On Sunday, the St. Louis Cardinals minor leaguers had five games against the Miami Marlins minor leaguers. All were on the Miami side of the complex except for Peoria 2’s game, which was on St. Louis’ diamonds, all at Roger Dean.
Only Peoria 2, the lowest-level club, was victorious. Not only did they shut out the Marlins’ fifth club, they almost no-hit them. Memphis (three hits) and Peoria 1 absorbed defeats, while Springfield and Palm Beach tied their Miami counterparts. The Cardinals’ spring record against external minor league competition drops to 4-7-3.
As he has been doing the last few seasons, Cardinals farm director John Vuch is sharing game stats. As always, the raw numbers are his, but the comments and players of the day are mine.
Sunday’s Player of the Day: Peoria 1 first baseman David Washington (pictured) went 2-for-3, including a home run, and drove in two.
Sunday’s Pitcher of the Day: Just like yesterday’s top pitcher, Lee Stoppelman, today’s selection, Dixon Llorens of Palm Beach, is a second-time honoree. The submariner retired all six batters faced, striking out half of them.
The Cardinal Nation subscribers can check out upcoming pitching schedules and other insider news. Spring training working rosters and the full minor league spring schedule are also available to subscribers.
The entire system view by level and position is available via the Roster Matrix, free, right here at The Cardinal Nation Blog.
New Orleans 3, Memphis 1
| Memphis pitching | IP | H | ER | BB | K | Notes | Memphis hitting | AB | R | H | RBI | 2B | 3B | HR | BB | Notes | |
| Victor Marte | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | Not rusty after not pitching in live game since 3/11 | Mike O’Neill | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | Had .458 OBP in 2012 – best in system | ||||
| Eduardo Sanchez | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | Gotta find a way to stop the free passes | Geoff Klein | 2 | 1 | Not much of a break after winter ball in Australia | ||||||||
| Deryk Hooker | 2 | 3 | 1 | Vance Albitz | 3 | 1 | Continues to play and get hits, defense is solid | ||||||||||
| Kevin Thomas | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Two perfect frames against higher-level competition | |||||||||||
| Justin Wright | 1 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 | Had been a tie game entering the final frame |
Springfield 4, Jacksonville 4
| Springfield pitching | IP | H | ER | BB | K | Notes | Springfield hitting | AB | R | H | RBI | 2B | 3B | HR | BB | Notes | |
| Chris Corrigan | 2.1 | 7 | 3 | 1 | Rough day | Danny Stienstra | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | Solo home run | ||||||
| Travis Miller | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | Struggled in initial Palm Beach test last season | Jonathan Keener | 3 | 1 | 1 | |||||||
| Iden Nazario | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | Led 2012 FSL relievers with .188 batting average against | Luis Mateo | 3 | 1 | 1 | Ranked in top 10 in system in HR and RBI in 2012 | |||||||
| Aidan Lucas | 1.1 | 1 | 1 | 2.18 ERA in relief at Palm Beach in 2012 | Nick Martini | 1 | 1 | 3rd in system with 82 runs scored last year | |||||||||
| Stephen Piscotty | 5 | 1 | Moved from 3B to OF for 2013 | ||||||||||||||
| Matt Williams | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 32 doubles last season were 4th-most in system |
Palm Beach 5, Jupiter 5
| Palm Beach pitching | IP | H | ER | BB | K | Notes | Palm Beach hitting | AB | R | H | RBI | 2B | 3B | HR | BB | Notes | |
| Jonathan Cornelius | 2 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 10.17 K / 9 IP last season ranked in system top 10 | Breyvic Valera | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2012 NYPL All-Star added a stolen base | ||||||
| Willy Paulino | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | Led 2012 Midwest League with 22 wild pitches | Cesar Valera | 1 | 1 | The “other” Valera swiped two bags of his own | ||||||||
| Heath Wyatt | 1 | 2 | 2 | 1 | Jacob Wilson | 4 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | ||||||
| Dixon Llorens | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | Two perfect innings, half of his outs via the strikeout | Jeremy Schaffer | 4 | 2 | 1 | 2 | Tied for 5th in system in SLG in 2012 at .513 | |||||
| Corey Baker | 1.2 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 2 | Had 2nd-lowest BB / 9 IP in NYPL in 2012 | Ildemaro Vargas | 1 | 1 | 1 | Led 2012 Appy League in hits, 3rd in batting average | ||||||
| C.J. McElroy | 3 | 1 | Was 2nd in 2012 Appy League in at-bats (247) | ||||||||||||||
| Gerwuins Velazco | 1 | Batted .343 in limited duty for Johnson City last year |
Greensboro 5, Peoria1 3
| Peoria 1 pitching | IP | H | ER | BB | K | Notes | Peoria 1 hitting | AB | R | H | RBI | 2B | 3B | HR | BB | Notes | |
| Robert Stock | 2.1 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 1st winter to prep as pitcher after converting last spring | Charlie Tilson | 3 | 2 | 2 | 1 | Second day in a row just edged out for Player of Day | |||||
| Jhonny Polanco | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 3 | David Washington | 3 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 1 | Tied for 5th in system in SLG in 2012 at .513 | |||||
| Josh Renfro | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 19 straight scoreless GCL outings before ’12 MWL promo | Gary Apelian | 3 | 1 | Solid in rookie ball in 2011, quiet in A-ball in 2012 | ||||||||
| Luis Perdomo | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | Plus 1 unearned run | Anthony Melchionda | 3 | 1 | Versatile infielder moved all around system in 2012 |
Peoria2 5, Marlins5 0
| Peoria 2 pitching | IP | H | ER | BB | K | Notes | Peoria 2 hitting | AB | R | H | RBI | 2B | 3B | HR | BB | Notes | |
| Josh Lucas | 2 | 0 | 1 | 2 | Coming back from Tommy John – missed entire 2012 | Yoenny Gonzalez | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | Gets good reviews for speed, waiting for bat | ||||||
| Chris Perry | 2 | 0 | 1 | Did not pitch after 2012 signing due to lower back injury | Luis Perez | 4 | 2 | 2 | 1 | .517 SLG at GCL last season was 4th-best in org. | |||||||
| Joey Donofrio | 3 | 0 | 1 | 1 | Did not allow a home run in 2012 (119 batters faced) | Brett Wiley | 4 | 2 | 1 | ||||||||
| Jacob Booden | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | Hard to miss 6-foot-9, 245-pounder | Jimmy Parque | 1 | 1 | 1 | Free agent signee playing at a very low level | ||||||
| Luis Cruz | 2 | 1 | .389 OBP in DSL last season ranked 8th in system | ||||||||||||||
| Dutch Deol | 1 | 1 | |||||||||||||||
| Rafael Medina | 1 | 1 | |||||||||||||||
| Ronnierd Garcia | 1 | 1 | 3B batted just .211 in US intro at GCL in 2012 | ||||||||||||||
| Jhohan Acevedo | 1 | Led 2012 GCL with six sacrifice flies |
On Monday, Memphis and Springfield will remain in Jupiter, while Palm Beach and Peoria again take the bus ride to Port St. Lucie, with the Mets their opponent as well.
Subscribers to the main site, TheCardinalNation.com, should continue to check out my extensive spring training content over the upcoming days.
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And another thing, the Cardinals better not sign Yuniesky Betancourt, or I am going to drive down to Florida and kick John Mozeliak in the nether regions.
You deserve a vacation, but I hope that isn’t the reason you take it!
So Betancourt is on someone’s interpretation of a list which includes an undefined number of names. Hard to know how to react other than to shrug.
I prefer to focus on the bigger point that they may be trying to find a way to get better at shortstop. I bet they are shooting higher (than Betancourt).
Well I would hope so. The dumpster diving is getting old.
Yuniesky slugged 16 HRs in 2010, drove in 78 runs. Nice performance for SS. This spring, he is averaging .400, but can’t make the Phils. Yuniesky is light-years better than Old Wiggy!
Oh yeah, well Ernie Banks hit 32 Hrs and drove in 83 runs in 1968. But I hear he’s not available.
When Wigginton is the answer, somebody asked the wrong question.
Yuniesky or Ronny seem more useful than Wigginton. If the Cards are so weak at SS, they could use a second SS on the roster, but they do not have one because the slot is occupied by Wiggy.
This is odd, because we used to deploy SSes at 3B in the minors, so as to try to develop more of them. However for the ML team, we hired a stiff (Wiggy) instead of a backup SS. Tactical error.
Your logic just amazes me. ” Well Anthrax is bad but Ebola is worse.”
Good heavens, both of them will kill you, so I care not for either.
I am going to mix Anthrax. I hope we can sign Ebola.
So far, shortstop hasn’t been a problem. But it would make sense to line up a ML ready backup to park at Memphis.
Obviously reports of Garcia passing up Jackson are correct.
The ofensive troubles probably argue for including Adams on the bench.
This was burried in a Fox Sports article.
“AROUND THE HORN
* The Cardinals’ search for a shortstop currently appears dormant, but rival executives fully expect St. Louis to address the position before the July 31 non-waiver deadline, saying that Pete Kozma is not a full-season solution”
http://static.foxsports.com/content/fscom/img/2013/03/11/031013-Fantasy-Baseball-Gallery-LA-G1_20130311020537410_600_400.JPG
Brian, a couple guys who seem to be getting looks in minor league camp are Curtis and Albitz. Both have been considered organization guys rather than prospects, I believe. Is there any reason to re-think that? Maybe you could address it in an upcoming report, if there is anything there.
CC asked me about Curtis after I talked about him on my Rains radio interview the other day. Check out that thread. Net is that I see Curtis as the most-days 3B at Memphis. Albitz is getting a lot of action with Memphis early in camp because Jackson and Garcia had still been with StL and Lemmerman has been out, as you noted.
I had missed that whole thread, somehow. I had mentioned Curtis during the prospect vote discussion, but didn’t get any traction until the 50s. Albitz name never came up as far as I remember. I especially wish Albitz well because of his off field activities over the winter.
Coming into last season, we had ranked Curtis the #31 prospect in the system. A lot of what I wrote about him in December 2011 still applies. Albitz is undersized, but is a maximum effort player who is sound defensively. The first thing he said to me in camp was to thank me for supporting Gloves 4 Troops. A Major League person, for sure.
Curtis seems to have carried his ability to get on base with him through AA and into AAA so far. I can’t see where he has improved his power any. With his versatility, he could be useful at some point.
Yep, pretty good summary.
I guess switching Miller and Kelly’s roles for tomorrow proves the whole competition is fair and balanced.
Yadi is getting a lot of the credit for the Puerto Rican team doing so well in the WBC. Finally, the rest of the world is learning what we’ve known for years.
Wow, I know somebody who is paying attention to the WBC!!!
Make it two!
Incredible
I even watch winter league broadcasts in Espanol.
Bromea?
No, es verdad.
No soy digno
He visto un juego WBC en ESPN Deportes
Kelly might make a good bat off the bench.