Following are the highlights from the first minor league games of 2013. A trio of intrasquad games were held on Wednesday in preparation for Thursday’s initial contests against external competition.
As he has been doing the last few seasons, Cardinals farm director John Vuch will be sharing highlights from minor league spring training contests. As always, the raw data is his, but the comments and awards are mine. Actually, the data comes from players and managers charting, so some inconsistencies are to be expected.
This time around, Vuch did not break out the results by squad. Rosters should move to a more traditional alignment for Thursday’s action. Note that there were twice as many hitters batting as are listed below. Only the hit-makers are noted. The pitching list is very close, if not 100 percent complete.
My pitcher of the day: Lee Stoppelman (pictured)
My hitter of the day: Matt Williams
| Pitching | IP | H | ER | BB | K | Notes |
| Chris Corrigan | 2.1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | Threw perfect game for PB last season | |
| Nick Greenwood | 2 | 2 | 1 | 2 | Lefty came in Ludwick/Westbrook deal | |
| Ramon Delgado | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | Solo HR after 1st 3 batters retired | |
| Brandon Creath | 0.2 | 1 | 0 | Check out his leg kick on main TCN site | ||
| Scott Gorgen | 2 | 4 | 1 | 2 | Made 24 starts last season | |
| Lee Stoppelman | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | Wacha-like numbers |
| Jose Almarante | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | |
| Robert Stock | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | Velo looked good |
| Ben O’Shea | 2 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | Big guy was working the corners |
| Mitch Harris | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | Has a lot to do to build up velocity | |
| Sam Tuivailala | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 | Throwing gas. Secondary offerngs TBD? | |
| Tyler Melling | 2 | 1 | 0 | 2 | One UER. System ERA champ in 2012. | |
| Silfredo Garcia | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | Best BB:K ratio in entire system in 2012 | |
| Mike Aldrete | 1 | 3 | Relatively slight of build but looked good | |||
| Cesar Aguilar | 1 | 1 | ||||
| Joe Cuda | 2 | 1 | 3 | Went 7-1 for Batavia last season. | ||
| Luis Perdomo | 2 | 1 | 3 | 3 walks was hard with all the swingers. | ||
| Steve Sabatino | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | ||
| Jacob Booden | 1 | 3 | 1 | |||
| Max Foody | 2.2 | 1 | 1 | HS lefty struggled in GCL, but stuff liked | ||
| Juan Bautista | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | |
| Joe Scanio | 0.1 | 1 | 0 | One unearned run |
| Hitting | AB | R | H | RBI | 2B | 3B | HR | BB | Notes |
| Mike O’Neill | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2012 FSL batting champion | |||||
| Jamie Romak | 2 | 1 | 1 | Veteran re-signed for 2013 | |||||
| Jonathan Rodriguez | 1 | 1 | |||||||
| Jermaine Curtis | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | Quietly solid job, ready for Mem | |||
| Luis Mateo | 2 | 1 | |||||||
| Anthony Garcia | 2 | 1 | |||||||
| Matt Williams | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 32 doubles #4 in system in 2012 | |||
| Neal Pritchard | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | Can’t do much better | |||
| Jesus Montero | 1 | 1 | Down from big league camp | ||||||
| Charlie Tilson | 3 | 1 | 2 | 1 | Leadoff triple was smoked | ||||
| Leandro Mateo | 3 | 1 | |||||||
| Ronald Castillo | 2 | 1 | 1 | Ranked in top 10 in Appy Lg BA | |||||
| Gary Apelian | 2 | 1 | 1 | ||||||
| Anthony Melchionda | 2 | 1 | |||||||
| Rowan Wick | 1 | 1 | 1 | ||||||
| Breyvic Valera | 3 | 2 | 2 | 1 | Not invited to early camp | ||||
| Carson Kelly | 3 | 1 | |||||||
| Alex Mejia | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | Good to see him back on field | ||||
| David Popkins | 2 | 1 | 1 | ||||||
| David Medina | 2 | 1 | Back to 1B this yr, 72 RBI last | ||||||
| Daniel Barbuena | 2 | 1 | 1 | ||||||
| David Bergin | 2 | 1 | |||||||
| Dutch Deol | 2 | 1 | |||||||
| Ronnierd Garcia | 2 | 1 | |||||||
| Ricardo Lizcano | 1 | 1 | Catcher is now an outfielder | ||||||
| Jose Godoy | 1 | 1 | |||||||
| Luis Cruz | 1 | 1 | 1 | Catcher triples are rare, indeed |
(Note: My in-depth report from camp on Wednesday is posted on the main TheCardinalNation.com site for subscribers. It includes plenty of news not reported elsewhere, all six starting lineups, pitcher velocity readings and much more.)
Thursday’s games: The Marlins come to the Cardinals side of the complex for five games, including two Peoria squads in action.
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Almarante made it out of Haiti, but Carlos Martinez is stuck. I wonder if we will have to trade Carlos to a Japanese team, if he cannot get back to the USA?
Lizcano provided catcher depth for Johnson City, but was an OF in college, so its a good move for him.
Ron Castillo’s good batting average at Johnson City is a positive. He can drive the ball later, hitting for average is important first.
Odd Valera was not invited early, since many others are.
It looks almost like they kept playing until everyone got at least one hit.
There were probably at least as many guys who played that did not get a hit. Remember there were six teams playing at once with liberal substitutions.
What’s the word on Matt Williams? Hard to find anything to like about his bat (average hitter, average age for league and level), but I was surprised to read in the BA Almanac that he led Midwest League shortstops with 442 assists.
I know that’s an equivocal stat — for one thing, it means he didn’t play well enough to get a mid-season promotion; for another, it probably means his team’s pitchers induced a lot of ground balls.
But it’s still a lot of plays for a minor-league shortstop. So I’m curious if anyone thinks he’s one to watch.
Camp games just started, but he took nice at-bats yesterday.
Anybody think Joe Kelly is going to get the 5th spot?
There was never a question. Only Garcia going down got Miller in the conversation……….. When he does, you will see Miller………… Rosenthal is the same. …………. If Cards starters struggle…………you aren’t going to see Rosenthal doing Mop up. He will be the fireman. You have your setup man, your closer……..your investment……and your specialist….. get the whip out for Salas and Scrabble…….that’s why this team will struggle……….. they needed Kelly in the Pen……….
His box score line looks good. Shelby less good.
They are putting off the decision, according to Rob Rains.
MM was saying the same thing on the radio.
MM downplayed that a decision was ever going to made today.
Shane is outhitting Jay by 300 pts.
can a guy get a jay voss update? if he’s throwing? where?
I saw him today in uniform, but he is not throwing as far as I know. More like a May return, I was told.
ty
Matt Adams helps the Cards eke out a win, after days of offensive feebleness.
Mr. September has become Mr. March and is the story of the spring.
As Matheny said yesterday, Shane Robinson is the “Grapefruit League MVP.” Good for him.
Wacha has been the encouraging story for the longterm.
Shane’s Grapefruit League exploits may have helped reinforce his hold on a roster slot that was likely his anyway.
Kozma’s spring has been hopeful for the season upcoming. Pete is determined and locked on. We need him in a good frame of mind and he seems in this mental space.
With Beltran, Molina, and Holiday out of action, Matt Adams is looking all the better. He probably does not make the opening day roster, but Big Matt should get called up sooner than Oscar.
what LH bats would that leave on YOUR bench if adams doesn’t make the opening day?
There are 5 slots.
One will go to the backup catcher, who swings right.
Shane Robinson and Old Wiggy swing right.
Matt Carpenter swings left.
The 5th slot is between a backup SS in Cedeno vs. Adams or Chambers.
The choice about the final reserve will hinge on whether Mike wants a vet SS to backup a rookie or a really good hitter or a good hitter who can play OF D and run the bases.
What each man contributes is different. Each can make a valuable contribution. Its up to the manager to decide who he wants in April.