The Cardinal Nation blog » Spring Training News

Cardinals minor league spring training notebook: 03/28

Brian Walton — Thu, 29 Mar 2012 03:09:26 +0000

On Wednesday, the St. Louis Cardinals’ had yet another Camp Day during which their clubs faced each other on the back quad on the Roger Dean Stadium complex, named in memory of the late George Kissell.

Springfield and Palm Beach claimed wins on the day. The Cardinals’ spring record against external minor league competition remains 15-13-4.

Wednesday’s Player of the Day: Cuban native Amaury Cazana had another standout performance with three extra-base hits in three at-bats for Memphis.

Wednesday’s Pitcher of the Day: Left-hander Logan Billbrough, 22, fanned four in two scoreless innings for Palm Beach. The 2011 free agent signee had a 1.72 ERA in the regular season and a 2.25 playoff ERA for Johnson City last year.

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.

On Thursday, the Cardinals’ five minor league clubs will face their Miami Marlins counterparts for the final time of the spring. The games will be held on the Marlins side of the Roger Dean Stadium complex.

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 6, Memphis 4

Memphis pitching	IP	H	ER	BB	K	Notes
Joe Kelly	5	4	1	0	3	Plus one unearned run from our #18 prospect
Barrett Browning	1	0	0	0	0	LHR is Rule 5 addition from Angels
R.J. Swindle	1	1	0	0	1	Career 1.97 minors ERA is best in MiLB from 04-11
Adam Ottavino	0.1	3	3			Plus one unearned run – rough outing to say the least

Memphis hitting	AB	R	H	RBI	2B	3B	HR	BB	Notes
Amaury Cazana	3	1	3	3	2		1		Extra-base power demonstrated
Pete Kozma	3		3						Perfect day
Mark Hamilton		2						2	.439 OBP for Memphis in 2011
Sam Tuivailala	2		1						Improved BA 75 points over 2010, but OBP flat
Roberto Espinoza				1	1

Springfield pitching	IP	H	ER	BB	K	Notes
Chris Corrigan	2	1	0		1	Finished 15 games with two saves in 11 (QC + PB)
Nick Greenwood	1	3	1		1	Was part of Jake Westbrook – Ryan Ludwick trade
Adam Reifer	2	3	2	2	2	Back on the rollercoaster
Keith Butler	1	1	1	1	1	46 G pitched in 2011 ranked 7th in system
Jorge Rondon	1.2	1	0		1	33 walks against 30 strikeouts at Springfield in 11

Springfield hitting	AB	R	H	RBI	2B	3B	HR	BB	Notes
Greg Garcia	4	1	2	1		1			Candidate for breakout player of the year
Xavier Scruggs	4		2						Hot hitter has five hits in two days
Jermaine Curtis	3	1	1						Had career-best year with bat at Springfield in 11
Audry Perez	3	1	1						Catcher has promise, but has been inconsistent
Gary Apelian		1	1	2		1			7 hits tops in 2011 Appy League playoffs
Nick Derba	1		1

Palm Beach 5, Quad Cities 1

Palm Beach pitching	IP	H	ER	BB	K	Notes
Dean Kiekhefer	2	1	0		1	Lefty had 0.90 ERA in 25 2nd half appearances in 11
Justin Wright	1.1	4	1		1	Career ERA is 0.90 so runs against him are rare
Travis Miller	2	1	0		1	Led 2011 NY-Penn League with seven holds
Logan Billbrough	2	1	0		4	9.77 baserunners/9 IP was #2 among Appy relievers

Palm Beach hitting	AB	R	H	RBI	2B	3B	HR	BB	Notes
Starlin Rodriguez	3	1	2	1					Our #27-ranked prospect
Nick Longmire		1		1
Ronny Gil		1		1
Travis Tartamella	2	1	1	1	1				Batted just .152 in 15 G Springfield intro in 2011
Jonathan Rodriguez			1	1					OPS of 1.112 in 2011 MWL playoffs
Vance Albitz			1						Added a sacrifice bunt

Quad Cities pitching	IP	H	ER	BB	K	Notes
Ryan Sherriff	3	2	1		2	Two unearned runs
Iden Nazario	2		0		2	54 Ks in 44 1/3 IP, but also 29 BB
Robert Stock	2	2	1	1		Every outing will be closely analyzed
Yunier Castillo	2	3	1	1	1	Only nine official pro innings pitched to date

Quad Cities hitting	AB	R	H	RBI	2B	3B	HR	BB	Notes
Roberto De La Cruz	3		2						Signed for $1.1 million in 2008
Juan Castillo	3		1						Has been in system since 2006
Virgil Hill	3		1						Batted .183 in 37 G Quad Cities tryout in 2011
Roberto Reyes	3		1						.237 average for Batavia last season
Nick Martini	3	1	1
Matt Williams	2		1						.845 OPS for Johnson City champs in 2011

Subscribers to the main site, TheCardinalNation.com, should continue to check out my extensive spring training content over the upcoming days.

Follow me on Twitter.
Follow The Cardinal Nation Blog on Facebook.

Tweet This Post

Cardinals minor league spring training notebook: 03/27

Brian Walton — Wed, 28 Mar 2012 03:48:22 +0000

On Tuesday, the St. Louis Cardinals’ five minor league spring training clubs entertained their Miami Marlins counterparts on the Cardinals side of the Roger Dean Stadium complex.

The home cooking was good as Memphis and both the Quad Cities clubs were victorious. Springfield took a defeat while Palm Beach held its Jupiter regular-season neighbor and opponent to a draw. The Cardinals’ spring record against external minor league competition is now 15-13-4.

Tuesday’s Player of the Day: Forget about his popular weekly blog at The Cardinal Nation. First baseman Xavier Scruggs can hit! After 21 home runs last season for Palm Beach, the 24-year-old launched three over the fence for Springfield on Tuesday, plating four runs.

Tuesday’s Pitcher of the Day: Few know or remember that right-hander Sam Gaviglio was the highest-drafted pitcher by the Cardinals last June (fifth round). On this day, the Oregon State product allowed just one walk over four innings of work for Quad Cities Red.

On Wednesday, the Cardinals have yet another Camp Day during which their clubs will face each other on the back quad on the Roger Dean Stadium complex.

Memphis 4, New Orleans 3

Memphis pitching	IP	H	ER	BB	K	Notes
Jaime Garcia	6+	4	1	0	7	One unearned run – pitched to keep on schedule
Jess Todd	1		0		1
Eduardo Sanchez	1		0		2	Should be back in St. Louis very soon
Chuckie Fick	1	1	1	1		Added to 40-man roster over winter

Memphis hitting	AB	R	H	RBI	2B	3B	HR	BB	Notes
Steven Hill				3			2		The return of “Country Fried”!
Mark Hamilton	4	1	2		1			1	Memphis needs both to replace Stavi and Brown
Zack Cox			1		1			2
Pete Kozma				1					Sacrifice fly
Chris Swauger		1	1					1
Steven Ramos			1
Jaime Garcia	2		1						He can hit as well as pitch!

Jacksonville 10, Springfield 7

Springfield pitching	IP	H	ER	BB	K	Notes
John Gast	5	6	4	1	3	2011 spring camp phenom cut quickly in 2012
Kevin Thomas	1.2	5	3		3	6.44 ERA with Springfield last season
Eric Fornataro	1.2	4	4		2	Ranked 10th in 2011 FSL with 3.67 ERA

Springfield hitting	AB	R	H	RBI	2B	3B	HR	BB	Notes
Xavier Scruggs			3	4			3		One to RF, one to LF, one to RC
Greg Garcia	4		3	3		1			Overlooked hitter was 6th in system in OBP in 11
Kolten Wong			2		2			2	2011 1st rounder continues to live up to billing
Niko Vasquez		1	1
Adam Melker			1		1
Oscar Taveras			1
Jose Garcia			1

Palm Beach 3, Jupiter 3

Palm Beach pitching	IP	H	ER	BB	K	Notes
Zack Russell	4	3	1		4	Also one unearned run for Zack with a “k”
Aidan Lucas	2	1	0	2	1	Check to see if others spell Aidan with two “A’s”
Chase Reid	2	0	0	1	2	2.28 PB ERA, 3.91 ERA with Springfield in 2011
Danny Miranda	2	0	0	0	2	Was 8th round pick in 2011 from Miami

Palm Beach hitting	AB	R	H	RBI	2B	3B	HR	BB	Notes
Jonathan Rodriguez	4	1	2	1			1		Missed our top 40, but keeps on hitting
Chris Edmondson	3		2		2				31 doubles last season tied for #2 in system
Packy Elkins			1	2	1				.364 career OBP
Starlin Rodriguez			1		1
Luis De La Cruz	2	1	1						More playing time due to Stanley suspension?

Quad Cities (Red) 5, Greensboro 0

Quad Cities Red pitching	IP	H	ER	BB	K	Notes
Sam Gaviglio	4	0	0	1	2	Only threw 4 innings for Batavia in 11 after signing late
Ricky Martinez	2	1	0
Jose Pasen	2	1	0		1	4th fewest baserunners/9 IP in 2011 Appy Lg at 11.57
Ryan Copeland	1	1	0			LHP fanned 82 in 82 IP for Quad Cities last summer

Quad Cities Red hitting	AB	R	H	RBI	2B	3B	HR	BB	Notes
Roberto De La Cruz	4		2	1	1				To play corner infield and some outfield, too?
Colin Walsh	4	1	2	1	1				13th rounder in 2010 from Stanford
Adam Lewis	3		2	1					Tryout catcher
Matt Williams	3	1	1						20-for-22 in steals for JC in 2011
Nick Martini	3	2	1					1
Virgil Hill				2					Productive outs – sac fly and RBI ground out

Quad Cities (White) 9, Jamestown 3

Quad Cities White pitching	IP	H	ER	BB	K	Notes
Dail Villanueva	3.2	6	3	1	4	3.64 ERA in 47 IP in GCL last season
Ramon Ulacio	2			1	1	2.93 GCL ERA was 9th in the league in 2011
Ethan Cole	2	1			3	Free agent signed last August
Heath Wyatt	1	1			2	3rd in 2011 Appy League with eight saves

Quad Cities White hitting	AB	R	H	RBI	2B	3B	HR	BB	Notes
Gary Apelian	3	1	2	4			1		.502 slugging percentage in 11 was 8th in system
Casey Rasmus	2	1	2	1	2				Big day for Colby’s little brother
David Washington	2	1	1	2			1		.992 fielding percentage lead Appy 1B last season
Cesar Valera						1		1
Jeremy Patton	5	1	2						.825 OPS for Batavia in rookie year
Anthony Bryant	2		1
David Bergin	2		1
Breyvic Valera	4	1	1						.311 BA last season was 5th-highest in system

Subscribers to the main site, TheCardinalNation.com, should continue to check out my extensive spring training content over the upcoming days.

Follow me on Twitter.
Follow The Cardinal Nation Blog on Facebook.

Tweet This Post

Cardinals minor league spring training notebook: 03/26

Brian Walton — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 12:29:51 +0000

On Monday, the Cardinals’ two lower-level clubs, Palm Beach and Quad Cities, traveled to the New York Mets’ home at Port St. Lucie while Memphis and Springfield remained home at the Roger Dean Stadium complex to face the Mets’ Triple-A and Double-A clubs (along with their MLB counterparts).

Memphis, Springfield and Palm Beach were victorious but Quad Cities fell. The Cardinals spring record against external minor league competition is now evened up again at 12-12-3.

Monday’s Pitcher of the Day: In a day with a number of very solid pitching performances – there were eight different scoreless outings of two innings or more – this decision was my toughest all spring. The winner is Palm Beach’s Jonathan Cornelius, who spun three perfect innings while fanning two.

Monday’s Player of the Day: Memphis’ Amaury Cazana, who since being drafted in 2006 has played in the Mexican League every season from 2007-11, reminded us that he can still hit. The 33/37-year-old walked, singled and homered in five plate appearances, driving in two.

Don’t read too much into which rosters on which players are appearing as spring assignments are especially fluid.

On Tuesday, the Cardinals’ five clubs entertain the Miami Marlins on the Cardinals side of the Roger Dean Stadium complex.

Memphis 7, Buffalo 5

Memphis pitching	IP	H	ER	BB	K	Notes
Brandon Dickson	4	3	0	0	3	Had a quiet spring until now but will be ready
Sam Freeman	2	0	0	1	1	Has a chance to become the 1st lefty called up
Adam Ottavino	1	0	1	2	1	Control seems to be an issue lately
R.J. Swindle	1	1	2	1	2	Veteran-ness is good; results better
Maikel Cleto	1	3	2	1	1	Hasn’t thrown a lot of zeroes this spring

Memphis hitting	AB	R	H	RBI	2B	3B	HR	BB	Notes
Amaury Cazana	4	1	2	2			1	1	Our Player of the Day
Zack Cox	5		2		1				Pulling for Matt Carpenter to stick in St. Louis
Ryan Jackson		1	2						Ready to start at SS every day
Steven Ramos		1	1	1					Nice opportunity to play up for 2011 JC OF
Jonathan Rodriguez		1			1				Proven hitter
Pete Kozma		1			1				Will he start at second or be utility man?
Chris Swauger		1			1				Outfielder quietly keeps on hitting

Springfield 3, Binghamton 0

Springfield pitching	IP	H	ER	BB	K	Notes
Scott Gorgen	4	1	0	1	3	Fantastic spring so far for the TJS returnee
Deryk Hooker	2	2	0	0	3	Often overlooked SP was TL Pitcher of Week 2x in 11
Scott Schneider	2	0	0	0	0	Had a 5.98 ERA for Springfield last year
Adam Reifer	1	0	0	0	1	Maybe he’s getting the kinks worked out

Springfield hitting	AB	R	H	RBI	2B	3B	HR	BB	Notes
Kolten Wong	4		2		1				Has hit all spring long and seems ready for AA
Niko Vasquez	4		2		1				3B looking for career resurgence
Jermaine Curtis	4	1	2	1	1				Career bests in BA (.315) and HR (5) in 2011
Adam Melker	2		1
Xavier Scruggs		1			1			1	Blog entry delayed this week at TCN.com
Oscar Taveras			1						“Minor League Guy” poised to make AA leap
Audry Perez			1

Palm Beach 2, St. Lucie 1

Palm Beach pitching	IP	H	ER	BB	K	Notes
Carlos Martinez	5	3	1	4	4	Delivery a concern, so may start back in Palm Beach
Boone Whiting	2	1	0	0	1	0.89 WHIP last season was best in all of MiLB
Jonathan Cornelius	3	0	0	0	2	24th rounder in 2011 fanned 9.6/9 IP for Batavia

Palm Beach hitting	AB	R	H	RBI	2B	3B	HR	BB	Notes
Alan Ahmady	1	1	1				1	2	Perfect day at plate for guy who plays all over
Ronny Gil		1			1				Can the SS keep hitting enough?
Rainel Rosario			1
Starlin Rodriguez			1

Savannah 5, Quad Cities 2

Quad Cities pitching	IP	H	ER	BB	K	Notes
Drew Benes	3	0	0	2	3	St. Louisan had 5.40 ERA at Quad Cities last season
Brandon Creath	2	0	0	1	3	11.84 K/9 IP was 2nd-best for RPs in the 2011 GCL
Stalyn Lopez	1.2	4	2	1	1	K:BB ratio in 11 GCL was 31:24 in 47 2/3 IP
Willy Paulino	1	2	3	2	2	Led GCL with 12 saves and was all-star in 11

Quad Cities hitting	AB	R	H	RBI	2B	3B	HR	BB	Notes
Luis Mateo	3	2	2		2				Struggled in PB trial in 11, but may be ready now
Geoff Klein	1		1	1	1				Big catcher had one very productive AB
Anthony Garcia	1		1		1				.407 OBP in 11 was 2nd-best in Cards system
Matt Williams	2		1	1					Coaches seem impressed wth 15th-rdr in 2011
Nick Martini	3		1						Needs to show 7th-round pedigree
Roberto Reyes			1
Virgil Hill			1

Subscribers to the main site, TheCardinalNation.com, should continue to check out my extensive spring training content over the upcoming days.

Follow me on Twitter.
Follow The Cardinal Nation Blog on Facebook.

Tweet This Post

Cardinals minor league spring training notebook: 03/25

Brian Walton — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 03:23:46 +0000

On Sunday, the Cardinals once again had a camp day, during which their top two and next two teams played each other. In addition, the Quad Cities White squad had a 4 ½ inning scrimmage against themselves.

Springfield defeated Memphis while Palm Beach and Quad Cities Red tied. The Cardinals spring record against external minor league competition remains 9-11-3.

Sunday’s Player of the Day: Quad Cities Red’s Roberto Reyes made the most of his two at-bats, with a triple and a home run. The outfielder drove in a pair and scored both times.

Sunday’s Pitcher of the Day: Springfield’s Tyler Lyons spun five shutout innings against Memphis on just two hits and a walk. The lefty from Oklahoma State University fanned five on the day.

Don’t read too much into which rosters on which players are appearing as spring assignments are especially fluid.

On Monday, the Cardinals’ two lower-level clubs, Palm Beach and Quad Cities, will bus over to the Mets home at Port St. Lucie while Memphis and Springfield remain home at the Roger Dean Stadium complex to face the Mets’ Triple-A and Double-A clubs.

Springfield 3, Memphis 0

Memphis pitching	IP	H	ER	BB	K	Notes
Nick Additon	5	5	2	2	2	5th in organization last year with 128 strikeouts
Brian Broderick	5	1	0	2		Made Washington opening day roster in 2011
Barrett Browning	1	1	1	2	1

Memphis hitting	AB	R	H	RBI	2B	3B	HR	BB	Notes
Xavier Scruggs	4		2						Look for new blog entry on Tuesday
Chris Swauger			1						All-star in Panama winter ball
Amaury Cazana			1						World traveler
Ryan Jackson			1						Our 13th-ranked Cardinals prospect

Springfield pitching	IP	H	ER	BB	K	Notes
Tyler Lyons	5	2	0	1	5	Threw a no-hitter for Palm Beach on 8/8
Jorge Rondon	2	0	0	0	2	Logged a 9.16 ERA in 37 G for Springfield in 11
Keith Butler	2	2	0			2nd in system with 17 saves last season
Chris Corrigan	2	1	0		2	Fanned 29, walked 21 in 41 1/3 IP for PB in 11

Springfield hitting	AB	R	H	RBI	2B	3B	HR	BB	Notes
Rainel Rosario	5		3	1					Led Palm Beach with 123 hits in 2011
Cody Stanley	4		2					1	Starting C in 2011 MWL All-Star Game
Oscar Taveras		1	1	1	1				Now and forever known as “Minor League Guy”
Ronny Gil		1	1

Palm Beach 4, Quad Cities Red 4

Palm Beach pitching	IP	H	ER	BB	K	Notes
Seth Blair	4	1	0	3	3	46th overall pick in 2010 improving each time out
Todd McInnis	2	4	1		1	New York-Penn League all-star in 2011
Ryan Sherriff	1.2	2	1	1
Robert Stock	1.1	3	2		1	Still has some kinks to work out

Palm Beach hitting	AB	R	H	RBI	2B	3B	HR	BB	Notes
Breyvic Valera	4		2	1	1				Batted .397 in 19 games with Johnson City
Casey Rasmus	3	1	2						Younger brother of ex-Cardinals outfielder
David Bergin		1	1		1
Cesar Valera		1	1
Gary Apelian	2		1						.502 SLG last season was 8th in system
Virgil Hill		1	1			1			Father was boxing champion
Garrett Wittels			1	1	1

Quad Cities Red pitching	IP	H	ER	BB	K	Notes
Seth Maness	4	3	1	0	5	Just missed Pitcher of the Day honors
Iden Nazario	1.2	2	1	1	1
Shooter Hunt	1.2	4	2	2	1	One unearned run – Rule 5′s tough spring continues
Jesse Simpson	2	0	0	0	2	Strong with PB last year, but struggled in Double-A

Quad Cities Red hitting	AB	R	H	RBI	2B	3B	HR	BB	Notes
Roberto Reyes		2		2		1	1		Seven total bases on the day
Romulo Ruiz			2		1
Chris Edmondson	4		2		1				22 doubles tied for 2nd-most in system in 11
Packy Elkins	3		1					1	5th in system with 59 walks in 2011
Vance Albitz					1

Quad Cities White intersquad 3-1

Quad Cities White winners pitching	IP	H	ER	BB	K	Notes
Dean Kiekhefer	2	3	1		1	Should be ready to move up from Quad Cities
Yunior Castillo	2	1			4	Very nice outing for ex-SS in 1st camp as pitcher

Quad Cities White winners hitting	AB	R	H	RBI	2B	3B	HR	BB	Notes
Gary Apelian		1	1	1					Also played in Palm Beach game
Kenny Peoples-Walls	3	1	1						4th round pick in 2011 draft is 18 years old
Jonathan Keener					1				Batted .250 in 92 ABs for JC in rookie year
Nick Martini	2		1						Former Kansas State star
Luis Mateo	2		1

Quad Cities White losers pitching	IP	H	ER	BB	K	Notes
Victor DeLeon	3	1	1	3	2	One unearned run
Corey Baker	2	4	1			Five wins led 2011 Batavia Muckdogs

Quad Cities White losers hitting	AB	R	H	RBI	2B	3B	HR	BB	Notes
Matt Williams	2		1		1				20-for-22 in stolen bases for JC last year
Reggie Williams						1			Six triples in 2010 tied for 2nd in system
Neal Pritchard	2		1
Charlie Tilson	2	1	1						19-year-old was 2nd round draft pick in 11

Subscribers to the main site, TheCardinalNation.com, should continue to check out my extensive spring training content over the upcoming days.

Follow me on Twitter.
Follow The Cardinal Nation Blog on Facebook.

Tweet This Post

Cardinals minor league spring training notebook: 03/24

Brian Walton — Sun, 25 Mar 2012 03:16:23 +0000

On Saturday, the St. Louis Cardinals had four minor league clubs in action, two at home and two away. Memphis and Springfield traveled to Port St. Lucie (as did the major leaguers) while the Mets’ two Class-A clubs bused to Jupiter.

The top two clubs won while the lower level clubs absorbed losses. The Cardinals spring record against external minor league competition is now 9-11-3.

Saturday’s Player of the Day: Springfield’s Alan Ahmady went 2-for-4, both doubles, and drove in three runs.

Saturday’s Pitcher of the Day: After impressing in major league camp, Springfield right-hander Trevor Rosenthal is continuing strongly. He had a perfect trip through the Mets lineup, retiring all nine batters he faced, six via the strikeout.

Don’t read too much into which rosters on which players are appearing as spring assignments are especially fluid.

On Sunday, the Cardinals once again have a camp day, during which their teams play each other. This is due to the odd number of total teams in the vicinity (three).

Memphis 7, Buffalo 5

Memphis pitching	IP	H	ER	BB	K	Notes
Michael Blazek	4	4	0	2	2	Three unearned runs tainted solid outing
Chuckie Fick	0.2	1	1	2		Added to 40-man roster last fall
Logan Billbrough	1.2	2	1	2	2
Maikel Cleto	1	0	0	1	1	Much better outing than two days ago
Tyler Melling	1	2

Memphis hitting	AB	R	H	RBI	2B	3B	HR	BB	Notes
Allen Craig							1	1	Rehab continues to include long balls
Mike O’Neill	3		2	2
Jermaine Curtis	3	2	2	1					Batted .370 in the second half of 2011
Chris Swauger	3	1	2	1					.296 BA last season was 7th-best in Texas Lg.
Xavier Scruggs			1
Ryan Jackson	2		1	1					Just down from MLB camp a few days ago
Pete Kozma			1
Jose Garcia			1

Springfield 13, Binghamton 6

Springfield pitching	IP	H	ER	BB	K	Notes
Trevor Rosenthal	3	0	0	0	6	Best line of the spring, let alone the day
Brad Watson	1.1	6	4	2	1	One unearned run
Justin Wright	2	1	1	2	1	Career regular season ERA is 0.90 over 2 years
Heath Wyatt	2	0	0	0	1	A very solid outing as well

Springfield hitting	AB	R	H	RBI	2B	3B	HR	BB	Notes
Alan Ahmady	4		2	3	2				His just .117 in 20 game Springfield trial in 11
Nick Longmire			2	2	1
Rainel Rosario	5	2	2	2		1			70 RBI led Palm Beach last season
Greg Garcia	2		2		1		1		Nice extra-base power
Jonathan Rodriguez					1
Ronny Gil					1				Suited up for two spring MLB games
Kolten Wong		2	1					1
Niko Vasquez		1	1	1				1
Cody Stanley	2		1	2			1		2nd in MWL with 38.6% caught stealing in 11

St. Lucie 4, Palm Beach 3

Palm Beach pitching	IP	H	ER	BB	K	Notes
Anthony Ferrara	4	5	1	0	7	13 wins last season was 2nd most in system
Zach Russell	2	2	1		1	May be moving into relief role this season
Nick Gillung	2	1	0	1		Sparkling 1.73 ERA for Johnson City in 2011
Travis Miller	1	2	1	2	1

Palm Beach hitting	AB	R	H	RBI	2B	3B	HR	BB	Notes
Vance Albitz	3		2						.746 OPS in first/only 12 games with Batavia in 11
Chris Edmondson				2			1		22 doubles last year tied for #2 in system
Juan Castillo	2		1
Starlin Rodriguez	3		1
David Medina	3		1
Joey Bergman	3		1
Luis Mateo	3		1

Savannah 3, Quad Cities 2

Quad Cities pitching	IP	H	ER	BB	K	Notes
Tyrell Jenkins	4	7	3	1	2	Was on both Johnson City title teams, 2010-2011
Hector Hernandez	4	1	0	3	4	One baserunner and one strikeout per inning
Kyle Hald	2	2			2	Cards Pitcher of Month last August

Quad Cities hitting	AB	R	H	RBI	2B	3B	HR	BB	Notes
Gerwuins Velazco	3		2						Just 2 errors in 30 games catching in 11
Anthony Garcia				2	1				.407 OBP last season 5th-best in Appy Lg.
Jeremy Patton	2	1	1						30 walks against just 28 strikeouts last year
Roberto DeLaCruz	2	1	1						5th in Appy League in total bases in 2011
Kleininger Teran			1
Steven Ramos			1

Subscribers to the main site, TheCardinalNation.com, should continue to check out my extensive spring training content over the upcoming days.

Follow me on Twitter.
Follow The Cardinal Nation Blog on Facebook.

Tweet This Post

Cardinals minor league spring training notebook: 03/23

Brian Walton — Sat, 24 Mar 2012 13:15:08 +0000

On Friday, the St. Louis Cardinals players and coaches for their five spring clubs, including both Quad Cities teams, walked over to the Miami Marlins’ side of Roger Dean Stadium complex for 1:00 P.M. games.

Quad Cities White won, Springfield tied and the other three clubs absorbed a loss. The Cardinals spring record against external minor league competition is now 7-9-3. I posted camp information from Friday and thoughts on the main site for subscribers.

Friday’s Player of the Day: Quad Cities Red’s David Bergin was on base four times in five plate appearances with a walk, single and a pair of home runs. The outfielder plated three. (The photo is of a Bergin starting his home run swing, but it was off Drew Benes on Thursday, giving him three long balls in two days.)

Friday’s Pitcher of the Day: Memphis’ Jess Todd fanned six in 3 2/3 innings of shutout baseball. The right-hander has had some ups and downs in his career and perhaps 2012 will be another peak.

Don’t read too much into which rosters on which players are appearing as spring assignments are especially fluid.

On Saturday, Memphis and Springfield travel to Port St. Lucie while the Mets’ two Class-A clubs will bus to Jupiter.

New Orleans 3, Memphis 1

Memphis pitching	IP	H	ER	BB	K	Notes
Jess Todd	3.2	2	0	3	6	Was once a very successful SP – 2008 P of Year
Nick Greenwood	2	2	2	1	1	Lefty stretched out a bit
R.J. Swindle	1	0	0	0	0	Good insurance policy but that may be it
Adam Reifer	2	1	0	0	1	One unearned run – his best outing of the spring

Memphis hitting	AB	R	H	RBI	2B	3B	HR	BB	Notes
Steven Hill	2		2		1				Interesting to see if StL keeps all catchers
Ryan Jackson			1						Was batting second in Pop Warner’s order
Jose Garcia			1						Was second in system with .320 BA in 11

Springfield 2, Jacksonville 2

Springfield pitching	IP	H	ER	BB	K	Notes
Joe Kelly	4	5	2	1	6	Our 18th-ranked Cardinals prospect for 2012
Kevin Thomas	4	2	0	0	4	His 18 wild pitches led the system in 2011
Scott Schneider	1	1	0	0	3	Has fanned 279 in 325 2/3 career innings

Springfield hitting	AB	R	H	RBI	2B	3B	HR	BB	Notes
Kolten Wong	2		2		1				Continues a strong spring
Nick Longmire			1					1
Jonathan Rodriguez			1					2	.389 OBP last season was #5 in MWL
Cody Stanley			1	1
Ronny Gil			1						Rewarded by suiting up for Thu MLB game
Ted Obregon		2	1					1

Jupiter 8, Palm Beach 7

Palm Beach pitching	IP	H	ER	BB	K	Notes
Shelby Miller	4	4	2	1	3	He should be dominating A-ball hitters
Justin Edwards	2	1	0	0	1	Lefty has career 3.21 ERA
Ricky Martinez	2	6	4	1	0	Rough outing
Aidan Lucas	1	1	0	0	1

Palm Beach hitting	AB	R	H	RBI	2B	3B	HR	BB	Notes
Luis Mateo	4		3						Wants to put behind .179 with PB last year
Roberto Reyes	4	2	2						Hit just .237 with Batavia in 2011
Cesar Valera	4	1	1
Jonathan Keener	1	1	1						Catcher battling for playing time
Packy Elkins								2	11th in the system in walks in 11 (59)
David Medina	2		1						A spring regular here
Phil Cerreto	1		1					1
Romulo Ruiz		1	1	1	1				Struggled in brief Quad Cities trial in 2011

Quad Cities (Red) 7, Greensboro 5

Quad Cities Red pitching	IP	H	ER	BB	K	Notes
Adam Ottavino	1.2	2	2	1	1	One unearned run, too – in MLB camp not long ago
Danny Miranda	2.1	1	0	0	1	Also one unearned run for Batavia’s 2011 closer
Kevin Jacob	1.2	2	0	2	3	One unearned run – noticing a trend?
Willy Paulino	2	2	0	0	1

Quad Cities Red hitting	AB	R	H	RBI	2B	3B	HR	BB	Notes
Vance Albitz	4	1	3					1
David Bergin	4		3	3			2	1	Had just 1 HR in 67 Johnson City ABs in 11
Nick Martini	5		2	1
Colin Walsh	3	1	2	1	1				Batted just .239 at Quad Cities in 2011
Garrett Wittels	3		1
Jeremy Patton	2		2						.825 OPS 2nd among Batavia regulars in 11
Steven Ramos	2		1
Casey Rasmus	2	1	1
Breyvic Valera	4		1	1					Our #39 Cardinals prospect for 2011

Jamestown 5, Quad Cities (White) 0

Quad Cities White pitching	IP	H	ER	BB	K	Notes
Sam Freeman	2	2	0	0	1	May be lead lefty in Memphis bullpen
Chase Reid	2	3	1	0	4	Fanned 51 in 54 2/3 IP in 2011
Dyllon Nuernberg	2	4	1
Brandon Creath	2	4	3		4
Ethan Cole	2		0		3	Had 9:1 K:BB ratio in 10 2/3 IP for Batavia in 2011

Quad Cities White hitting	AB	R	H	RBI	2B	3B	HR	BB	Notes
Adam Ehrlich			1		1				Cards’ 6th-round pick in 2011
Sam Tuivailala	4		1
Kenny Peoples-Walls	4		1
Neal Pritchard			1						Free agent signee last June

Subscribers to the main site, TheCardinalNation.com, should continue to check out my extensive spring training content over the upcoming days.

Follow me on Twitter.
Follow The Cardinal Nation Blog on Facebook.

Tweet This Post

Cardinals minor league spring training notebook: 03/22

Brian Walton — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 13:13:45 +0000

On Thursday, the St. Louis Cardinals had yet another camp day in which their top two and lower two rosters opposed each other while the Marlins and Mets faced off elsewhere. In addition, in large part due to Wednesday’s cancellations due to wet grounds, three was even more action than usual. A third game plus a simulated game on the fourth diamond of the quad were added. There, pitchers threw to batters in the cage but no fielding or baserunning occurred.

Memphis and two of the three Quad Cities teams went home winners on the day. I was at the games and posted more information and thoughts on the main site for subscribers.

Thursday’s Player of the Day: Centerfielder Tommy Pham had a great day with the bat, with a single, double and home run, but the excitement was tempered somewhat when he was shaken up making a catch in the field in the final inning.

Thursday’s Pitcher of the Day: Memphis’ Scott Gorgen, coming off 2011 Tommy John surgery, was dominant over his three shutout innings. Once a staple in our top prospect list, Gorgen looked sharp in what I think is his second official spring outing.

St. Louis outfielder Allen Craig receives an honorable mention. The rehabber hit a home run, singled and walked twice in five at-bats for Memphis. He did not fare nearly as well with Springfield, however. For them, he fanned three times as he led off in the home and away parts of the first five frames. Gorgen retired him three times. (I posted a photo of Craig’s home run swing on TheCardinalNation.com that all can see.)

Don’t read too much into which rosters on which players are appearing as early spring assignments are especially fluid.

On Friday, the Cardinals’ five clubs, including both Quad Cities teams, will walk over to the Marlins’ side of Roger Dean Stadium complex for 1:00 P.M. games.

The Cardinals spring record against external minor league competition remains knotted at 6-6-2.

Memphis 8, Springfield 5

Memphis pitching	IP	H	ER	BB	K	Notes
Scott Gorgen	3	0	0	1	4	Hit 93 on the gun and looked very good
Barrett Browning	2	0	0	0	4	Rule 5 addition looks to be a nice pen lefty
Cory Rauschenberger	1	0	0	0
Jesse Simpson	1.2	4	5	2	2	1.54 ERA with PB, but 5.56 with Springfield in 11
Dean Kiekhefer	2	0	0	0	1	Great 2H11 for QC including four saves in playoffs

Memphis hitting	AB	R	H	RBI	2B	3B	HR	BB	Notes
Tommy Pham			3		1		1		Triple short of the cycle
Xavier Scruggs			2				1		21 HRs was 4th in the FSL in 2011
Steven Hill							1		Veteran C will be RBI man for Memphis
Zack Cox					1			1	Could benefit from M Carpenter’s big camp
Ryan Jackson			1	1					Should be Redbirds everyday SS
Chris Swauger			1	1					Unheralded outfielder could surprise
Amaury Cazana			1
Jermaine Curtis			1					1	2Bman can also play some outfield

Springfield pitching	IP	H	ER	BB	K	Notes
Richard Castillo	3	4	4	2
Shooter Hunt	1.2	2	1	2	2	Didn’t see the big velo numbers expected from him
Chris Corrigan	1.1	1	0	3	2
Keith Butler	1.2	4	2	0	2	2nd in Cards system with 17 saves in 2011
Yunier Castillo	1.2	2	1	2		When will I stop calling him a converted SS?

Springfield hitting	AB	R	H	RBI	2B	3B	HR	BB	Notes
Greg Garcia		1		1	1				Sixth in OBP in entire system last year
Adam Melker	3	1	1						A name that has been here a lot this spring
Travis Tartamella		1		1	1
Nick Longmire		1	1	1					Looking to accellerate after so-so 2011

Quad Cities (Red) 4, Palm Beach 3

Palm Beach pitching	IP	H	ER	BB	K	Notes
Pat Daugherty	3	2	1	3
Jonathan Cornelius	3	2	1	1	4	Also yielded an unearned run
Jose Pasen	3	2	0	1		4th-fewest baserunners/9 IP in 2011 Appy League
Robert Stock	2	1	1	1	3	Better results pitching from full windup

Palm Beach hitting	AB	R	H	RBI	2B	3B	HR	BB	Notes
Cesar Valera	4		2		1				Slick fielder batted just .213 in NYPL in 11
Juan Castillo	2		1		1
Starlin Rodriguez	4		1						Will likely play where Wong isn’t
Geoff Klein	2		1						Big C has also played some 1B

Quad Cities Red pitching	IP	H	ER	BB	K	Notes
Boone Whiting	1	0	0	1	3	Few bats on the ball
Dail Villanueva	3.2	3	1	2	4	Listed at 6-2, 170, but looked bigger than that
Tyler Melling	1.1	3	2	2	1
Stalyn Lopez	3	0	0	1	1	Impressive outing – watch this right-hander

Quad Cities Red hitting	AB	R	H	RBI	2B	3B	HR	BB	Notes
Nick Martini	5	1	4	1	1				7th-rdr batted disappointing .167 for Batavia
Gerwuins Velazco	4		1		1				Intriguing candidate for catching innings
Tyler Rahmatulla		1	1		1				27 doubles in 11 set Appy League record
Colin Walsh			1					2
Vance Albitz		1	1
Steven Ramos		1						2

Quad Cities (White – split squad) 8, Quad Cities (White – split squad) 7

Quad Cities winners pitching	IP	H	ER	BB	K	Notes
Brandon Dickson	4	2	0	1	4	Pitcher with MLB experience should dominate
Maikel Cleto	0.2	2	1	2	1	So should he, but he didn’t
Drew Benes	1.2	4	3	1	1	Good bloodlines
Adam Bileckyj	1.2	3	3	1	2	Former free agent signee

Quad Cities winners hitting	AB	R	H	RBI	2B	3B	HR	BB	Notes
Romulo Ruiz	4		2	1				1	Was on base three times
Breyvic Valera					1				.311 BA in 2011 was 5th-best in system
Kleininger Teran					1
Roberto Reyes					1				22 y/o batted .237 for Batavia last year

Quad Cities losers pitching	IP	H	ER	BB	K	Notes
John Gast	4.1	3	2	3	5	Lefty good, but not dominating like last spring
Ramon Ulacio	1.1	2	4	4		2.93 ERA ranked in 2011 GCL top 10
Cody Springer	1.1	3	2	4		Recent free agent signee

Quad Cities losers hitting	AB	R	H	RBI	2B	3B	HR	BB	Notes
Charlie Tilson	4		3	2		1			Playing like the top draft pick he is
Sam Tuivailala	4	2	2				1
Luis Perez	3	2	2						Standout catcher in 2011 GCL
Kenny Peoples-Walls		2	1					1	MLB Urban Youth Academy grad
David Bergin							1	1	Hit .284 for JC in 2011
Neal Pritchard			1	2					Free agent signee in 2011

I’ve been busy logging interviews and taking dozens of player photos in Florida. I will be rolling them out for subscribers to the main site, TheCardinalNation.com, over the upcoming days.

Follow me on Twitter.
Follow The Cardinal Nation Blog on Facebook.

Tweet This Post

Cardinals minor league spring training notebook: 03/20

Brian Walton — Wed, 21 Mar 2012 01:26:45 +0000

On Tuesday, the St. Louis Cardinals had another camp day in which their top two and lower two rosters opposed each other while the Marlins and Mets faced off elsewhere. Springfield and Palm Beach went home winners on the day.

Tuesday’s Player of the Day: Springfield outfielder Chris Edmondson singled, tripled and homered in three at-bats. Too bad he didn’t have a chance for the very rare spring cycle!

Tuesday’s Pitcher of the Day: Seth Maness, who spent some time with Palm Beach last season (as well as Batavia and Quad Cities), threw three perfect frames for the PB club. The right-hander fanned three.

Don’t read too much into which rosters on which players are appearing as early spring assignments are especially fluid.

On Wednesday, the Cardinals two lower-level clubs, Palm Beach and Quad Cities, will bus over to the Mets’ facility at Port St. Lucie while Memphis and Springfield remain home at the Roger Dean Stadium complex to face New York’s Triple-A and Double-A clubs.

The Cardinals spring record against external minor league competition remains knotted at 6-6-2.

Springfield 12, Memphis 11

Apparently the arrival of Allen Craig inspired all the hitters – along with the wind blowing out. Though his numbers weren’t part of the Vuch report, the outfielder went 0-for-4 with two at-bats each for Memphis and Springfield. He fanned looking both times against Brian Broderick and flied out to center and grounded out to second base vs. Nick Additon (hat tip to Tom Ackerman of KMOX).

Memphis pitching	IP	H	ER	BB	K	Notes
Brian Broderick	3	6	2	0	5	Also yielded an unearned tally
Tyler Lyons	3	7	5	2	2	Was Cards’ designated starter in 2011 AFL
Adam Reifer	2	2	3			Spring struggles continue
Willy Paulino	0.1	1	1	3		Big step up for 2011 Johnson City pitcher

Memphis hitting	AB	R	H	RBI	2B	3B	HR	BB	Notes
Mark Hamilton	5	1	2			1			Good to see 1B man back in action
Xavier Scruggs	5	1	2		1		1		Nice extra-base power from another 1B
Kolten Wong	4	1	3	1					All indications are of a complete player
Jermaine Curtis	1		1					1	Played some OF along with 2B last year
Nick Derba	1		1					1
Zack Cox	2	1	1	5			1		Grand slam!
Adam Melker		1	1
Chris Swauger		1	1

Springfield pitching	IP	H	ER	BB	K	Notes
Nick Additon	3	5	6	1	3	Tied for system lead with 26 starts in 2011
Seth Blair	3	1	2	2	3	Better, but a ways to go for 46th overall pick in 2010
Nick Greenwood	2	2	1		2	Began spring in major league camp
Justin Wright	2	3	2	3	2	Didn’t pitch in big league trip to Orlando Monday

Springfield hitting	AB	R	H	RBI	2B	3B	HR	BB	Notes
Chris Edmondson	3		3			1	1		Solo home run
Niko Vasquez	1	2	1	3			1		Three-run jack
Ronny Gil	2		2						Shortstop quietly hits
Nick Longmire				2			1		Dressed for Orlando StL game Monday
Starlin Rodriguez	4		2	2	1		1		Ditto. Trip must have been inspiring
Mike O’Neill		2	1	1
Jonathan Rodriguez		1	1
Alan Ahmady		1	1	1
Cody Stanley			1
Rainel Rosario		1						1

Palm Beach 3, Quad Cities (White) 2

Palm Beach pitching	IP	H	ER	BB	K	Notes
Carlos Martinez	4	2	0	1	4	Our 2nd-ranked Cardinals prospect
Seth Maness	3	0	0	0	3	Perfection = Pitcher of the Day
Todd McInnis	3	6	2		2	2011 NYPL All-Star with Maness

Palm Beach hitting	AB	R	H	RBI	2B	3B	HR	BB	Notes
Vance Albitz	2		2					1	Went from (Lincoln) Saltdogs to (Batavia) Muckdogs in 2011
Casey Rasmus	1		1	2					Made his one plate appearance count
Cesar Valera					1				Only extra-base hit for Palm Beach
Phil Cerreto			1
Garrett Wittels			1
Roberto Reyes			1
Gary Apelian			1

Quad Cities Red pitching	IP	H	ER	BB	K	Notes
Victor De Leon	3	5	2	3	3	Coaches like his stuff
Nick Gillung	3	1	0	1	2	19th rounder in 2011 pitched for Johnson City
Ryan Sherriff	3	1	0	2	5	28th rdr in 2011 split between JC and Batavia
Dyllon Nuernberg	2	3	1	1

Quad Cities Red hitting	AB	R	H	RBI	2B	3B	HR	BB	Notes
Breyvic Valera	5		2			1			Could 2B man become this year’s Oscar Taveras?
David Medina	3		2	1	2				Getting mentioned here often this week
Anthony Bryant	4		2	1	1
Lance Jeffries		1			1
Sam Tuivailala			1

Follow me on Twitter.
Follow The Cardinal Nation Blog on Facebook.

Tweet This Post

Cardinals minor league spring training notebook: 03/19

Brian Walton — Tue, 20 Mar 2012 03:30:25 +0000

On Monday, the St. Louis Cardinals walked over to the Marlins’ side of the Roger Dean Stadium complex for five games, including both Quad Cities White and Red squads. After the 2-2-1 day, the Cardinals spring record against external minor league competition sits at 6-6-2.

Monday’s Player of the Day: Palm Beach’s Garrett Wittels hit his first professional home run (unofficial) after having none with Batavia last year. He also singled and plated two in just two at-bats.

Monday’s Pitcher of the Day: Logan Billbrough fanned five in two scoreless innings for Springfield.

Don’t read too much into which rosters on which players are appearing as early spring assignments are especially fluid.

On Tuesday, the Cardinals will have yet another camp day in which their top two and lower two rosters oppose each other while the Marlins and Mets face off elsewhere.

New Orleans 3, Memphis 0

Memphis pitching	IP	H	ER	BB	K	Notes
Michael Blazek	3.2	3	1	2	4	Ex-37th rdr made 2 Memphis starts in 2011
Kevin Thomas	3	3	1	0	2
Chase Reid	2	2	1	2	1

Memphis hitting	AB	R	H	RBI	2B	3B	HR	BB	Notes
Nick Derba	2		2		1
Tommy Pham	2		1		1				Trying to shake off recent injury years
Pete Kozma	3		1						Slated to be Memphis utiltyman in return

Jacksonville 6, Springfield 3

Springfield pitching	IP	H	ER	BB	K	Notes
Anthony Ferrara	4	5	2	0	1	Also allowed one unearned run
Ricky Martinez	2	2	0			Pitched in Batavia in 2011
Justin Edwards	2	3	2	1	1	Another unearned run on his watch
Logan Billbrough	2	1	0		5	Pitcher of the Day

Springfield hitting	AB	R	H	RBI	2B	3B	HR	BB	Notes
Mike O’Neill	1	1	1					1
Michael Swinson		1	1	1		1			Loads of potential
Juan Castillo	2		1						Four hits in last three days
Chris Edmondson	2		1
Niko Vasquez	3		1						Has been strong performer in past springs
Rainel Rosario	3		1
Ronny Gil			1

Palm Beach 5, Jupiter 2

Palm Beach pitching	IP	H	ER	BB	K	Notes
Tyrell Jenkins	3	4	0	1	3	Teenager impressed in big league camp
Zack Russell	2.2	2	1	3	2	Spent 2011 in Quad Cities rotation
Aidan Lucas	2	1	1	1	1
Yunier Castillo	1	0	0	0	0	Converted from shortstop during 2011

Palm Beach hitting	AB	R	H	RBI	2B	3B	HR	BB	Notes
David Medina	4	1	2	1	1
Garrett Wittels	2		2	2			1		0 HR in first 182 plate appearances
Vance Albitz	2		1						Former indy ball signee late in 2011
Colin Walsh	2		1	1
Steven Ramos	2	1	1	1				1
Anthony Garcia	3	2	1						Outfielder began as a catcher

Quad Cities (Red) 5, Greensboro 5

Vuch explains about the circumstances behind this particular game.

“Good example of why wins and losses are not officially tracked in minor league spring training games. Both teams “rolled” innings during this game (ended an inning prior to three outs being recorded in order to keep a pitcher from throwing too many pitches in a given inning), and after nine innings Quad Cities led, 5-4. We had 10 innings of pitching available, while the Marlins had nine, so we pitched a bottom of the 10^th immediately after the bottom of the 9^th (despite there being no top of the 10th) and the Marlins scored their 5^th run in that 10^th inning.”

Quad Cities Red pitching	IP	H	ER	BB	K	Notes
Hector Hernandez	4	2	0	1	5	Strong outing: one unearned run allowed
Kyle Hald	2.2	5	3	2
Heath Wyatt	2		0		1	2011 33rd rdr K’d 10.8/9IP for Johnson City
Brandon Creath	0.2	1	1	3

Quad Cities Red hitting	AB	R	H	RBI	2B	3B	HR	BB	Notes
Jeremy Patton	3		2					1	.825 OPS for Batavia in 2011 debut
Tyler Rahmatulla	5		2	1					Our 37th-ranked Cardinals prospect
David Bergin					1
Adam Ehrlich					1				Catcher taken in 6th round in 2011
Virgil Hill		2						2
Nick Martini		2						2
Reggie Williams		1	1					1	Has to sit out first 50 reg season games

Quad Cities (White) 3, Jamestown 1

Quad Cities White pitching	IP	H	ER	BB	K	Notes
Brad Watson	3	0	0	0		Spent all of 2011 with Gulf Coast League
Danny Miranda	2	1	0		2	Ex-Miami lefty saved 15 for Batavia in 2011
Kevin Jacob	2	1	0		4	31st rounder in 2011
Ethan Cole	2	3	1

Quad Cities White hitting	AB	R	H	RBI	2B	3B	HR	BB	Notes
Jesus Montero	1		1					1
Kenny Peoples-Walls	3		1					1	18 y/o taken in 4th round of 2011 draft
Breyvic Valera	4	1	1
Charlie Tilson	4	1	1						OF taken 79th overall in 2011
Lance Jeffries	4		1
Gerwuins Velazco	2		1
David Washington				1				1
Sam Tuivailala				1				1	3rd rounder as high school SS in 2010

Follow me on Twitter.
Follow The Cardinal Nation Blog on Facebook.

Tweet This Post

Cardinals minor league spring training notebook: 03/18

Brian Walton — Mon, 19 Mar 2012 17:07:51 +0000

On Sunday, the St. Louis Cardinals had another camp day in which their top two and lower two rosters opposed each other while the Marlins and Mets faced off elsewhere.

Sunday’s Player of the Day: Outfielder Rainel Rosario doubled twice and plated three Springfield teammates.

Sunday’s Pitcher of the Day: Pitching for Quad Cities, right-hander Joe Kelly dominated a young Palm Beach squad with four perfect innings.

Don’t read too much into which rosters on which players are appearing as early spring assignments are especially fluid.

On Monday, the Cardinals will walk over to the Marlins’ side of the Roger Dean Stadium complex for five games, including both Quad Cities White and Red squads.

The Cardinals spring record against external minor league competition remains knotted at 4-4-1.

Springfield 7, Memphis 5

Memphis pitching	IP	H	ER	BB	K	Notes
Maikel Cleto	1.2	3	4	5	1	Our 14th-ranked Cardinals prospect
Jess Todd	3	1	0		3	2008 organization Pitcher of the Year
Barrett Browning	2	1	0	1	2	LHP Rule 5 addition from Angels
Cory Rauschenberger	1.2	4	3	1		Formerly Cory Meachem

Memphis hitting	AB	R	H	RBI	2B	3B	HR	BB	Notes
Oscar Taveras	3		2	1	1				Want to see him on bases, in field
Zack Cox		1	1	1			1		Solo home run
Pete Kozma	3		1
Kolten Wong	2	1	1						2011 first-rounder
Roberto Espinoza	2		1
Chris Swauger	2		1
Nick Derba	1	1	1	1			1		Defensive standout made his 1 AB count
Xavier Scruggs		1			1				New blog entry at TheCardinalNation.com

Springfield pitching	IP	H	ER	BB	K	Notes
Shelby Miller	3	7	4		4
Deryk Hooker	3	1	0		1	#18 prospect last yr had injuries in 2011
Eric Fornataro	3	1				Led Palm Beach in innings pitched
Jesse Simpson	1	1	1

Springfield hitting	AB	R	H	RBI	2B	3B	HR	BB	Notes
Rainel Rosario	4	2	2	3	2				OF is our 30th-ranked Cardinals prospect
Juan Castillo	2		2						Catcher on the rebound
Ted Obregon	3	1	2
Mike O’Neill			1		1
Niko Vasquez		2					1	1	Former SS now at 3B
David Bergin				1	1				2011 30th rounder played at Johnson City

Quad Cities 4, Palm Beach 1

Palm Beach pitching	IP	H	ER	BB	K	Notes
Kevin Siegrist	4	3	1	3	5	Began spring in big league camp
Sam Gaviglio	3	2			4	Highest-drafted Cards P in 2011
Ryan Copeland	2	3	2	2	2
Drew Benes	2	2			2

Palm Beach hitting	AB	R	H	RBI	2B	3B	HR	BB	Notes
Colin Walsh					1				Helped team avoid being no-hit
Virgil Hill								2

Quad Cities pitching	IP	H	ER	BB	K	Notes
Joe Kelly	4	0	0	0	3	Clear choice as Pitcher of the Day
Dean Kiekhefer	2	1	1	1	2
Robert Stock	2	0	0	3	2	Reader reports had him at 88-91 mph
Iden Nazario	2			1

Quad Cities hitting	AB	R	H	RBI	2B	3B	HR	BB	Notes
Breyvic Valera	4		2					1	IF is our #39 prospect heading into 2012
Lance Jeffries	5		2	1		1			10th rounder in 2011 from Florissant, MO
Kenny Peoples-Walls	2		2					2	On base all four times
C.J. McElroy	3		2					1	2011 3rd rounder invited to early camp
Anthony Bryant	2		1	1
Luis Perez						1			C had nice 2011 in Gulf Coast League
Jesus Montero			1						Little brother of Seattle rookie C

Follow me on Twitter.
Follow The Cardinal Nation Blog on Facebook.

Tweet This Post

Cardinals minor league spring training notebook: 03/17

Brian Walton — Sun, 18 Mar 2012 04:35:18 +0000

On Saturday, the St. Louis Cardinals took on the New York Mets in a home-and-away series. Memphis and Springfield traveled to Port St. Lucie while the Mets’ two Class-A clubs bussed to Jupiter.

As the result of the 2-1-1 day, the Cardinals evened their spring record against external minor league competition at 4-4-1.

Player of the Day for Saturday: Infielder Tyler Rahmatulla tripled, scored twice and plated two in Quad Cities’ win.

Pitcher of the Day for Saturday: Lefty John Gast, in St. Louis camp this time last spring, threw three shutout innings for Memphis in an eventual tie game.

Don’t read much into which rosters on which players are appearing as early spring assignments are especially fluid.

Sunday is a camp day for the Cardinals as the Marlins and Mets face off against each other. Though camp days average only every third day, the schedule has St. Louis with three camp days in their next five.

Memphis (1-0-1) 1 at Buffalo 1
The Redbirds’ offense was held hitless through five innings, but pulled across one run to earn a tie.

Memphis pitching	IP	H	ER	BB	K	Notes
John Gast	3	2	0	2	3	Last spring’s MLB camp phenom.
Dan Calhoun	1	1	1		1
Chris Corrigan	1.2	1	0	3	3	Not many bats on the ball.
Richard Castillo	2		0	1	2	Seems like the 22 y/o is much older.
Keith Butler	2	1	0	2	1	The Cardinal Nation ’11 top reliever.

Memphis hitting	AB	R	H	RBI	2B	3B	HR	BB	Notes
Kyle Conley					1				Can hit for power if he stays healthy.
Jose Garcia	2	1	2						Five hits in two days for middle infielder.
Xavier Scruggs			1
Chris Swauger			1
Alan Ahmady			1						Can play all over the diamond.

Binghamton 9, Springfield (0-2) 3

Springfield pitching	IP	H	ER	BB	K	Notes
Jonathan Cornelius	2	3	2	1
Jorge Rondon	1	2	0		1	One unearned run.
Shooter Hunt	2	6	4	1	1	Rule 5 addition takes loss.
Jose Pasen	2	2	1	2
Willy Paulino	2	2	1		4

Springfield hitting	AB	R	H	RBI	2B	3B	HR	BB	Notes
Adam Melker	3		2				1		No career HRs in 479 plate appearances.
Starlin Rodriguez	4		2						Early minor league camp invitee.
Jonathan Rodriguez		1						2
Chris Edmondson				1	1
Juan Castillo					1				On rebound after time in penalty box.
Ted Obregon			1					1

Palm Beach (1-1) 7, St. Lucie 6

Palm Beach pitching	IP	H	ER	BB	K	Notes
Brandon Dickson	3	0	0	0	1	Triple-A SP stepping down in level.
Adam Reifer	1.1	3	2	2	3	Not yet fully back from knee surgery.
Ramon Ulacio	0.2	2	1	4	1
Stalyn Lopez	1	6	3			Rough day could have been worse.
Jean Mijares	1			1		LHR missed all of ’11 after taken in ’10 Rule 5.

Palm Beach hitting	AB	R	H	RBI	2B	3B	HR	BB	Notes
Romulo Ruiz				1	1
Cesar Valera		1	1
Roberto Reyes		1	1
Virgil Hill		2		1
Luis Mateo	2		1
Garrett Wittels	2		1

Quad Cities Red & White (2-1) 9, Savannah 5

Quad Cities pitching	IP	H	ER	BB	K	Notes
Eduardo Hiraldo	2	1	2	3	3
Sean Watson	2	2	1	2	3	Two runs, one unearned.
Bob Revesz	2	2	1			Missed entire ’11 season.
Tyler Melling	2	1	0
Cody Springer	2	1	0	2		Newest free agent signee.

Quad Cities hitting	AB	R	H	RBI	2B	3B	HR	BB	Notes
Jeremy Patton			2	2			1
Nick Martini	4	2	2						’11 7th rounder had quiet Batavia debut.
Tyler Rahmatulla	4	2	2	2		1			27 2Bs led ’11 Appy League.
Matt Williams		1	1	1
Anthony Garcia		1	1	2					Our #22-ranked Cardinals prospect.
David Bergin		1		1
Neal Pritchard			1					1

Follow me on Twitter.
Follow The Cardinal Nation Blog on Facebook.

Tweet This Post

Cardinals minor league spring training notebook: 03/16

Brian Walton — Sat, 17 Mar 2012 13:10:34 +0000

Following are the highlights from the first full minor league spring games of 2012 against external competition. A pair of intersquad games were held on Wednesday in preparation for Thursday’s contests against the Marlins, which were rained out after three innings.

That made Friday’s action the Cardinals’ initial games against external foes. Their shared opponent was the Miami farmhands once again, with the Cardinals side of the complex the home field.

My Friday Player of the Day: Palm Beach’s David Medina collected a single and two doubles in five at-bats.

My Friday Pitcher of the Day: Quad Cities’ Dail Villanueva started and pitched two perfect innings for the Field 4 club.

As he has been doing the last few seasons, Cardinals farm director John Vuch will be 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.

Don’t read too much into which rosters on which players are appearing as early spring assignments are especially fluid.

On Saturday, Memphis and Springfield travel to Port St. Lucie while the Mets’ two Class-A clubs will bus to Jupiter.

Memphis 8, New Orleans 6

Memphis pitching	IP	H	ER	BB	K	Notes
Tyler Lyons	1.2	4	4	1	2	Cards starter in Arizona Fall League
Brian Broderick	1.1	2	1	1	2
Pete Parise	1.2	1	1	2	1
Nick Greenwood	1		0		1	Down from MLB camp
Logan Billbrough	2		0	2
Justin Wright	2	1	0		1	Last pitched in AFL

Memphis hitting	AB	R	H	RBI	2B	3B	HR	BB	Notes
Jose Garcia	5		3						Has been with Memphis before
Oscar Taveras				3			1		Long home run to right field
Zack Cox	3		2		1				Will he remain with Memphis?
Alan Ahmady	2		1				1	1
Kolten Wong						1			Leap over PB to Springfield?
Amaury Cazana						1			Back from Mexico to stay?
Audry Perez					1
Xavier Scruggs			1						Catch his Monday blog at TCN
Pete Kozma			1						Down from big league camp
Greg Garcia	1		1					1	Unheralded infielder to watch

Jacksonville 11, Springfield 4

Springfield pitching	IP	H	ER	BB	K	Notes
Scott Gorgen	2	2	1	1	2	Back from Tommy John
Seth Blair	2	5	5	2	1	Still searching for ASU success
Ricky Martinez	2	1	0			PB pitching coach Dennis’ son
Seth Maness	2	6	2			Plus two unearned runs allowed
Chase Reid	2	0	0	0	1	A perfect line
Todd McInnis	2	1	0	1	1	Starred for Batavia last year

Springfield hitting	AB	R	H	RBI	2B	3B	HR	BB	Notes
Jonathan Rodriguez	5		2		1				Has the bat; where to play?
Cody Stanley					1				Could be next top C prospect
Packy Elkins					1
Travis Tartamella					1
Rainel Rosario					1
Mike O’Neill			1

Jupiter 5, Palm Beach 3

Palm Beach pitching	IP	H	ER	BB	K	Notes
Zack Russell	0.2	3	3	4	3	Spent ’11 in Quad Cites rotation
Pat Daugherty	1.2	2	0	1	2
Aidan Lucas	2	1	0			Unheralded reliever
Justin Edwards	2	1	1	2	1
Kevin Jacob	1	1	1	2	1
Dyllon Nuernberg	2	0	0	2	1

Palm Beach hitting	AB	R	H	RBI	2B	3B	HR	BB	Notes
David Medina	5		3		2				Three of team’s five hits
Garrett Wittels			1		1
Roberto Reyes			1			1

Quad Cities (Field 4) 9, Greensboro 5

Quad Cities Field 4 pitching	IP	H	ER	BB	K	Notes
Dail Villanueva	2	0	0	0	1	Perfect line for ’11 Gulf Coast pitcher
Travis Miller	2	3	1
Danny Miranda	2	3	1	1	1	Batavia’s 2011 closer
Nick Gillung	2	4	2	1
Yunier Castillo	2	1	0	1		Converted from SS during 2011
Corey Baker	2	1	1		1

Quad Cities Field 4 hitting	AB	R	H	RBI	2B	3B	HR	BB	Notes
Charlie Tilson	6	1	3		1				Taken 79th overall in ’11 draft
Sam Tuivailala		2			1			3	Good plate discipline
Breyvic Valera			1
Luis Perez			1
Gerwuins Velazco			1
David Washington		2	1	1				2	Player to watch

Marlins (team 5) 11, Quad Cities (Field 6) 3

Quad Cities Field 6 pitching	IP	H	ER	BB	K	Notes
Ryan Sherriff	2	3	0	1	3	Four unearned runs scored
Brandon Creath	2	2	1	1	1
Ethan Cole	2	3	1
Heath Wyatt	2	0	0	1	3	Pitcher of the Day runner up
Tyler Mills	2	3	2	2	1	9th rounder in 2011
Adam Bileckyj	2	6	3		2	Former free agent signee

Quad Cities Field 6 hitting	AB	R	H	RBI	2B	3B	HR	BB	Notes
Roberto De La Cruz	5	1	2		1				Former Dominican big bonus 3B
David Bergin	4	1	2		1
Adam Ehrlich			1						Catcher was 6th-rounder in ’11
Anthony Garcia			1

Follow me on Twitter.
Follow The Cardinal Nation Blog on Facebook.

Tweet This Post

Cardinals spring phenom named Matt will return to earth

Brian Walton — Fri, 09 Mar 2012 12:59:47 +0000

Don’t get me wrong. I like Matt Adams as a player. In fact, he is The Cardinal Nation’s ninth-ranked prospect in 2012.

On the other hand, the 23-year-old is not going to continue to produce as he has over the first four games of spring. Sure, let’s give him credit for the grand slam against the Mets and the bases-clearing triple to help sink the Red Sox on Thursday. Then again, no one should be mistaking the big first baseman for Ted Williams, so that .417 batting average is just not sustainable.

Still, the internet is exploding over Adams’s feats, with some already penciling his name onto their projected opening day roster for St. Louis. Calm down, please. I never say “never,” but I give it less than five percent odds of actually happening. Even that would seemingly require an avalanche of injuries to others that would mean significant problems for the 2012 Cardinals.

Some folks seem to have short memories.

Just one year ago, there was another reigning organizational Player of the Year in major-league camp garnering similar attention for unexpected standout play. Further, the infielder had excelled at Double-A Springfield the prior season and had yet to play even one game in Triple-A.

Along with all the other similarities, his name is also Matt – Matt Carpenter.

Until the final week of 2011 camp, it seemed both by playing time given and results delivered that Carpenter might make the season-opening major-league roster. Then, reality set in. He couldn’t sustain his hot play and began the season with Memphis.

Though Carpenter was added to the 40-man roster just before he made his MLB debut last June, he struggled with St. Louis. Despite a good Pacific Coast League campaign, including a .417 OBP, Carpenter did not even receive a September call up. It serves as yet another reminder not to get too high or too low over spring training performances.

A year later, Carpenter is back in big league camp, more prepared to compete for a job as a utilityman. He remains a decent prospect, number 11 in our 2012 system-wide rankings, but seems destined for a reserve role – in this organization, at least.

Like Carpenter last spring, Adams is also not yet on the 40-man. A more realistic goal than opening the season with St. Louis would be for him to follow Carpenter’s 2011 trail of solid play in Memphis, snag a 40-man roster spot and make a major-league cameo mid-season. Adams could then more realistically compete for a major-league spot next spring.

In summary, no matter what happens this month, the best move for Adams’ long-term development would be for him to don a Memphis Redbirds uniform to start the regular season and play first base each and every day.

Follow me on Twitter.
Follow The Cardinal Nation Blog on Facebook.
Follow TCN on Google+.

Tweet This Post

40-plus Cardinals players, 30-plus articles

Brian Walton — Tue, 06 Mar 2012 16:07:54 +0000

Before spring training games had officially begun, there was only so much news to be shared from camp. Typically over the course of the first few weeks, individual player features are prevalent.

Seeing current articles getting down to reserves or perhaps players not likely to make the opening day roster challenged me. I decided to see how many of the 40-man roster players have been featured recently. I also threw in a few of the non-roster invitees (NRI).

Alas, I fell a bit short, though my search may not have been exhaustive enough. Still, if you did not read these articles the first time, they should continue to be topical and interesting today.

Writers and links follow. The writer’s name is the story link while the player’s name link is to his stats page at Baseball-Reference.com. When there were multiple articles available on a player, I selected only one, looking for diversity of voices.

Starters

Chris Carpenter – from Joe Strauss
Adam Wainwright – from Rob Rains
Jaime Garcia – from Jenifer Langosch
Kyle Lohse – from Joe Strauss
Jake Westbrook – from Associated Press
Brandon Dickson
Maikel Cleto
Shelby Miller (NRI) – from Kary Booher, Springfield News-Leader
Tyrell Jenkins (NRI) – from Rob Rains

Relievers

Jason Motte – from Derrick Goold
Kyle McClellan – from Rob Rains
J.C. Romero – from AP
Marc Rzepczynski – from Joe Strauss
Fernando Salas
Eduardo Sanchez
Lance Lynn – from B.J. Rains
Scott Linebrink (NRI) – from Rob Rains
Mitchell Boggs – from Jenifer Langosch
Adam Reifer
Adam Ottavino
Chuckie Fick
Sam Freeman

Catchers

Yadier Molina (If you need a link to a Molina story, I consider you to be hopeless!)
Tony Cruz – from Brian Stull, 101 Sports
Bryan Anderson – from Rob Rains
Cody Stanley (NRI) – from Derrick Goold

Infielders

Lance Berkman – from AP
Skip Schumaker – from David Villavicencio, MLB.com
Tyler Greene – from AP
Daniel Descalso – from Doug Vaughn, KMOV 4 (video)
Rafael Furcal – from Derrick Goold
Alex Cora (NRI) – from Jenifer Langosch
Pete Kozma
David Freese – Rob Rains audio
Matt Carpenter – from Jenifer Langosch
Zack Cox
Mark Hamilton – from B.J. Rains
Matt Adams (NRI) – from B.J. Rains

Outfielders

Matt Holliday – from Joe Strauss
Carlos Beltran – from Rob Rains
Jon Jay – from Post-Dispatch
Allen Craig – from B.J. Rains
Erik Komatsu – from Jenifer Langosch
Adron Chambers
Shane Robinson

Legends

Ozzie Smith and Willie McGee – from Rob Rains
Red Schoendienst – Rob Rains (audio)

Follow me on Twitter.
Follow The Cardinal Nation Blog on Facebook.
Follow TCN on Google+.

Tweet This Post

Eighth Cardinals spring telecast added

Brian Walton — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 13:52:11 +0000

3/25 update: Final week of XM satellite broadcasts added.

MLB Network has announced its spring training telecast schedule. Included in the 150-game national slate are eight St. Louis Cardinals contests. Seven of the eight are telecasts previously announced on other networks, however.

The unique-to-MLB Network live telecast will be the Cardinals’ March 10 outing against the Miami Marlins in Jupiter. (Update: Though the Marlins official site does not indicate this, the broadcast of the 3/10 game will originate with FOX Sports Florida.) That increases the total number of Cardinals Florida spring training games to be televised to eight of 28.

Six of the other seven MLB Network Cardinals games will be delayed broadcasts, including several that will re-run the following morning. For specific times of these replays, check the detailed schedule on the MLB Network website. Also, all eight games will be shown live on MLB.TV for subscribers. The Cardinals will not appear nationally on ESPN this spring.

The Cardinals spring opener, to be covered by KMOX radio, is just seven days away. All radio broadcasts, whether originating from KMOX or from the Cardinals opponent, will be available through MLB Gameday Audio. It is included with an MLB.TV subscription and is also separately orderable.

The first of the eight televised spring games will be the very next day, live at 1:05 P.M. Eastern on Tuesday, March 6. MLB Network will re-play that St. Louis contest, against the New York Mets, at 9:00 A.M. Eastern on Wednesday morning. A majority of the Cardinals televised games, five, will once again originate from FOX Sports Midwest.

The full Cardinals spring schedule, including all television and radio, home and away, from friend and foe, follows. Satellite radio details are announced week-by-week so will be updated as available.

St. Louis Cardinals 2012 spring training broadcast schedule (as of March 25)

Day	Date	Opponent	Location	Time	StL TV	Other television	StL radio	Opp radio	XM sat
Mon	5-Mar	Miami Marlins	Jupiter	1:05			KMOX		183
Tue	6-Mar	New York Mets	Pt. St. Lucie	1:10		SNY/MLB Net*/MLB.TV
Wed	7-Mar	Washington Nationals	Viera	1:05
Thu	8-Mar	Boston Red Sox	Jupiter	1:05			KMOX		186
Fri	9-Mar	Minnesota Twins	Fort Myers	1:05				ESPN 1500	179
Sat	10-Mar	Miami Marlins	Jupiter**	1:05	FSFlorida	MLB Network/MLB.TV	KMOX	WAXY	186
Sun	11-Mar	Washington Nationals	Jupiter	1:05			KMOX		186
Mon	12-Mar	Washington Nats (ss)	Viera	1:05
	12-Mar	Atlanta Braves (ss)	Jupiter	1:05			KMOX	WFOM
Tue	13-Mar	New York Mets	Pt. St. Lucie	1:10		SNY/MLB Net/MLB.TV
Wed	14-Mar	Houston Astros	Jupiter	1:05			KMOX	KBME	186
Thu	15-Mar	Boston Red Sox	Fort Myers	2:30
Fri	16-Mar	Miami Marlins	Jupiter	1:05				WAXY
Sat	17-Mar	Detroit Tigers	Lakeland	1:05	FSMidwest	MLB Network*/MLB.TV	KMOX	97.1 FM	178
Sun	18-Mar	Miami Marlins	Jupiter	1:05			KMOX	WAXY	186
Mon	19-Mar	Atlanta Braves	Buena Vista	1:05	FSMidwest	MLB Network*/MLB.TV		WFOM
Tue	20-Mar	Houston Astros	Kissimmee	1:05	FSMidwest	FSHou/MLB Net*/MLB.TV		KBME	186
Wed	21-Mar	New York Mets	Jupiter	1:05			KMOX		186
Thu	22-Mar	Washington Nationals	Jupiter	1:05	FSMidwest	MLB Network*/MLB.TV	KMOX		186
Fri	23-Mar	Miami Marlins	Jupiter**	1:05
Sat	24-Mar	New York Mets	Pt. St. Lucie	1:10	FSMidwest	WPIX NY/MLB Net*/MLB.TV	KMOX	WFAN	184
Sun	25-Mar	Minnesota Twins	Jupiter	1:05			KMOX	ESPN 1500	186
Mon	26-Mar	New York Mets	Jupiter	1:05
Tue	27-Mar	OPEN DATE
Wed	28-Mar	Detroit Tigers	Jupiter	1:05			KMOX		186
Thu	29-Mar	Miami Marlins	Jupiter**	1:05				WAXY
Fri	30-Mar	New York Mets	Jupiter	1:05			KMOX		186
Sat	31-Mar	Washington Nationals	Viera	1:05			KMOX		186
Sun	1-Apr	Washington Nationals	Jupiter	1:05			KMOX		186
Mon	2-Apr	Springfield Cardinals	Sprf, Mo.	6:10			Jock 98.7/KMOX

		Times are local
		** StL is away team
		(ss) split squad
		* delayed broadcast

Follow me on Twitter.
Follow The Cardinal Nation Blog on Facebook.
Follow TCN on Google+.

Tweet This Post

Cardinals pitchers helping pitchers

Brian Walton — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 17:47:28 +0000

Sometimes, the little things can make a big deal down the road.

In the past, the members of the St. Louis Cardinals pitching rotation were known for being unusually involved in studying each others’ bullpen sessions as well as mound outings and sharing suggestions – coaching from one veteran peer to another.

In a most logical and encouraging manner, new manager Mike Matheny has extended this concept in spring training 2012 to include pitching prospects invited to big-league camp as well.

As explained by the Post-Dispatch’s Rick Hummel, workouts are being organized in such a way that the staff’s veteran hurlers will be working alongside the organization’s top young pitchers. This is the case both for bullpen sessions and batting practice groups.

Whether information is imparted directly from the teacher to the student through question and answer or just by watching, this new initiative is both simple and brilliant, with no apparent downside whatsoever.

An example of these new-look groups on Sunday, from another P-D article, were as follows:

Chris Carpenter, Lance Lynn, Tyrell Jenkins and Joe Kelly

Adam Wainwright, Shelby Miller, Trevor Rosenthal and Jordan Swagerty

Jaime Garcia, Brandon Dickson, Sam Freeman and John Gast (the latter two, like Garcia, are lefties)

Jake Westbrook, Kyle McClellan and Fernando Salas

Not coincidentally, the above 15 represent exactly half of the 30 hurlers invited to major league camp. Kyle Lohse was the only member of the five-man rotation not scheduled to throw on Sunday.

Update: …and here are the four Monday groups, again from the P-D:

Kyle Lohse, Kevin Siegrist, Adam Reifer, Maikel Cleto

Jason Motte (see photo), Adam Ottavino, Chuckie Fick, R.J. Swindle

Mitchell Boggs, Scott Linebrink, Eduardo Sanchez

Marc Rzepczynski, J.C. Romero, Victor Marte, Nick Greenwood

Kudos to Matheny for suggesting the idea and to the veterans for accepting it. Here’s hoping the youngsters take full advantage.

Follow me on Twitter.
Follow The Cardinal Nation Blog on Facebook.
Follow TCN on Google+.

Tweet This Post

Sorting out Cardinals spring uniform numbers

Brian Walton — Sun, 19 Feb 2012 13:19:55 +0000

With the official reporting of St. Louis Cardinals pitchers and catchers to Jupiter, Fla. this weekend, the final questions have been resolved with respect to spring training uniform number assignments for the 60 players invited to major league camp.

The information follows below, presented in four formats. The first breaks out the 40-man roster players and the non-roster invitees by position. The second set is also organized by position, but puts the 40-man and NRI players together. The third major grouping is a simple listing by last name and the final presentation is a straight numeric sort, from Carlos Beltran’s number 3 to Kolten Wong at number 89.

Despite the many retired and unofficial reserved numbers, the club managed to avoid assigning any numbers in the 90s to players this spring – until next month when minor leaguers are brought over for late-game appearances, that is.

For depth chart-like details of the entire Cardinals system by level and position, always check out the Roster Matrix, kept updated here at The Cardinal Nation Blog.

St. Louis Cardinals 2012 spring training uniform numbers

	40-Man Roster (39)		By Position		By Name		By Number
			Total (60)	#	Total (60)	#	Total (60)

#	Pitchers (19)	#	Pitchers (30)	87	Adams	3	Beltran
41	Mitchell Boggs	41	Boggs	61	Anderson	4	Molina
29	Chris Carpenter	29	Carpenter, C	3	Beltran	7	Holliday
63	Maikel Cleto	63	Cleto	12	Berkman	8	Velez
65	Brandon Dickson	65	Dickson	41	Boggs	12	Berkman
70	Chuckie Fick	70	Fick	29	Carpenter, C	13	Cora
72	Samuel Freeman	72	Freeman	37	Carpenter, M	15	Furcal
54	Jaime Garcia	54	Garcia	56	Chambers	16	Romero
26	Kyle Lohse	76	Gast	63	Cleto	19	Jay
31	Lance Lynn	75	Greenwood	13	Cora	21	Craig
46	Kyle McClellan	73	Jenkins	84	Cox	23	Freese
30	Jason Motte	74	Kelly	21	Craig	26	Lohse
53	Adam Ottavino	40	Linebrink	48	Cruz	27	Greene
68	Adam Reifer	26	Lohse	81	De La Cruz	29	Carpenter, C
16	J.C. Romero	31	Lynn	33	Descalso	30	Motte
34	Marc Rzepczynski	66	Marte	65	Dickson	31	Lynn
59	Fernando Salas	46	McClellan	70	Fick	33	Descalso
52	Eduardo Sanchez	71	Miller	72	Freeman	34	Rzepczynski
50	Adam Wainwright	30	Motte	23	Freese	35	Westbrook
35	Jake Westbrook	53	Ottavino	15	Furcal	37	Carpenter, M
		68	Reifer	54	Garcia	38	Hamilton
#	Catchers (3)	16	Romero	76	Gast	40	Linebrink
61	Bryan Anderson	79	Rosenthal	27	Greene	41	Boggs
48	Tony Cruz	34	Rzepczynski	75	Greenwood	43	Robinson
4	Yadier Molina	59	Salas	38	Hamilton	44	Hill, K
		52	Sanchez	44	Hill, K	46	McClellan
#	Infielders (9)	77	Siegrist	60	Hill, S	47	Kozma
37	Matt Carpenter	78	Swagerty	7	Holliday	48	Cruz
84	Zack Cox	67	Swindle	88	Jackson	50	Wainwright
33	Daniel Descalso	50	Wainwright	19	Jay	52	Sanchez
23	David Freese	35	Westbrook	73	Jenkins	53	Ottavino
15	Rafael Furcal			74	Kelly	54	Garcia
27	Tyler Greene	#	Catchers (8)	82	Komatsu	55	Schumaker
38	Mark Hamilton	61	Anderson	47	Kozma	56	Chambers
47	Pete Kozma	48	Cruz	40	Linebrink	59	Salas
55	Skip Schumaker	81	De La Cruz	26	Lohse	60	Hill, S
		44	Hill, K	31	Lynn	61	Anderson
#	Outfielders (8)	60	Hill, S	66	Marte	63	Cleto
3	Carlos Beltran	4	Molina	46	McClellan	65	Dickson
12	Lance Berkman	80	Stanley	71	Miller	66	Marte
56	Adron Chambers	86	Stock	4	Molina	67	Swindle
21	Allen Craig			30	Motte	68	Reifer
7	Matt Holliday	#	Infielders (14)	53	Ottavino	70	Fick
19	Jon Jay	87	Adams	68	Reifer	71	Miller
82	Erik Komatsu	37	Carpenter, M	43	Robinson	72	Freeman
43	Shane Robinson	13	Cora	16	Romero	73	Jenkins
		84	Cox	79	Rosenthal	74	Kelly
	Non-Roster Invitees (21)	33	Descalso	34	Rzepczynski	75	Greenwood
		23	Freese	59	Salas	76	Gast
#	Pitchers (11)	15	Furcal	52	Sanchez	77	Siegrist
76	John Gast	27	Greene	55	Schumaker	78	Swagerty
75	Nick Greenwood	38	Hamilton	77	Siegrist	79	Rosenthal
73	Tyrell Jenkins	88	Jackson	80	Stanley	80	Stanley
74	Joe Kelly	47	Kozma	86	Stock	81	De La Cruz
40	Scott Linebrink	55	Schumaker	78	Swagerty	82	Komatsu
66	Victor Marte	8	Velez	67	Swindle	84	Cox
71	Shelby Miller	89	Wong	8	Velez	86	Stock
79	Trevor Rosenthal			50	Wainwright	87	Adams
77	Kevin Siegrist	#	Outfielders (8)	35	Westbrook	88	Jackson
78	Jordan Swagerty	3	Beltran	89	Wong	89	Wong
67	R.J. Swindle	12	Berkman
		56	Chambers
#	Catchers (5)	21	Craig
81	Luis De La Cruz	7	Holliday
44	Koyie Hill	19	Jay
60	Steven Hill	82	Komatsu
80	Cody Stanley	43	Robinson
86	Robert Stock

#	Infielders (5)
87	Matt Adams
13	Alex Cora
88	Ryan Jackson
8	Eugenio Velez
89	Kolten Wong

	Outfielders (0)

Follow me on Twitter.
Follow The Cardinal Nation Blog on Facebook.
Follow TCN on Google+.

Tweet This Post

Fewer Cardinals spring training telecasts in 2012

Brian Walton — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 14:36:02 +0000

Note: The information in this article has been updated. For most up-to-date spring broadcast details, click here.

Apparently, other television networks across the Major League Baseball landscape – whether regional or national – are not particularly interested in seeing the World Champion St. Louis Cardinals this spring.

In spring training broadcast schedules posted at MLB.com, only two of the Cardinals’ eight spring opponents will be televising even one Florida contest with St. Louis. They are the New York Mets (three games) and the Houston Astros (one game).

While ESPN has already announced a slate of spring games, St. Louis is not scheduled to appear. MLB Network has not disclosed its plans, but last year, they did not originate new telecasts, instead picking up ones already covered by team-focused regional networks.

Further, two of those four Mets and Astros games with St. Louis are overlapping telecasts with the five Cardinals games tentatively planned by FOX Sports Midwest.

That leaves a bottom line of just seven unique Cardinals spring telecasts currently scheduled to be available on any channel. With a 28-game Florida slate for St. Louis, that is a mediocre .250 spring average (7 of 28).

To compare, last spring, almost one in every three Cardinals spring training games were available somewhere on television (10 of 31).

FOX Sports Midwest is doing its part, with an increase from three spring telecasts in 2011 to five this year. It is the rest of baseball that is giving the Cards the cold shoulder.

Larger market clubs televise more spring games. Even excluding ESPN and any opposing team broadcasts, the Phillies and Yankees have 17 spring games on their TV slate. The Mets have 15, Red Sox 13, Braves 10, etc. compared to St. Louis’ five.

Before the five Cardinals games on FS Midwest kick in, starting on March 17, the New Yorkers will be in the leadoff position. The first two Cardinals television appearances will be against the Mets on SportsNet New York (SNY), on March 6 and 13. The March 6 game will be very early in camp – game two of the Cardinals’ 28-game Florida slate.

Though their schedules have not yet been divulged, it is expected that both the home and away telecasts should be available via MLB.com’s subscription service (with appropriate blackout rules) and perhaps via your satellite provider (depending on your service packages). More details will be provided as they become available.

February 15 update: KMOX has announced its 16 Cardinals spring radio broadcasts, including the spring opener on March 5. The table below has been updated to reflect that.

I will add satellite TV and radio as well as MLB audio and video plans when disclosed.

St. Louis Cardinals 2012 spring training television schedule (as of February 15)

Day	Date	Opponent	Location	Time	TV	Radio
Monday	5-Mar	Miami Marlins	Jupiter	1:05 p.m.		KMOX
Tuesday	6-Mar	New York Mets	Port St. Lucie	1:10 p.m.	SNY
Wednesday	7-Mar	Washington Nationals	Viera	1:05 p.m.
Thursday	8-Mar	Boston Red Sox	Jupiter	1:05 p.m.		KMOX
Friday	9-Mar	Minnesota Twins	Fort Myers	1:05 p.m,
Saturday	10-Mar	Miami Marlins	Jupiter**	1:05 p.m.		KMOX
Sunday	11-Mar	Washington Nationals	Jupiter	1:05 p.m.		KMOX
Monday	12-Mar	Washington Nats (ss)	Viera	1:05 p.m.
	12-Mar	Atlanta Braves (ss)	Jupiter	1:05 p.m.		KMOX
Tuesday	13-Mar	New York Mets	Port St. Lucie	1:10 p.m.	SNY
Wednesday	14-Mar	Houston Astros	Jupiter	1:05 p.m.		KMOX
Thursday	15-Mar	Boston Red Sox	Fort Myers	2:30 p.m.
Friday	16-Mar	Miami Marlins	Jupiter	1:05 p.m.
Saturday	17-Mar	Detroit Tigers	Lakeland	1;05 p.m.	FSMidwest	KMOX
Sunday	18-Mar	Miami Marlins	Jupiter	1:05 p.m.		KMOX
Monday	19-Mar	Atlanta Braves	Buena Vista	1:05 p.m.	FSMidwest
Tuesday	20-Mar	Houston Astros	Kissimmee	1:05 p.m.	FSMidwest, FSHouston
Wednesday	21-Mar	New York Mets	Jupiter	1:05 p.m.		KMOX
Thursday	22-Mar	Washington Nationals	Jupiter	1:05 p.m.	FSMidwest	KMOX
Friday	23-Mar	Miami Marlins	Jupiter**	1:05 p.m.
Saturday	24-Mar	New York Mets	Port St. Lucie	1:10 p.m.	FSMidwest, WPIX NY	KMOX
Sunday	25-Mar	Minnesota Twins	Jupiter	1:05 p.m.		KMOX
Monday	26-Mar	New York Mets	Jupiter	1:05 p.m.
Tuesday	27-Mar	OPEN DATE
Wednesday	28-Mar	Detroit Tigers	Jupiter	1:05 p.m.		KMOX
Thursday	29-Mar	Miami Marlins	Jupiter**	1:05 p.m.
Friday	30-Mar	New York Mets	Jupiter	1:05 p.m.		KMOX
Saturday	31-Mar	Washington Nationals	Viera	1:05 p.m.		KMOX
Sunday	1-Apr	Washington Nationals	Jupiter	1:05 p.m.		KMOX
Monday	2-Apr	Springfield Cardinals	Springfield, Mo.	6:10 p.m.

		Times are local
		** Cardinals road team
		(ss) Split Squad

Follow me on Twitter.
Follow The Cardinal Nation Blog on Facebook.
Follow TCN on Google+.

Tweet This Post

Cardinals organization roster matrix: 2012 spring training

Brian Walton — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 13:25:16 +0000

NOTE: As of 4/2/12, this version of the roster matrix is no longer current. It reflects the changes from the announcement of spring training invitations until the opening of the regular season. It should now be considered a historical reference document. For the newer roster matrix covering the 2012 regular season, click here.

With the 2012 spring training camp invitations issued, it is time for another refresh of the St. Louis Cardinals system roster matrix. This version reflects the changes made until 2012 spring training concludes and the regular season and extended spring training get underway. The previous matrix reflects the rosters as they evolved from the end of 2011 play until spring training invitations were issued.

If you are new to the blog and not familiar with the Cardinals organization roster matrix, here is quick summary:

At the time of this posting, the St. Louis Cardinals had 266 players under contract from top to bottom, including 39 players on the 40-man roster. The matrix places each one at his assigned level in the system at the conclusion of 2011 and by position. Spring training camp invitees are shown separately. This matrix is updated daily or whenever transactions occur.

Nowhere else will you find this current and comprehensive single-page view of the entire Cardinals organization.

Don’t be concerned about the order of the players’ names within a team. It doesn’t signify anything.

The players on the 40-man roster are called out in bold.

The short-season pitchers are broken out into returnees and summer 2011 signees.

Full team rosters and player profiles at The Cardinal Nation

Remember that to get detailed profile information on every single one of these 266 Cardinals players, simply check out their free player profiles updated at The Cardinal Nation.com / Scout.com. You can see bios, photos, videos, articles, news items, links to current season and career stats and much more – everything you need to know about a player in one place.

Click on the following links to be taken to one of the nine team pages at The Cardinal Nation. You can also see rosters and player profiles back to 2004:

Full-season clubs
St. Louis Cardinals
Memphis Redbirds
Springfield Cardinals
Palm Beach Cardinals
Quad Cities River Bandits

Short-season clubs
Batavia Muckdogs
Johnson City Cardinals
Gulf Coast League Cardinals
Dominican Summer League Cardinals

Once on a team page, just click on a player’s name to be taken to his individual profile page for that year. For example, here is Shelby Miller’s 2012 profile.

Looking ahead and back

Now that you’ve found this page once, remember one of three ways to get back here. Bookmark the page, type “Roster Matrix” in the dark blue search box at the upper right or use the dropdown menu at the top of the page: “Players/Staff” > “Depth Charts/Roster Matrix”.

For details behind past rosters and transactions, check out the earlier versions of the Cardinals organization roster matrix as follows.

Link to previous matrices: Jan–March 2009, April 2009, May 2009, June 2009, July 2009-February 2010, Spring camp 2010, Opening season 2010, First half 2010, Short-season 2010, 2010-11 Off-season, 2011 spring training, 2011 regular season, 2011 short-season, 2011-2012 off-season

Related resources

St. Louis Cardinals 2012 major league spring training schedule
St. Louis Cardinals 2012 minor league spring training schedule (subscriber article)

Transactions

01/24: New matrix. Organization total: 266 players.

02/06: SS Alex Cora signed to a minors deal with MLB spring camp invite. New total: 267 players.

02/08: Dominican RHP Andres Serrano signed (in October). New total: 268 players.

02/10: RHR Scott Linebrink signed to a minors deal with MLB spring camp invite. New total: 269 players.

02/11: Five DSL players added: LHP Erick Hurtado; RHPs Juan Perez, Luis De La Rosa, Daylin Martinez; OF Bladimil Franco. Five DSL players released: LHP Delvi Rodriguez; RHPs Addelin Ceballo, Jean Carlos De la Cruz, Douglas Planchart; OF Domingo Diaz. Total remains 269 players.

02/23: RHP Sam Gaviglio invited to early minor league camp.

02/25: C Adam Lewis invited to early minor league camp.

02/28: 1B Victor Sanchez retired. New total: 268 players.

03/05: C Robert Stock moved to RHP. He and RHP Jordan Swagerty reassigned to minor league camp from NRIs.

03/06: Contract of DSL LHP Erick Hurtado voided due to failed PED test. New total: 267 players.

03/08: Seven players to minor league camp: Adam Reifer, John Gast, Nick Greenwood, Tyrell Jenkins, Cody Stanley, Luis De La Cruz and Kolten Wong.

03/14: Spr RHR Francisco Samuel released. New total: 266 players.

03/14: Seven players to minor league camp: Brandon Dickson, Maikel Cleto, Zack Cox, Pete Kozma, Shelby Miller, Joe Kelly and Kevin Siegrist.

03/19: Four players released: RHR Pete Parise, LHRs Dan Calhoun, Sean Watson, Jean Mijares. New total: 262 players.

03/20: Seven players to minor league camp: Chuckie Fick, Adam Ottavino, Sam Freeman, Trevor Rosenthal, R.J. Swindle, Ryan Jackson, Steven Hill.

03/23: Bat LHP Pat Daugherty released. New total: 261 players.

03/25: NRIs Alex Cora and Koyie Hill released. Mark Hamilton, Eduardo Sanchez and Matt Adams to minors camp. New total: 259 players.

03/26: OF Adron Chambers optioned out.

03/27: C Cody Stanley suspended 50 games.

03/28: Six minor leaguers released: IFs Joey Bergman, Romulo Ruiz, Ted Obregon, Phil Cerreto; RPs Cory Rauschenberger, Justin Edwards. New total: 253 players.

03/29: NRI RHR Scott Linebrink added to 40-man roster. 40-man now full.

03/30: C Bryan Anderson optioned out. NRIs Victor Marte and Eugenio Velez reassigned to minors camp. RHR Adam Ottavino designated for assignment.

03/31: RHR David Kopp released. OF Jake Shaffer signed. New total: 253 players.

The St. Louis Cardinals Organization Roster Matrix (effective 03/31/12)

25-man (NA)	40-man (28)
SP	RP	C	1B	2B	SS	3B	OF
C Carpenter	Boggs	Molina	Berkman	Schumaker	Furcal	Freese	Holliday
Lohse	McClellan	T Cruz		Descalso	T Greene	M Carpenter	Jay
Westbrook	Salas						Craig
Wainwright	Motte						Robinson
Ja Garcia (L)	Rzepczynski (L)						Beltran
Lynn	Romero (L)						Komatsu (R5)
	Linebrink

Non-roster invitees (0)
SP	RP	C	1B	2B	SS	3B	OF



40-man to minors (12)
SP	RP	C	1B	2B	SS	3B	OF
Dickson	Reifer	Anderson	Hamilton		Kozma	Cox	Chambers
	Ottavino (DFA)
	Fick
	S Freeman (L)
	Cleto
	Sanchez

NRIs to minors (17+1)
SP	RP	C	1B	2B	SS	3B	OF
Swagerty	Greenwood (L)	Stanley (SL)	Adams	Wong	R Jackson
Stock	Swindle (L)	R DeLaCruz		Velez
Gast (L)	Marte	S Hill
Jenkins
Siegrist (L)
Kelly
S. Miller
Rosenthal

Early minors camp (26)
SP	RP	C	1B	2B	SS	3B	OF
Blazek	Wright (L)	A Perez	Scruggs	G Garcia	Gil		Conley
DeLeon		Klein		S Rodriguez	Peoples-Walls		Longmire
Ferrara (L)		Lewis (TO)		B Valera			Taveras
Fornataro							Jeffries
H Hernamdez (L)							McElroy
Hooker							Tilson
Lyons (L)
C Martinez
Paulino
Gaviglio

Memphis (7)
SP	RP	C	1B	2B	SS	3B	OF
Additon (L)	Browning (L)	Derba					Cazana
Broderick	Todd
Hunt



Springfield (14)
SP	RP	C	1B	2B	SS	3B	OF
Thomas	Delgado	Tartamella		Jo Garcia		Curtis	Pham
Gorgen	Rondon						Swauger
McGregor	Schneider						Luna
	Rada						Shaffer


Palm Beach (9)
SP	RP	C	1B	2B	SS	3B	OF
Ri Castillo	Corrigan					N Vasquez	Melker
	Reid					Ahmady	R Rosario
	Butler
	Simpson



Quad Cities (20)
SP	RP	C	1B	2B	SS	3B	OF
Russell	A Lucas	Espinoza		Lu Mateo	Elkins	J Rodriguez	Edmondson
Whiting	Kiekhefer (L)	Teran		Walsh			Swinson
Bibona (L)	Maness	Keener
Blair	De Jesus
Copeland (L)	Nazario (L)
Benes

Batavia (25+1)
P	P(2011 added)	C	1B	2B	SS	3B	OF
Y Castillo	Miranda (L)	Rasmus	D Medina	Stienstra	Wittels	Patton	Martini
Almarante	Cole	J Castillo			C Valera		Rbto Reyes
R Martinez	T Miller				Albitz		V Hill
	Cornelius (L)						O’Neill
	McInnis						Williams (SL)
	Baker
	Bileckyj (L)
	Sherriff (L)
	Jacob
	Springer

Johnson City (32)
P	P(2011 added)	C	1B	2B	SS	3B	OF
Pasen	Mills	Byrd	Washington	Rahmatulla	M Williams	R DeLaCruz	Apelian
Santana	Hald (L)	Montero			Pritchard		Ro Castillo
Canache	Gillung (L)				Martin		An Garcia
B Freeman (L)	Billbrough						S Ramos
Bautista	Creath						Bergin
Nuernberg	Wyatt
E Hiraldo	Rein (L)
J Lucas	Costantino
Revesz (L)	Melling (L)
Nadeau (L)

Gulf Coast (21)
P	P(2011 added)	C	1B	2B	SS	3B	OF
Aguilar	B Watson	Velazco	Knox	Le Mateo		Tuivailala	Argenal
Brand		L Perez		Vargas			Dodd
Toribio		Ehrlich					Bryant
A Tapia							Deol
S Lopez
Villanueva (L)
Ulacio
B Martinez
Montanez

DSL (38+1)
SP	RP	C	1B	2B	SS	3B	OF
Salazar	A DeLaCruz (L)	Baez	Mejia	Rblys Reyes	Pina	Agustin	Araujo
Escudero	A Gonzalez (RL)	J Gomez			R Medina	R Garcia	Capellan
Perdomo	Gerdel	L Cruz			Barbuena		Celestino
S Garcia	F Gonzalez	Godoy			E Alvarez		J Pena
Paredes	F Flores						Torres
DeLosSantos	I Brito (L)						Acevedo
Jh Polanco	Villegas						Franco
Negrette (L)
D Perez (L)	J Perez
	DeLaRosa
Serrano	D Martinez

Unassigned (1)
P	P	C	1B	2B	SS	3B	OF
M Harris (MIL)

Codes
(I): injured
(TI): temporary inactive list
(SL): suspended list
(RL): restricted list
(MIL): military list
(TO): tryout player not under contract
(L) left-handed pitcher
bold: on the Cardinals’ 40-man roster
(#+#) number of active players on the roster plus number of inactive/not under contract (DL+TI+SL+RL+MIL+TO) players

Follow me on Twitter.
Follow The Cardinal Nation Blog on Facebook.
Follow TCN on Google+.

Tweet This Post

Buy your St. Louis Cardinals spring training tickets now

Brian Walton — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 15:28:04 +0000

St. Louis Cardinals 2012 Spring Training single game tickets go on sale to the public today, Saturday, January 21, 2012 at 9 A.M. CT / 10 A.M. ET. Fans in the Palm Beach area can select their seats at the Roger Dean Stadium Fun Fest going on at the stadium from 10 A.M. to 2 P.M. today. Others can purchase tickets online from the Cardinals official website.

Here is the link to the full spring schedule. The Cardinals will play a total of 17 of their 29 Florida games at Roger Dean this spring, including three games as the “visiting” team against their co-habitants, the Miami Marlins. The first game and home game of 2012 will be held between the two clubs on Monday, March 5.

There is nothing like seeing the major leaguers under the Florida sun and in the more intimate setting in Jupiter, Florida. While you are there, catch morning workouts and the minor leaguers on the back quad, too.

I go every spring and hope to see you there.

Follow me on Twitter.
Follow The Cardinal Nation Blog on Facebook.
Follow TCN on Google+.

Tweet This Post

Predicting the Cardinals non-roster invitees

Brian Walton — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 14:36:23 +0000

It is nearing the annual time when major league clubs disclose their non-roster players (NRIs) invited to major league camp. They will join the members of the 40-man roster who by definition attend big-league training.

Currently, the St. Louis Cardinals have 39 players in the latter group and according to a report from Joe Strauss of the Post-Dispatch, there will be 19 players in the former group. While the 19 have been informed of their selection, the club has not yet released their names. That could come as soon as this weekend, during Winter Warm-Up.

We already are pretty sure about 10 of the 19. They include prospects Shelby Miller, Tyrell Jenkins, Kolten Wong, Matt Adams, Jordan Swagerty, Joe Kelly and Nick Greenwood. Then, there are three veteran NRIs in Koyie Hill, R.J. Swindle and Eugenio Velez.

Your mission, should you decide to accept it, is to guess the identities of the other nine players. Post your guess below, but only one guess per person, please. If someone ends up on the target or very close, I may come up with a prize in recognition.

For quick assistance, refer to the Roster Matrix, always kept up to date here at The Cardinal Nation Blog. There, you can see all players in the system by level and position, including the 39 players currently on the roster. Click here or you can always access current as well as past matrices from the “Players/Staff” > “Depth Charts/Roster Matrix” dropdown on the menu bar at the top of this page.

Cardinals pitchers and catchers are scheduled to report to Jupiter, FL on February 18 and conduct their first workout on February 19. The remainder of the Cardinals’ players will be scheduled to report February 23 with their first workout on February 24.

Follow me on Twitter.
Follow The Cardinal Nation Blog on Facebook.
Follow TCN on Google+.

Tweet This Post

St. Louis Cardinals tentative 2012 spring training schedule

Brian Walton — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 14:23:57 +0000

Monday’s big announcement was that of new St. Louis Cardinals manager Mike Matheny. But when will the new skipper first lead his team onto the baseball fields of Florida?

If you are like me, even before the press conference, you were already looking forward to the first official pitch of spring training 2012. Though the exact timing of that moment is still unclear, more details are coming to light.

With another disclosure on Monday, that of the New York Mets’ spring training schedule by ESPN New York, about two-thirds of the tentative slate of spring games for the Cardinals can be pieced together from various non-official sources.

So far, 19 games appear on the tentative schedule, including home and away tilts against Houston, Atlanta and Minnesota. Six contests against the Mets lead the way with three against Washington. Just one Detroit game appears to date.

Finally, only two contests against the new Miami Marlins have been disclosed so far with as many as a half-dozen more that could be added when the Roger Dean Stadium schedule is released. Home season tickets can be purchased, but a date for single-game sales may not be announced until the Cardinals make their entire schedule official.

Player reporting dates to camp have not yet been made public, either, but around February 20-22 should be close.

The Cardinals are expected to host 14 home games in Jupiter this spring, with nine currently known.

St. Louis Cardinals tentative 2012 spring training schedule (as of 11/15/11)

Day	Date	Opponent	Location	Local Time
Mon	5-Mar
Tue	6-Mar	Mets	Port St. Lucie	1:10 PM
Wed	7-Mar
Thu	8-Mar
Fri	9-Mar	Twins	Ft. Myers
Sat	10-Mar	Marlins	Jupiter (away)	1:05 PM
Sun	11-Mar	Nationals	Jupiter	1:05 PM
Mon	12-Mar	Braves	Jupiter	1:05 PM
Tue	13-Mar	Mets	Port St. Lucie	1:10 PM
Wed	14-Mar	Astros	Jupiter	1:05 PM
Thu	15-Mar
Fri	16-Mar
Sat	17-Mar	Tigers	Lakeland
Sun	18-Mar	Marlins	Jupiter (home)	1:05 PM
Mon	19-Mar	Braves	Disney	1:05 PM
Tue	20-Mar	Astros	Kissimmee
Wed	21-Mar	Mets	Jupiter	1:05 PM
Thu	22-Mar
Fri	23-Mar
Sat	24-Mar	Mets	Port St. Lucie	1:10 PM
Sun	25-Mar	Twins	Jupiter	1:05 PM
Mon	26-Mar	Mets	Jupiter	1:05 PM
Tue	27-Mar
Wed	28-Mar
Thu	29-Mar
Fri	30-Mar	Mets	Jupiter	1:05 PM
Sat	31-Mar	Nationals	Viera
Sun	1-Apr	Nationals	Jupiter	1:05 PM
Mon	2-Apr	Springfield	Springfield, MO	6:00 PM

The Springfield exhibition on April 2 will close out the spring, setting off a whirlwind travel stretch that will go something like this. The Cardinals will log over 3,400 air miles in the course of just five days as they zigzag back and forth from, to and from Florida.

Monday, April 1: Jupiter to Springfield
Wednesday, April 3: Springfield to Miami
Friday, April 5: Miami to Milwaukee

The 2012 regular-season opener will be an unusual one-game set to be played on Thursday, April 4 in celebration of the opening of the new Marlins stadium. The Cardinals’ first full series will begin against the defending National League Central Division champion Brewers on Friday, April 6 in Milwaukee. The Cards will not reach St. Louis until Thursday, April 12, following another road series in Cincinnati.

11/22 Update: The full 2012 Cardinals spring schedule has now been announced.

Follow me on Twitter.
Follow The Cardinal Nation Blog on Facebook.

Tweet This Post

Cardinals Minor League Spring Training Notebook: 04/03

Brian Walton — Mon, 04 Apr 2011 02:07:15 +0000

Highlights from Sunday’s final St. Louis Cardinals minor league spring training games from Jupiter, Florida.

Following are the highlights from the 18th and final day of St. Louis Cardinals minor league games in spring 2011, on Sunday, April 3. In a camp day, Memphis took on Springfield while Palm Beach opposed Quad Cities. The Redbirds and River Bandits each won.

The 2-2 result means the Cardinals system finished the spring with a combined 38-28-10 record. That includes a sharp 24-14-6 mark against external competition, the Marlins and Mets.

Today’s photo is of the Player of the Day, Memphis catcher Tony Cruz. He reached base every time, with a double, homer and walk in three plate appearances. The 40-man player scored twice and plated two. Honorable mention to Quad Cities hurlers Justin Smith, Andrew Moss and Keith Butler as they spun a shutout against Palm Beach.

The Cardinal Nation subscribers can see all four full-season rosters as camp breaks on Monday as well as players remaining behind for Extended Spring Training. They will be joined by 42 more players in EST. Again, TCN subscribers can view all the additional EST players’ names here.

As he has been doing the last few seasons, Cardinals farm director John Vuch is sharing game highlights with this site and several others with interest in Cardinals prospects. As always, the raw data is his, with the comments mine.

A special thanks to the Cardinals for providing game stats all spring long.

Memphis (8-5-4) 4, Springfield (6-7-4) 3

Memphis pitching

Lance Lynn fanned nine Cardinals over seven innings. The big righty yielded three runs on four hits over seven innings. Lynn walked no one.

Eduardo Sanchez fanned one during his scoreless frame. Sanchez is our fifth-ranked Cardinals prospect for 2011.

Cory Rauschenberger gave up a hit and fanned one in his run-free frame.

Memphis hitting

Andrew Brown keeps on hitting, going 2-for-3 with a pair of singles and a run scored.

Tony Cruz doubled, homered and walked in three plate appearances. The catcher scored twice and drove in two.

Pete Kozma singled and doubled, driving in one in two PAs.

Donovan Solano singled in three at-bats and scored one run.

Ramon Vazquez singled in two at-bats and collected an RBI.

Springfield pitching

Kevin Thomas started and yielded two runs in 5 1/3 innings. He gave up five hits and walk and fanned three.

Ramon Delgado fanned two in two scoreless, hitless and walkless innings.

Brett Zawacki had a rough 1/3 inning outing, as he allowed two hits and a walk. Two of them scored.

Casey Mulligan gave up a hit and a walk without getting an out.

Springfield hitting

Aaron Luna had a home run and two RBI in three at-bats.

Nick Derba tripled in three at-bats.

Chris Swauger singled in three at-bats. He scored and drove in one.

Xavier Scruggs doubled and scored in four at-bats.

Quad Cities (8-8-2) 8, Palm Beach (11-7) 0

Palm Beach pitching

John Gast was spanked for five earned runs in four innings. The lefty allowed four hits, three walks and fanned three.

Joe Kelly, like Gast a MLB camp invitee, yielded three runs in two innings on four hits and a walk.

Jose Rada pitched a perfect inning.

Jorge Rondon walked one and fanned two in a scoreless frame.

Hector Corpas worked a quiet inning.

Palm Beach hitting

Alan Ahmady was on base twice with a single and walk in two plate appearances.

Luis Mateo, Audry Perez and Zack Cox each had one hit.

Quad Cities pitching

Justin Smith gave up just one hit and three walks in 4 2/3 scoreless. He fanned seven.

Andrew Moss followed with 3 1/3 shutout frames of his own. Moss allowed three hits and a walk and struck out three.

Keith Butler had a scoreless inning, fanning one.

Quad Cities hitting

Nick Longmire singled and doubled in four PAs. He scored one run.

Victor Sanchez doubled twice and walked in four plate appearances. He scored twice.

Jonathan Rodriguez was also on base three times in four PAs with a double and a pair of walks. He scored twice.

Cody Stanley singled and drove in one in three at-bats.

Frederick Parejo singled and walked in four PAs. The outfielder scored one run.

Yunier Castillo had a single in four at-bats and drove in two.

Follow me on Twitter.
Follow The Cardinal Nation Blog on Facebook.

Tweet This Post

Cardinals Minor League Spring Training Notebook: 04/02

Brian Walton — Sun, 03 Apr 2011 01:17:49 +0000

Following are the highlights from the 17th day of St. Louis Cardinals minor league games in spring 2011, on Saturday, April 2.

The Cardinals minor leaguers had their oddest split day of the spring. Memphis and Springfield played their Florida Marlins counterparts while Palm Beach and Quad Cities #1 took on the New York Mets A-ball squads. In addition, Quad Cities #2 stepped up in competition and opposed the Marlins A-Advanced team.

The 4-0-1 result was the best day of the spring for the Cardinals and their first undefeated afternoon. Only Springfield did not win though they pitched will in their tie.

The Cardinals system is now a combined 36-26-10 this spring and has guaranteed a winning Florida record. They finished with a sharp 24-14-6 mark against external competition, the Marlins and Mets.

Today’s photo is of the Player of the Day, Palm Beach starter Eric Fornataro. The 23-year-old right-hander yielded an unearned run in five innings. Fornataro allowed just three hits, walked no one and struck out three.

On Sunday, the Cardinals have their final spring action in a camp day. Memphis will against take on Springfield and Palm Beach will play Quad Cities. For the full state of minor league spring training schedules, The Cardinal Nation subscribers can click here.

Memphis (7-5-4) 8, New Orleans 5

Memphis pitching

Brandon Dickson yielded all five New Orleans’ runs. In 5 2/3 innings, he gave up six hits and five walks. Our system Pitcher of the Year in 2010 struck out two.

Jason Buursma allowed just one hit in 1 1/3 scoreless innings.

Lefty Rich Rundles also gave up just one hit in his inning.

Blake King was touched for a pair of hits but was unscored upon. The 40-man roster righty fanned one.

Memphis hitting

Nick Stavinoha had two singles and a double in five at-bats. He scored and collected one RBI.

Free agent signee Ramon Vazquez also singled twice and doubled but also walked in five plate appearances. The infielder scored twice.

Shane Robinson singled, doubled and scored in five ABs.

Another former free agent infielder, Freddie Bynum, had a pair of extra base hits in five at-bats. Bynum drove in three with his double and home run.

Jim Rapoport singled twice in five at-bats and came around to score once.

Donovan Solano singled and walked twice.

Despite just going 1-for-3, Andrew Brown drove in two runs and scored twice.

Pete Kozma also singled and scored twice but had just one RBI.

Springfield (6-6-4) 1, Jacksonville 1

Springfield pitching

Scott Schneider allowed just seven baserunners in six innings and only one scored.

Richard Castillo have up a hit and fanned one in his lone inning of work.

Matt Frevert gave up a hit and a walk in his one inning, but neither scored.

Cory Rauschenberger retired his only batter faced.

Casey Mulligan collected two outs, including a strikeout.

Springfield hitting

Tyler Henley doubled and scored.

Chris Swauger singled and collected the only Springfield RBI.

Niko Vasquez was the only other Cardinals runner. He drew a walk.

Palm Beach (11-6) 3, St. Lucie 1

Palm Beach pitching

Eric Fornataro gave up just an unearned run on three hits and no walks in five innings. Fornataro fanned three.

Arquimedes Nieto scattered a pair of hits over two scoreless frames.

Jared Bradford yielded two hits and a walk in his one inning, but managed to keep them off home plate.

Chase Reid gave up two hits in his scoreless frame and fanned two.

Lefty Nick Greenwood surrendered one hit and struck out one in his scoreless inning.

Palm Beach hitting

Phil Cerreto had two doubles in four at-bats. He scored one and drove in one.

Alan Ahmady singled twice in four at-bats and collected an RBI.

Luis Mateo doubled and scored.

Jarred Bogany singled in his only at-bat.

Quad Cities #1 (7-8-2) 3, Savannah 1

Quad Cities #1 pitching

Kevin Siegrist yielded one earned run in four innings on six hits and a walk. He struck out three.

Boone Whiting and Justin Wright each spun two perfect frames. Whiting fanned three and Wright two.

Chris Corrigan gave up one hit and fanned one in his scoreless inning.

Quad Cities #1 hitting

Nick Longmire and Greg Garcia each had two singles in four at-bats.

Michael Swinson singled and doubled in two at-bats and scored once.

Roberto Espinoza singled and scored in his lone at-bat.

Cody Stanley singled in his only at-bat.

Oscar Taveras doubled, walked and drove in one.

Quad Cities #2 (5-1) 8, Jupiter (A-Advanced) 4

Quad Cities #2 pitching

Carlos Martinez yielded just one earned run in four innings on two hits and a walk. Pitching against these higher-level batters, the 19-year-old fanned nine, including seven in a row.

Cale Johnson walked a pair in his lone inning, but neither scored.

Tyrell Jenkins was victimized by a two-out error as three unearned runs crossed the plate. The 2010 supplemental first rounder yielded two hits and no walks in two innings.

Pat Daugherty and Aidan Lucas each gave up a hit and fanned one in their scoreless innings.

Quad Cities #2 hitting

Romulo Ruiz singled twice and doubled in four at-bats. He drove in one and scored one.

Catcher Kevin Moscatel had two singles in four at-bats, scored twice and drove in one.

Pat Biserta and Matt Valaika each went 2-for-4. Biserta drove in two and Valaika plated one.

Cesar Valera singled and doubled in four at-bats and scored a run.

Colin Walsh was on base three times in four appearances with a single and two walks.

Adam Melker had a perfect day, with three walks and a double in four PAs.

Steven Ramos hit a solo home run.

Follow me on Twitter.
Follow The Cardinal Nation Blog on Facebook.

Tweet This Post

Cardinals Minor League Spring Training Notebook: 04/01

Brian Walton — Sat, 02 Apr 2011 03:24:38 +0000

Following are the highlights from the 16th day of St. Louis Cardinals minor league games in spring 2011, on Friday, April 1. The Cardinals minor leaguers had a camp day, during which Memphis faced Springfield and Palm Beach opposed Quad Cities.

After the 2-2 day in which both upper-level clubs won, the Cardinals system is a combined 32-26-9 this spring. That includes a 20-14-5 mark against external competition, the Marlins and Mets.

Today’s photo is of the Player of the Day, Trevor Rosenthal (again). The 20-year-old right-hander tossed six shutout innings and fanned nine for Quad Cities. Honorable mention for the four Palm Beach pitchers, Maikel Cleto, Jesse Simpson, Aaron Terry and Jose Rada. They combined for a complete-game one-hitter.

On Saturday, the Cardinals have their final spring action against their New York Mets minor league neighbors. For the full state of minor league spring training schedules, The Cardinal Nation subscribers can click here.

Memphis (6-5-4) 3, Springfield (6-6-3) 2

Memphis pitching

P.J. Walters tossed six innings of two-run ball. The right-hander allowed just six baserunners, five hits and a walk. Walters fanned five.

Tyler Norrick had trouble with walks, giving out four free passes while collecting five outs, including two via the strikeout. No Springfield runs were allowed, though.

Eduardo Sanchez, one of the last players cut from St. Louis, fanned one in his inning of work.

Memphis hitting

Andrew Brown continues to have a hot week, with two singles and a double in four at-bats. He scored one.

Shane Robinson singled, doubled and scored in four at-bats.

Jim Rapoport and Tony Cruz were each on base three times in four plate appearances with a pair of singles and a walk. Cruz scored a run.

Ramon Vazquez singled and walked in four PAs and drove in one.

Pete Kozma was on base all four times, with a single and three walks. He also drove in one.

Donovan Solano walked and had a sacrifice fly.

Springfield pitching

Mike Blazek allowed all three Redbirds runs in 4 2/3 innings. Memphis had five hits and drew four walks against him. Blazek fanned three.

Five baserunners reached against Adam Reifer in just 1 1/3 innings, but none scored. Three hits and two walks occurred on his watch, same as…

Lefty Ryan Kulik who also struck out three in 1 2/3 scoreless innings.

Springfield hitting

Jose Garcia was on base twice with a walk and a double. He scored one.

Jermaine Curtis stroked an RBI double.

Matt Adams had a single and RBI.

Nick Derba was on base twice in three plate appearances with a walk and a double. He scored one run.

Palm Beach (10-6) 4, Quad Cities (6-8-2) 1

Palm Beach pitching

Maikel Cleto had his strongest outing of the spring, allowing one earned run in five innings on just one hit and two walks. The 40-man roster righty struck out seven.

Jesse Simpson fanned two in a perfect inning.

Aaron Terry retired all six batters faced.

Jose Rada added a perfect inning of his own.

Palm Beach hitting

D’Marcus Ingram was on base twice in four appearances with a single and a walk. He scored one.

Curt Smith homered in three at-bats and drove in two.

Ryde Rodriguez made the most of his two plate appearances, walking and homering. The outfielder scored both times and drove in a pair.

Quad Cities pitching

Trevor Rosenthal has to be the pitcher of the camp. This time out, he allowed just one hit and no walks over six scoreless. Rosenthal fanned nine.

Ricky Martinez took the loss, yielding two runs in two innings. Though he gave up just one hit, he also walked two. Martinez struck out two.

Drew Benes scattered two hits in his scoreless inning.

Scott Bittle gave up the final pair of runs on one walk and one hit in 2/3 of an inning. He famed one.

Quad Cities hitting

Michael Swinson had his team’s only hit and RBI.

Greg Garcia walked and scored that sole run.

Follow me on Twitter.
Follow The Cardinal Nation Blog on Facebook.

Tweet This Post

Cardinals Minor League Spring Training Notebook: 03/31

Brian Walton — Fri, 01 Apr 2011 01:18:59 +0000

Following are the highlights from the 15th day of St. Louis Cardinals minor league games in spring 2011, on Thursday, March 31. The Cardinals minor leaguers, all five rosters worth, had their final games with their Marlins neighbors. Florida was the home team, so the games were held on their side of the Jupiter complex.

After the 3-1-1 day, the Cardinals system is a combined 30-24-9 this spring. That includes a 20-14-5 mark against external competition, the Marlins and Mets.

Today’s photo is of the Player of the Day, Memphis reliever Chuckie Fick. The right-hander allowed just one baserunner in three scoreless innings and struck out four. Four starters receive honorable mention: the Redbirds’ Adam Ottavino, Palm Beach’s Shelby Miller, Quad Cities #1 starter Jordan Swagerty and QC #2 starter Hector Hernandez.

On Friday, the Cardinals have another camp day during which Memphis will take on Springfield and Palm Beach will oppose Quad Cities. For the full state of minor league spring training schedules, The Cardinal Nation subscribers can click here.

Memphis (5-5-4) 4, New Orleans 3

The Redbirds got to former major leaguer Sean West for all four runs in the first inning and held on for the win.

Memphis pitching

Adam Ottavino had his best outing of the spring and he works to prove his shoulder problems are behind him. The right-hander allowed one run in five innings on four hits and two walks. The former first-round pick struck out seven.

Chuckie Fick had a sterling relief stint. In three innings, he gave up just one hit and no walks. Fick fanned four.

Rich Rundles allowed a single to his only batter faced and that runner later scored.

Fernando Salas had a rare rough inning as he yielded two hits and two walks. One runner crossed the plate.

Memphis hitting

Nick Stavinoha, listed as a catcher on Memphis’ roster, singled and doubled in four at-bats. He drove in one and scored one.

Minor league free agent signee Freddie Bynum had three singles in four at-bats.

Versatile Andrew Brown was on base twice in four plate appearances on single and a walk. He plated a run and scored one.

Donovan Solano singled and drove in a pair.

Springfield (6-5-3) 8, Jacksonville 4

Springfield pitching

Deryk Hooker yielded three runs in five innings. The right-hander surrendered four hits and walked no one. Hooker fanned four.

Richard Castillo, now listed among the relievers, allowed three hits in two innings, but kept them away from home plate.

Ramon Delgado had a day of ones as he was charged with one earned run on one hit, one walk and yes, he struck out one.

Lefty Nick Greenwood allowed two baserunners and collected two outs, one via strikeout.

Casey Mulligan converted a one-out save with a strikeout.

Springfield hitting

Chris Swauger singled and hit a solo home run in five at-bats.

Third baseman Niko Vasquez singled three times in four at-bats and scored twice.

Roberto Espinoza had two doubles in four at-bats and drove in three.

Matt Adams and Jose Garcia both doubled and had an RBI.

Outfielder Aaron Luna singled and drove in one.

Jupiter 4, Palm Beach (9-6) 3

Palm Beach pitching

Shelby Miller had a nice four-inning day, as he struck out seven and allowed just one run. The system’s top prospect gave up just two hits and walked three.

Arquimedes Nieto, apparently still in the battle for a rotation spot, gave up one run in two innings on three hits. He fanned one.

Daniel Calhoun was touched for two runs in 1 2/3 frames. He yielded four hits and fanned one.

Jorge Rondon gave up just one scattered hit in 1 1/3 scoreless. He struck out one batter.

Palm Beach hitting

Curt Smith, Ryde Rodriguez and Phil Cerreto all had two singles and scored one in four at-bats.

Jarred Bogany doubled and plated two.

Quad Cities #1 (6-7-2) 1, Greensboro 1 (tie)

Quad Cities #1 pitching

Jordan Swagerty, a closer last season at Arizona State, will be starting in 2011. In five shutout innings, he allowed four hits and a walk, striking out three.

Angel DeJesus surrendered the only Greensboro run on two hits and two walks over his three-inning outing.

Jared Bradford gave up a pair of hits in his scoreless innings.

Quad Cities #1 hitting

Juan Castillo singled twice and drove in one in three at-bats.

Frederick Parejo was on base twice in three plate appearances with a single and a walk. He scored the lone Quad Cities run.

Quad Cities #2 (4-1) 3, Marlins fifth team 2

Quad Cities #2 pitching

Hector Hernandez had a strong four-inning shutout start. He yielded just one hit and three walks while fanning four.

Wilson Matos was charged with a lone run on four hits and a walk over two frames. Matos struck out two.

Tyler Lyons gave up the other run in his two-inning stint. He allowed one hit and fanned one.

Sean Watson, who I reported yesterday had signed his first professional contract, earned his first save. The 6-foot-9 left-hander allowed one hit in his scoreless ninth inning.

Quad Cities #2 hitting

Adam Melker singled twice and scored both times in four at-bats.

Chris Edmondson pulled out his extra-base stick with a double and triple in four at-bats. He scored one run and drove in another.

Follow me on Twitter.
Follow The Cardinal Nation Blog on Facebook.

Tweet This Post

Cardinals Minor League Spring Training Notebook: 03/30

Brian Walton — Thu, 31 Mar 2011 02:40:13 +0000

Following are the highlights from the 14th day of St. Louis Cardinals minor league games in spring 2011, on Wednesday, March 30. Memphis and Springfield faced the Mets’ Triple-A and Double-A clubs at Port St. Lucie, while Palm Beach and Quad Cities took on their New York counterparts at home in Jupiter.

The 0-2-2 day was the Cardinals’ worst of the spring – their first winless day. The Cardinals system is a combined 27-23-8 this spring. That includes a 17-13-4 mark against external competition.

Today’s photo is of the Player of the Day, Quad Cities starting pitcher Zack Russell. The 21-year-old right-hander and former 49^th round draft pick (not a typo) tossed five scoreless innings on three hits, walked no one and punched out six. Quad Cities third baseman Jonathan Rodriguez receives an honorable mention.

On Thursday, the Cardinals minor leaguers, all five rosters worth, will have their final games with their Marlins neighbors. Florida will be the home team, so the games will be on their side of the complex. For the full state of minor league spring training schedules, The Cardinal Nation subscribers can click here.

Memphis (4-5-4) 6, Buffalo 6

Buffalo outfielder Jason Pridie connected for a first-inning grand slam and the Bisons’ starter, Josh Stinson, shut out the Redbirds through five on just two hits. Memphis mounted a nice comeback in the later innings to pull even.

Memphis pitching

To get work and stay in routine for his Monday start for St. Louis, major leaguer Kyle Lohse remained behind in Florida and took the mound for the Redbirds. The right-hander did not have a good day to say the least, as he was gored by 11 Bison hits and a walk. All six runs Lohse allowed were earned. He fanned four in his five-inning appearance.

Jason Buursma yielded just one hit in two scoreless frames. He fanned one.

Blake King had a King-like outing. He was touched for two hits and walked a pair in two innings, but kept the opponent off the scoreboard. The 40-man roster reliever struck out one.

Memphis hitting

Andrew Brown singled and homered in four at-bats. The versatile corner infielder-outfielder collected three RBI.

Daryl Jones tripled and drove in a pair.

Adron Chambers, Freddie Bynum and Shane Robinson were each on base twice with a single and walk. They all scored one run.

Binghamton 3, Springfield (5-5-3) 1

Binghamton left-hander Robert Carson threw five shutout innings as the Cardinals scored their lone run in the sixth against reliever Ricky Brooks.

Springfield pitching

Nick Additon went 4 2/3 innings, yielding all three Binghamton runs on six hits and a walk. He fanned two.

Brett Zawacki had a nice two-inning stint, with no baserunners and a pair of punchouts.

Lefty Sam Freeman, returning from Tommy John surgery, walked one and struck out one in his scoreless inning.

Matt Frevert also tossed a shutout frame on one hit. He collected two strikeouts.

Springfield hitting

First baseman Matt Adams, fresh from some MLB face time Tuesday, singled and doubled in four at-bats. He is bidding to jump from Quad Cities.

Back from his own Tommy John surgery, outfielder Tyler Henley doubled. Look for our interview to be posted for The Cardinal Nation subscribers later this week.

Tommy Pham was on base twice, having drawn a walk each time. The outfielder is The Cardinal Nation’s 19th-ranked prospect for 2011.

Jermaine Curtis walked and scored the lone Springfield tally.

St. Lucie 7, Palm Beach (9-5) 3

Palm Beach pitching

Major league camp invitee Joe Kelly was touched for four runs, three earned, in his four-inning start. Kelly allowed five hits and three walks. He also struck out four.

Jesse Simpson allowed a lone hit in his two shutout innings and fanned a pair.

Justin Wright gave up a walk in his scoreless frame.

Aaron Terry had a perfect inning of relief.

Jose Rada had a rough day at the office, giving up four hits and three earned runs while collecting just one out.

Palm Beach hitting

Alan Ahmady had two singles and double in four at-bats. He scored one and drove in one.

Ryde Rodriguez had a pair of singles in four at-bats and scored.

Jarred Bogany drew a pair of walks, scored one and drove in a run via a sacrifice fly.

Quad Cities (6-7-1) 4, Savannah 4

Quad Cities pitching

Zack Russell was sharp, tossing five scoreless innings on three hits. He walked no one and punched out six.

Chris Corrigan and Keith Butler each gave up a pair of hits and a run in their respective one inning stints. Corrigan’s run was unearned.

Cale Johnson allowed a harmless walk in his scoreless frame. He struck out two.

Hector Corpas yielded the final two Savannah runs on three ninth-inning hits.

Quad Cities hitting

Jonathan Rodriguez had a double, triple and walk in four plate appearances. He scored twice.

Packy Elkins homered. The infielder had just two in 169 plate appearances with Johnson City in 2010.

Oscar Taveras was on base twice in three appearances with a single and walk. Our #11 Cardinals prospect scored one run.

Follow me on Twitter.
Follow The Cardinal Nation Blog on Facebook.

Tweet This Post

Cardinals Minor League Spring Training Notebook: 03/29

Brian Walton — Wed, 30 Mar 2011 03:48:04 +0000

Following are the highlights from the 13th day of St. Louis Cardinals minor league games in spring 2011, on Tuesday, March 29. (Monday’s games were rained out.) As is the case every third day all spring long when the Mets and Marlins play each other, this was a camp day. Memphis faced Springfield and Palm Beach took on Quad Cities.

In the default 2-2 day, everything was as it should be. Both higher level clubs prevailed. Palm Beach padded its system-best 9-4 record with another win. The Cardinals system is a combined 27-21-6 this spring. That includes a 17-11-2 mark against external competition.

Today’s photo is of the Player of the Day, Memphis right-hander Lance Lynn. In 6 2/3 shutout innings, he gave up just four hits and three walks while fanning four.

On Wednesday, Memphis and Springfield are slated to play the Mets’ Triple-A and Double-A clubs at Port St. Lucie, while Palm Beach and Quad Cities take on their New York counterparts at home in Jupiter. For the full state of minor league spring training schedules, The Cardinal Nation subscribers can click here.

Memphis (4-5-3) 8, Springfield (5-4-3) 3

Memphis pitching

Lance Lynn showed he is ready for the season to begin as he allowed just seven baserunners in 6 2/3 innings. The big righty fanned four.

Adam Reifer struggled, yielding four hits and three earned runs in just one inning of work.

Eduardo Sanchez, fresh from major league camp, walked one and fanned one in his scoreless frame.

Memphis hitting

Pete Kozma and Shane Robinson both had two singles and a double in three plate appearances. The shortstop scored three and had an RBI while the outfielder drove in three.

Tony Cruz, Donovan Solano and Daryl Jones all had two singles in three at-bats.

Freddie Bynum singled in two at-bats, scored twice and drove in one.

Adron Chambers doubled in three at-bats.

Springfield pitching

Lefty Raul Valdes dropped down a level for the day and gave up two runs, one earned on three hits over four innings. He walked none and fanned three.

Ryan Kulik allowed three baserunners in his one inning, but none scored.

Cory Rauschenberger had a day to forget as he allowed eight baserunners in 2/3 of an inning, though just two crossed the plate.

Nick Greenwood worked a perfect inning, with all three outs on ground balls.

Casey Mulligan was spanked for four earned runs on five hits while getting just one out.

Springfield hitting

Ryan Jackson had a pair of singles in four at-bats.

Tyler Henley who later appeared in the MLB game, went 2-for-3 with an RBI

Big Matt Adams joined Henley, but before he left, he clubbed a two-run home run.

Alex Castellanos was on base twice via a double and a walk. He also scored one.

Aaron Luna and Niko Vasquez both singled and walked. Luna also scored.

Palm Beach (9-4) 4, Quad Cities (6-7) 3

Palm Beach pitching

Lefty John Gast, who received a long look in MLB camp, yielded just an unearned run over four innings. He gave up four hits, walked one and struck out five.

Eric Fornataro was touched for a pair of runs in his three innings. He yielded four hits and walked three. Fornataro, about whom pitching coordinator Dyar Miller told me earlier in camp has “major league stuff,” struck out a pair.

Chase Reid allowed a hit and two walks in two innings, but kept Quad Cities off the board. He fanned two and picked up the win.

Palm Beach hitting

Phil Cerreto’s two-run single in the ninth was the game-winner.

Zack Cox singled, doubled and had an RBI in four plate appearances.

Luis Mateo had two singles in two tries and scored once.

Nick Longmire doubled and scored.

Mike O’Neill was on base twice in four plate appearances with a walk and a single. He drove in one.

Quad Cities pitching

Anthony Ferrara had a nice outing, scattering four baserunners over four scoreless frames. He struck out five.

Drew Benes gave up a run on three hits in his two innings of work. He fanned four. Aidan Lucas tossed a perfect inning.

Ricky Martinez gave up a run in his inning on a pair of hits.

Lefty Dean Kiekhefer took the loss as he yielded three hits and a walk in his one inning, including Cerreto’s game-winner.

Quad Cities hitting

Michael Swinson had two singles and a hit-by-pitch in his three times up.

Adam Melker drew a pair of walks.

Jonathan Rodriguez had an RBI single in his lone at-bat.

Follow me on Twitter.
Follow The Cardinal Nation Blog on Facebook.

Tweet This Post

Nationals could pull Cardinals from Jupiter orbit

Brian Walton — Tue, 29 Mar 2011 13:39:47 +0000

With the St. Louis Cardinals packing up their equipment following their final Grapefruit League game of 2011 on Tuesday, mixed signals are being received regarding their long-term future in Jupiter, Florida.

Last week, some excitement was generated when it was announced that the Cardinals and Florida Marlins tentatively agreed to a ten-year lease extension with Palm Beach County for continued use of the Roger Dean Stadium complex for spring training and their Florida State League clubs.

First reported by the Palm Beach Post, extension of the agreement through 2027 was crucial in resolving a stalemate over holding of funds for needed maintenance to the facility and clarification on future sourcing of those moneys.

That is not the primary rub over the long haul, however. Both teams demanded and were granted contract wording that allows them to leave Jupiter early in one of two cases. They can bolt if the New York Mets, who train in Port St. Lucie, or the Washington Nationals, who are located in Viera, move from the east coast of Florida.

While the Mets are talking like they are staying put, Nationals principal owner Mark Lerner is making noise like a man soon to be on the move. He confirmed to the Washington Post that the Nationals are actively exploring options to build a new facility on the Gulf Coast of Florida. If that is not successful, Lerner also identified Arizona as a viable option.

Lerner did commit that the Nationals will remain in Viera “at least the next couple years for sure.” Their lease at off-the-beaten-path Space Coast Stadium runs through 2017, but they have an out clause in 2013. Brevard County officials seem resigned to the possibility of losing the Nats, realizing they cannot solve the root issue.

Lerner made it clear that the Nats’ primary “problem” is logistical. The distance between spring training sites has created an untenable travel schedule for them and all the east coast Florida clubs. This situation is not likely to improve, as no teams appear to be interested in moving into the area. It will certainly get worse for the Mets, Cardinals and Marlins if the Nationals relocate.

The new Cardinals-Marlins-Palm Beach County deal is not yet final. The proposal will be reviewed by the Tourist Development Council on April 14 before it appears on the agenda of the County Commission on May 3.

It may not matter over the long term. The Washington Post story also noted almost in passing that the Cardinals have reportedly already been quietly looking into options in the Orlando area. Better scheduling would be possible for their entire baseball operations there.

The current travel distances aren’t just an issue for the major leaguers. Because of the long bus rides, Cardinals minor leaguers are forced to play themselves every third day all spring long when the Mets and Marlins minor leaguers face off – a suboptimal arrangement to say the least.

Despite Cardinals ownership reaffirming their satisfaction with their Florida home since 1998, a Washington shift could also pull St. Louis out of their Jupiter orbit. If the Nationals relocate, St. Louis may have no choice but to get serious about a corresponding move to an area with more conveniently-located competitors.

Time will tell if the proposed ten-year Jupiter extension ends up being anything more than window dressing.

Follow me on Twitter.
Follow The Cardinal Nation Blog on Facebook.

Tweet This Post

Cardinals Minor League Spring Training Notebook: 03/27

Brian Walton — Mon, 28 Mar 2011 01:18:45 +0000

Following are the highlights from the 12th day of St. Louis Cardinals minor league games in spring 2011, on Sunday, March 27. In a late change, Memphis and Springfield traveled to Port St. Lucie to take on their Mets counterparts and both lost. Palm Beach and Quad Cities faced the Mets A-ball teams at the Jupiter complex and both won.

Originally, the games were scheduled to have been played at the opposite locations. It is not confirmed but I suspect getting convenient at-bats for rehabbing major leaguer Carlos Beltran was the motivation behind the site changes. Home cooking wins out.

After the 2-2 day, the Cardinals system is a combined 25-19-6 this spring. That includes a 17-11-2 mark against external competition.

Today’s photo is of the Player of the Day, Palm Beach’s Alan Ahmady, who had three hits, including a home run, scored three and drove in four in his team’s victory. Teammate D’Marcus Ingram is a most honorable mention.

On Monday, the five Cardinals squads, including both Quad Cities clubs, will welcome the Marlins to their side of the Jupiter complex. The Springfield club will then head north for their Tuesday night home exhibition against St. Louis, weather permitting, before returning to Jupiter for Wednesday action. For the full state of minor league spring training schedules, The Cardinal Nation subscribers can click here.

Buffalo 11, Memphis (3-5-3) 3

Memphis pitching

P.J. Walters had a tough day as eight runs, five earned, crossed the plate during his five frames. The right-hander yielded five hits, walked four and struck out five.

Chuckie Fick was hit hard, giving up five hits and two earned runs while collecting just one out.

Blake King allowed two baserunners in his two innings, with one scoring. King fanned four.

Memphis hitting

Buffalo’s Dillon Gee fanned five Redbirds in five shutout innings as Memphis scored its runs in the latter frames. The Mets right-handed prospect is expected in New York sometime during the 2011 season.

Free agent middle infield signee Freddie Bynum had three singles in four at-bats. The 31-year-old ex-Cub played in Japan last season.

Luis Mateo had two hits and an RBI in four at-bats.

Catcher Bryan Anderson was on base twice in four plate appearances with a single and a walk. He scored once.

Like Anderson, shortstop Pete Kozma singled, walked and scored.

Mark Hamilton singled and drove in two. Last season, the big first baseman plated 60 in 72 games for the Redbirds.

Binghamton 1, Springfield (5-3-3) 0

Springfield pitching

Mike Blazek yielded the game’s lone run in four innings on just three hits. He fanned three and took the hard-luck loss.

Lefty Sam Freeman and righty Casey Mulligan allowed just one hit each in their scoreless innings.

Matt Frevert walked two and fanned two over two shutout frames.

Brett Zawacki spun a perfect inning, striking out two of three batters faced.

Springfield hitting

Charles Cutler had two singles in two at-bats.

Ryde Rodriguez had only one at-bat and he singled.

Jarred Bogany doubled and walked.

Alex Castellanos and Steven Hill doubled, so the Cardinals had at least three runs in scoring position, but couldn’t chase any home.

Palm Beach (8-4) 10, St. Lucie 4

Palm Beach pitching

Arquimedes Nieto yielded two runs on four hits and a walk in 4 2/3 innings. He struck out three.

Jorge Rondon was charged with the other two runs during a tough inning in which he allowed two hits and a walk. Two of his three outs collected were via strikeouts.

Jesse Simpson walked one batter and allowed no hits in two scoreless innings. He fanned three.

Aaron Terry yielded three hits and a run in his inning of work.

Palm Beach hitting

D’Marcus Ingram had a perfect day, with three singles and a triple in four at-bats. He scored twice and drove in one.

Alan Ahmady collected a pair of singles and a home run in his four at-bats. He crossed the plate all three times and plated four.

Mike O’Neill singled, walked and had an RBI.

Zack Cox was also on base twice as he singled, walked and scored.

Edgar Lara doubled, scored twice and drove in a run.

Greg Garcia singled, walked, scored and had an RBI.

Phil Cerreto doubled and had a sacrifice fly in two plate appearances. Both Garcia and Cerreto are bidding to make the leap from Johnson City.

Quad Cities (6-6) 3, Savannah 2

Quad Cities pitching

Carlos Martinez was scored upon again! The closely-watched Dominican yielded two runs, one earned over four innings. The 19-year-old gave up two hits, walked two and struck out three.

Chris Corrigan led the way as the pen tossed five scoreless innings. He started with one hit and one strikeout in his lone inning.

Justin Edwards was next, yielding a hit and a walk, but keeping them off home plate. Edwards fanned one in his one inning.

Cale Johnson had a nice two inning stint, giving up just one hit. He fanned one.

Tyler Lyons struck out two of the three batters he faced in the club’s final inning.

Quad Cities hitting

Outfielder Kyle Conley, coming back after a lost 2010, hit a solo home run. He had just 28 plate appearances with the River Bandits last season due to a wrist injury.

Catcher Cody Stanley drove in two of the three runs on a double.

Romulo Ruiz singled and scored.

Jonathan Rodriguez walked twice and scored a run.

Follow me on Twitter.
Follow The Cardinal Nation Blog on Facebook.

Tweet This Post