third…………..we lose a switch hitter, down to two lefties………..where we gonna get one
Anderson, Descalso, Gotay, Howard, Hamilton are left swinging IFs at Memphis. Jay, Henley, Shorey left swinging OFs.
I hear you about calling players up as needed, Jumbo, but what happens in an individual game? The middle infield positions are critical and slotting someone out of position to play there could easily cost the team a game. As is, Tony almost can’t substitute for any of his three middle infielders in any game because if one of the remaining two gets hurt, he’s left with no options.
I don’t see Stavinoha’s contributions as a sixth outfielder being more important than say, Greene’s contributions as a fourth middle infielder. It’s a weird bench.
Its a somewhat weird bench, but I am not sure it would be better with Lugo. The Cards probably thought this and moved Lugo. They want to give opportunity to homegrown players.
Craig played 3B (during 07-08), 1B, LF, RF. He played SS in college. Stavinoha is LF, RF, 1B, and catcher. Mather can play 1B, all OF slots, and 3b in a pinch. The best position for all 3 men is probably 1B.
I would have sent Mather down so he can play everyday and re-establish himself. But Tony may want to encourage Joe for now.
2009′s team began with just 4 OFs. This one begins with 6. Tony must be more flexible about a roster than some may assume.
Help me out here you guys. How can Tony use Lopez, or whoever is on the bench, as a pinch hitter, leaving no middle infielder if somebody goes down? Whichever of the three middle infielders doesn’t start pretty much can’t be used as a pinch hitter. That’s not a good use of a good offensive player. Also, where is the left handed bat off the bench?
bb. I am not defending it, but trying to answer your question…
I would guess Lopez might be moved into the outfield after pinch-hitting and could be brought from there into the infield later if needed.
It is pretty silly to list positions guys played in college, Jumbo…
I also don’t think this suboptimal bench configuration is going to last long, so am not overly concerned about it. Someone will either get hurt or play his way to Memphis soon enough.
I figured some kind of shuffle would have to happen. I love seeing Stav and Craig make the team, and Mather too if he picks it up a little. Will be great having a bench of hitters for a change. The next question, if one of them plays his way to Memphis, who comes up? Tyler continues to prove he is helpless against big league pitching.
It will be fun to see how Tony gets all three some playing time.
Now that Luddy is in the fat wallet crowd, he’s looking to take the team stolen base crown from Albert. Nice one today, third no less. Lets see how that goes. Holliday will stand aside and aloof no doubt.
Craig could get occasional starts in LF and even a few innings at 3B, given the need for IF depth. I dont know who would get spot starts behind Ludwick.
Lopez cannot be used much as a pinch-hitter, so the pinch-hitters will be Stav, Craig, and Mather, all right-handers. Since they are good hitters, the lack of a left swinging pinch-hitter is not as big a problem as it might be.
BB, Schumaker and Lopez were mostly helpless against ML pitching this spring, no less than Greene.
I am glad they moved Lugo along. This seems a good decision. I dont know what the next adjustment will be.
Perhaps the idea is to showcase the three of them and then work a deal for one.
The roster will have four left fielders, plus a former left fielder. Four of the five home grown. There has to be some meaning there, but what?
It should be remembered that Gotay is a switch hitting middle infielder. Pretty much the same as a Lugo except not sulking about the role.
“showcase …. work a deal for one”
Mather does not have much trade value, having been injured last year. Craig and Stavinoha may be more valuable to the Cards than to other teams. These guys are unlikely to get a lot of at bats, if the regulars stay healthy.
So the gameplan could be to let Greene, Solano, Gotay collect at bats at Memphis and promote whoever does best come May.
Understand your explanation Brian but it doesn’t make much sense to put yourself in a position where late in the game you have to put an inferior defender (and hitter) in the OF just to cover a what if injury scenario.
I think if you want to show case any of these guys you send one of them down and that way they all get more Ab’s.
Just because a guy wants to play more doesn’t make him a disruption. That was the fallacy of the Kennedy scenario last year.
Lugo specifically asked for a trade.
Agree CC, the idea of taking either MH, CR or Luddy out of the game so the pinch hitting middle infielder can stay in the game is not really viable. In fact, it sucks. How about this: go with one less pitcher for a little while, bring in Pags for a few days until the catcher thing resolves, then replace him with a middle infielder.
“Lugo specifically ask for a trade”
That doesn’t make a player a disruption by any means.
I still can’t believe Westie hasn’t chomed in to tell us how this trade was made to somehow balance the Latino/non-Latino factor and the relative power positions of Holliday and Pujols.
Westie may be hopeful his hero, Brian Barden, will make the Marlins roster, denying a role for Hector Luna, bringing about just the right “balance” for WCBW in another city.
Grudezielanek made the Indians, whereas Baby Face Thompson will not be in KC to begin this season.
Leaving Lopez in the game in the outfield after pinch hitting may be tougher, but leaving him in at third base wouldn’t be a stretch.