On Saturday, the Cardinals had yet another camp day, their sixth of the spring. Memphis faced Springfield while Palm Beach and Quad Cities matched up on the George Kissell Quad behind Roger Dean.
Springfield and Palm Beach were victorious. The Cardinals’ spring record against external minor league competition remains at 21-16-4.
Saturday’s Player of the Day: Shortstop Matt Williams had two doubles in four at-bats for Quad Cities, but no one drove him home.
Saturday’s Pitcher of the Day: Springfield’s Scott Gorgen has made his second consecutive appearance in this space. On Saturday, the returnee from Tommy John surgery allowed just three hits and no runs in four scoreless innings. Gorgen fanned five.
As he has been doing the last few seasons, Cardinals farm director John Vuch is sharing game stats with this site and several others with interest in Cardinals prospects. As always, the raw numbers are his, but the comments mine.
The Cardinal Nation subscribers can check out the full minor league schedule and spring training working rosters. The entire system view by level and position is available via the Roster Matrix, right here at The Cardinal Nation Blog.
Springfield 4, Memphis 0
| Memphis pitching | IP | H | ER | BB | K | Notes |
| Brandon Dickson | 4 | 9 | 4 | 3 | Will open in Memphis’ rotation again | |
| Adam Reifer | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | Is he getting back into form? |
| Memphis hitting | AB | R | H | RBI | 2B | 3B | HR | BB | Notes |
| Chris Swauger | 2 | 1 | 1 | 7th in Texas League with .296 average in 2011 | |||||
| Sam Tuivailala | 2 | 1 | 1 | Cards 3rd-rounder in 2010 draft | |||||
| Pete Kozma | 2 | 1 | 1 | Still on the 40-man roster | |||||
| Jermaine Curtis | 2 | 1 | Even pitched 1 2/3 scoreless innings last summer |
| Springfield pitching | IP | H | ER | BB | K | Notes |
| Scott Gorgen | 4 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 5 | Career ERA of 2.97 over three seasons |
| Nick Greenwood | 1 | 1 | 0 | LHR was non-roster MLB camp invitee |
| Springfield hitting | AB | R | H | RBI | 2B | 3B | HR | BB | Notes |
| Jake Shaffer | 4 | 1 | 1 | First Cardinals hit – just signed | |||||
| Xavier Scruggs | 3 | 1 | 2 | Yesterday’s Player of the Day keeps hitting | |||||
| Niko Vasquez | 3 | 1 | 2 | Two-run single | |||||
| Kolten Wong | 2 | 1 | 1 | Top-ranked second baseman in the system | |||||
| Greg Garcia | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |||||
| Rainel Rosario | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | Led PB in hits, doubles and RBI in 2011 | ||||
| Nick Derba | 2 | 1 | |||||||
| Jose Garcia | 1 | 1 | 1 | Second in system with .320 BA last year |
Palm Beach 6, Quad Cities 1
| Palm Beach pitching | IP | H | ER | BB | K | Notes |
| Drew Benes | 4 | 4 | 1 | 2 | Four starts, 34 career relief appearances | |
| Chase Reid | 2 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 2.28 ERA in 19 pen G for Palm Beach | |
| Zack Russell | 2 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 1 | Made 23 starts for Quad Cities in 2011 |
| Jose Pasen | 1 | 0 | 1 | OBA of .252 was 5th-best for Appy SPs in 11 |
| Palm Beach hitting | AB | R | H | RBI | 2B | 3B | HR | BB | Notes |
| Ronny Gil | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | Fifth in system with 18 stolen bases last year | |||
| Starlin Rodriguez | 3 | 1 | 1 | 2011 Midwest League All-Star | |||||
| Mike O’Neill | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | ||||
| Luis De La Cruz | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | C was non-roster spring training camp invitee | ||||
| Nick Longmire | 3 | 1 | 1 | ||||||
| Alan Ahmady | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | Drew 71 walks last season in 110 games | ||||
| Vance Albitz | 2 | 1 | 1 | Signed last August 24 from independent ball | |||||
| Jonathan Rodriguez | 2 | 1 | 2 | 4th in MWL with 20 HRs, 5th in OBP at .389 | |||||
| Packy Elkins | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Quad Cities pitching | IP | H | ER | BB | K | Notes |
| Todd McInnis | 4.2 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 2011 NY-Penn League All-Star |
| Robert Stock | 1 | 3 | 4 | 1 | There are going to be some bumps in road | |
| Iden Nazario | 0.2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | Fanned 39 in 33 1/3 innings |
| Danny Miranda | 1 | 2 | 0 | 15 saves led the 2011 NY-Penn League |
| Quad Cities hitting | AB | R | H | RBI | 2B | 3B | HR | BB | Notes |
| Matt Williams | 4 | 2 | 2 | .845 OPS for Johnson City in rookie 2011 season | |||||
| Colin Walsh | 1 | 1 | 1 | ||||||
| Anthony Garcia | 1 | 1 | 1 | ||||||
| David Medina | 4 | 1 | 2011 NY-Penn League All-Star | ||||||
| Roberto De La Cruz | 4 | 1 | Signed for $1.1 million in Dominican in 2008 |
Subscribers to the main site, TheCardinalNation.com, should continue to check out my extensive spring training content over the upcoming days. Today’s addition is an in-depth interview with minor league hitting coordinator Derrick May.
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The Cards have such a logjam of righties no reason to have Swagerty wearing out his arm this year. Better do the performance enhancing preventative TJ and let him come back better, stronger with the bionic elbow that is better than the original.
Will he accrue minor league service time?
Yes.
Brian, you mentioned that Rasmus will likely go to EST. What would be a likely reason? I notice he is hardly ever in the minor league notebooks. Is he bunged up or something?
Other catchers ahead of him on the depth chart.
In the 2011 draft, the Cards signed left swinging catchers Erlich and Byrd in the 6th and 13th rounds, well before they got down to Rasmus is about round 35. Also this spring, the Cards added left swinging college senior catcher Adam Lewis out of Mars Hill College, near Asheville, NC. Rasmus is going to have to fight for playing time. Unlike two of his older brothers, he is not a premium signee.
In the 2011 draft, the Cards signed left swinging catchers Erlich and Byrd in the 6th and 13th rounds, well before they got down to Rasmus is about round 35. Also this spring, the Cards added left swinging college senior catcher Adam Lewis out of Mars Hill College, near Asheville, NC. Rasmus is going to have to fight for playing time. Unlike two of his older brothers, he is not a bonus baby
A new season in the offing. One of the strengths of the Cards looks to be depth stationed at Memphis. Guys who could be called up include relievers Sanchez and Marte; CF Chambers; catcher Anderson; infielders Kozma and Jackson.
Marte and Jackson are not on the 40-man roster, putting them a notch lower. One reliever you should also have mentioned is Maikel Cleto. Brandon Dickson would also be in the mix, especially if an emergency starter is needed. Mark Hamilton could offer corner OF and 1B pop.
I see Ottavino is still on the 40 man, though he’s on waivers (DFA’d). If not claimed and he’s retained by the Cardinals, is the plan to keep him on the 40 man? They’ll be able to remove him right? If so, who does this make room for? Someone like Jackson? To give us adequate infield security? Or another starting pitcher like Joe Kelly, to compete with Dickson?
The base result of this move is to remove Ottavino from the 40-man roster. Because this is his second outright, if unclaimed, he has the right to become a free agent, which I believe he will do. His time with the Cardinals is almost surely over.
okay, thanks. I learned something there about FA rules.
Also, you mentioned Hamilton and the word “pop” in the same breath. 2 HR’s last season in Memphis, didn’t that open some eyes? I know he gained .050ish on his OBP, but lost .100ish on his Slugging, but still…..if Berkman were to go down to injury, I would hope that the Cards would bring up Matt Carpenter (currently a 25man) to back up Craig. Further, I’d like to see Adams take his slot. That’s just me.
I don’t know if you subscribe, T8Ball, but if you do, you should listen to my recent John Vuch interview. He explains in detail about Hamilton’s 2011.
It is a good idea to take into account who is on the 40-man roster and who is not when talking about who should come up. (As a reminder, the Roster Matrix can give you a quick view of that.)
Carpenter should make the 25-man roster to open the season, but his status could change when Skip is ready. Most likely Adams will not be added to the 40-man until needed. Let’s see him get some Triple-A at-bats under his belt.
I would imagine Robinson would be the first down when Craig comes off the DL. When Skip comes off one of Carpenter or Komatsu will have to go. Do you think Komatsu’s Rule 5 status gives him the edge there?
Perhaps. It could also depend on timing. Carpenter’s ability to serve as corner infield reserve can help his case.
Of course, I used the Matrix before typing my thoughts and questions. I guess, I didn’t word them well enough.
My preference was Adams over Hamilton, but I understand who is on the 40man and who isn’t, and the ramifications of tinkering with it.
My fear is proper depth, but then I run into the problem of what exactly is “proper depth”. I’m still learning and changing opinions
The bigger point is we are in much better shape at AAA than in 2006, when it was Junior Spivey, Timo Perez, Rico Washington, John Nelson, Dennis Tankersley, Travis Smith, and their friends.
http://www.milb.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?t=t_ibp&cid=235&y=2006
Hopefully that is not news to anyone here. Funny how the writers who ridiculed Luhnow went quiet when the farm system started to produce. Now the challenge is to keep the pipeline full.
#19, #23, #36, #52, #59
this many, this early, surely will help to continue to meet that challenge.
If the draft picks are used wisely….
Interesting article by Strauss in the PD today. Boggs found out he got sent down to Memphis last year on the Internet. Ouch.
http://www.stltoday.com/sports/baseball/professional/matheny-we-have-to-win/article_0a43e13c-0fcb-5298-b599-36c099bdf62d.html
I found out the secret to Swaggery’s success. He’s a switch hitter. I’m talking baseball, here
Who knew? How many switch hitting pitchers has anyone ever heard of?
Most NL teams have at least one. Romero is the Cards’switch-hitting pitcher.
Here is the first photo I ever took of Swagerty. It was in the Arizona Fall League in 2010. He was working on his bats outside the clubhouse. He takes his hitting very seriously.
Appreciate the info DD and Brian. I was thinking it was rare indeed. I guess converted former position players would account for nearly all.
Surely Swaggerty just carries those bats around to look like a ball player. How long since he’s had a PA?
Swagerty used to be a catcher.