With the Springfield club preparing for their Monday exhibition against St. Louis at Hammons Field in Springfield, the matchups were different. Memphis faced Palm Beach while Quad Cities matched up against the extended spring training players on the George Kissell Quad behind Roger Dean.

Memphis and Palm Beach tied, while the EST players exacted some revenge on the Quad Cities players who beat them out. The Cardinals’ spring record against external minor league competition remained at 21-16-4.

Sunday’s Pitcher of the Day: Quad Cities right-hander Sam Gaviglio is back here again. This time out, the 21-year-old right-hander from Oregon State allowed just two EST baserunners over four scoreless innings. The Cards’ fifth-rounder from last June’s draft struck out five.

Sunday’s Player of the Day: Maybe outfielder Virgil Hill was disappointed about apparently not getting another shot at Quad Cities – yet. One thing is for sure – the extended spring training player put some hurt on the baseball Sunday with seven total bases on a triple and a home run. The 22-year-old also had three RBI.

Special thanks to Cardinals farm director John Vuch, who shared game stats all month long. As always, the raw numbers are his, but the comments mine.

The Cardinal Nation subscribers can check out the full minor league schedule and spring training working rosters. The entire system view by level and position is available via the Roster Matrix, right here at The Cardinal Nation Blog.

Memphis 1, Palm Beach 1

Extended spring training 4, Quad Cities 3

Subscribers to the main site, TheCardinalNation.com, should continue to check out my extensive spring training content over the upcoming days. Today’s addition is an in-depth interview with outfield prospect Tommy Pham.

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Springfield and Palm Beach were victorious. The Cardinals’ spring record against external minor league competition remains at 21-16-4.

Saturday’s Player of the Day: Shortstop Matt Williams had two doubles in four at-bats for Quad Cities, but no one drove him home.

Saturday’s Pitcher of the Day: Springfield’s Scott Gorgen has made his second consecutive appearance in this space. On Saturday, the returnee from Tommy John surgery allowed just three hits and no runs in four scoreless innings. Gorgen fanned five.

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

The Cardinal Nation subscribers can check out the full minor league schedule and spring training working rosters. The entire system view by level and position is available via the Roster Matrix, right here at The Cardinal Nation Blog.

Springfield 4, Memphis 0

Palm Beach 6, Quad Cities 1

Subscribers to the main site, TheCardinalNation.com, should continue to check out my extensive spring training content over the upcoming days. Today’s addition is an in-depth interview with minor league hitting coordinator Derrick May.

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It was the Cardinals first sweep of the spring as all four clubs claimed wins on the day. The Cardinals’ spring record against external minor league competition improved to 21-16-4.

Friday’s Player of the Day: Springfield’s Xavier Scruggs had seven total bases with a triple and home run in three at-bats, plated three and even added a walk. The right-handed slugger has 62 home runs in four pro seasons, but just five triples.

Friday’s Pitcher of the Day: Springfield’s Seth Maness yielded four hits and no walks in five shutout innings. The right-hander was a New York-Penn League All-Star, then pitched for Palm Beach and Quad Cities last season, his first as a professional.

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 Saturday, the Cardinals have yet another camp day, their sixth of the spring. Memphis will face Springfield while Palm Beach and Quad Cities will match up on the George Kissell Quad behind Roger Dean.

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.

Memphis 2, Buffalo 1

Springfield 4, Binghamton 2

Palm Beach 9, St. Lucie 2

Quad Cities 6, Savannah 4

Subscribers to the main site, TheCardinalNation.com, should continue to check out my extensive spring training content over the upcoming days. Today’s addition is a 25-minute in-depth interview with John Vuch.

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Springfield and Quad Cities White claimed wins on the day, while Memphis, Palm Beach and Quad Cities Red were defeated. The Cardinals’ spring record against external minor league competition sits at 17-16-4.

Thursday’s Player of the Day: Springfield infielder Greg Garcia had a perfect outing at the plate, walking twice, singling twice, scoring twice and driving in one. The 22-year-old was sixth in the entire system in OBP last season at .384. On this day, it was 1.000.

Thursday’s Pitcher of the Day: Anthony Ferrara threw five shutout innings for Palm Beach, allowing just four baserunners on three hits and a walk. The 22-year-old lefty logged 13 wins as a member of Quad Cities’ rotation in 2011.

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 Friday, the Cardinals’ two lower-level clubs, Palm Beach and Quad Cities, will travel to the New York 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.

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.

New Orleans 4, Memphis 1

Springfield 8, Jacksonville 7

Jupiter 2, Palm Beach 0

Greensboro 8, Quad Cities (Red) 2

Quad Cities (White) 5, Jamestown 3

Subscribers to the main site, TheCardinalNation.com, should continue to check out my extensive spring training content over the upcoming days. Today’s addition is a 25-minute in-depth interview with John Vuch.

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Late Wednesday afternoon, I joined Ken Miller and Jim Brinson on KXnO FOX Sports Radio 1460 in Des Moines in another installment of this year’s series to discuss the St. Louis Cardinals, “Cardinal Talk.” Our focus was a recap of 2012 spring training.

Fans in central Iowa can again catch Cardinals radio broadcasts on KXnO as well as my segment each Friday afternoon throughout the season, either over the air or via streaming. My appearances are sponsored by WCI Pools and Spas.

Click here for audio: Brian Walton with Ken Miller and Jim Brinson (11:15)

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I have not enjoyed being wrong this spring any more than today. On my schedule, Saturday was the last day of spring play for St. Louis Cardinals minor leaguers before they headed to their initial 2010 regular season assignments. Turns out that only Springfield had a Sunday morning flight out, so the other four clubs once again hit the fields in Jupiter, Florida for intrasquad action.

So, consider this unexpected bonus coverage!

Cardinals director of minor league operations John Vuch shares game highlights as he has all along. The raw data is his, with the comments mine.

Once the regular season begins, check out our daily Cardinals Major League and Minor League Notebooks at TheCardinalNation.com, each returning for the new year.

Team summary: As an equalizer, teams “generally” faced their own pitchers in the Memphis-Palm Beach game, but Memphis still won. I am not sure what to make of that. The extended spring training club spanked young Shelby Miller and Quad Cities. I surely don’t know what to make of that, either.

Combined records: The Cardinals records on the day were 2-2 once again. Final (I think) spring totals are 31-37-8 (.456) overall and 19-25-4 (.432) versus external competition.

My Pitcher of the Day: Quad Cities’ Jesse Simpson collected seven outs, five of them on strikeouts. He did not allow a hit in his 2 1/3 innings.

My Hitter of the Day:  Shane Robinson of Memphis (pictured) had two triples, a single and three RBI. No word if he played in centerfield or second base or perhaps both.

Monday’s schedule: Players will be boarding planes for Memphis and Quad Cities for open house, meet the fans and similar events early in the week. The Cardinal Nation subscribers can access the most recent working rosters on the main site, but be aware they will not be final until Thursday.

Memphis (5-9-3) defeated Palm Beach (8-8-1), 6-3 (pitchers generally faced their own club)

Memphis Pitching

Rich Hill – 4.2 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 4 BB, 8 K’s – Does the gaudy strikeout total obscure the walks?
Scott McGregor – 2.1 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 5 K’s – A strong outing.
Kevin Thomas – 2 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 1 K

Memphis Hitting

Shane Robinson – 3-for-4 with two triples and 3 RBIs – Player of the Day. Despite good speed, Robinson has just ten career triples in 1,159 regular-season at-bats.
Tyler Greene – 3-for-4 with a solo HR – Good to see Tyler hitting again. He batted just .194 in major league camp earlier.
Luis DeLaCruz – doubled, walked, scored twice and had an RBI – Memphis’ catcher for a day is listed on the Palm Beach working roster.
Mark Shorey – singled, walked and scored a run – Multiple mentions this week for career .287 hitter with a lifetime .799 OPS.
Amaury Cazana – singled and scored a run – Will he stay with Memphis? Passport problem has him there to start season.
Daniel Descalso – singled and walked

“Palm Beach” Pitching

Adam Ottavino – 4.1 IP, 6 H, 5 R, 3 ER, 3 BB, 2 K’s – Hmmm. Only allowed the same total of three earned runs in 11 1/3 innings in major league camp earlier.
Brandon Dickson – 2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB – Solid outing.
Tyler Norrick – 1 IP, 1 H
Matt Scherer – 1 IP, 2 H, 1 ER
Josh Kinney – 1 IP, 1 H, 1 K – May be coming around.

Palm Beach Hitting

Rich Racobaldo – 2-for-3
Tommy Pham – 1-for-2 with a walk and RBI – Doing so well this spring that getting on base twice seems like a bad day…
Jermaine Curtis and Xavier Scruggs – each doubled and scored a run
Alex Castellanos – singled and walked
Jose Martinez – RBI double and walked – May need to earn back a starting job after missing 2009.

Extended Spring Training (formerly QC2) (4-4-1) defeated Quad Cities (6-10), 3-0 (pitchers from various clubs)

Quad Cities Pitching

Shelby Miller – 3.2 IP, 5 H, 3 ER, 1 BB, 4 K’s – See specifics in the hitters report below.
Jesse Simpson – 2.1 IP, 0 H, 5 K’s – The top pitching performance of the day.
Kyle Heim – one perfect inning
Michael Thompson – 1 IP, 1 H, 2 BB, 2 K’s
David Carpenter – one perfect inning with 2 K’s – Very nice outing for QCs closer last year.

Quad Cities Hitting

Jason Stidham – tripled – Had two three-base hits in 211 at-bats during his debut last year.
Luis Mateo, Ivan Castro and D’Marcus Ingram – each singled for QC’s only other hits

EST Pitching

Deryk Hooker – 3 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 4 K’s – Should not be part of the group left behind in Jupiter.
Scott Schneider – three perfect innings with 1 K – Could easily be the pitching line of the day. Sorry, Scott!
Ramon Delgado – one perfect inning with a K
Matt Frevert – 1 IP, 1 H, 1 BB
Joel Pichardo – 1 IP, 2 H, 1 BB, 2 K’s

EST Hitting

Three run rally off Shelby Miller in the second inning – Roberto DeLaCruz singled, Romulo Ruiz RBI double, C.J. Beatty RBI double, Ted Obregon RBI single
Ross Smith – singled in his only AB

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“All good things must come to an end…”

Saturday provides the final day of spring play for St. Louis Cardinals minor leaguers before they hop Sunday and Monday flights to their initial 2010 regular season assignments (except for the Palm Beach team and extended spring training players who remain in Jupiter, Florida).

In this, the last game report of the spring, Cardinals director of minor league operations John Vuch shares daily highlights as he has all along. Special thanks are in order to him for all the work on our behalf. The raw data that follows is his, with the comments mine.

Once the regular season begins, check out our daily Cardinals Major League and Minor League Notebooks at TheCardinalNation.com, each returning for the new year.

Team summary: Memphis took another defeat while Springfield won against their Marlins counterparts. It is also fair to note a number of Triple-A players are in Minneapolis with the major league club. Quad Cities reversed the tables on Palm Beach after losing to them on Friday.

Combined records: The Cardinals records on the day were 2-2 once again. Final spring totals are 29-35-8 (.453) overall and 19-25-4 (.432) versus external competition.

My Pitcher of the Day: Reliever Casey Mulligan of Palm Beach (pictured) completed his fourth consecutive scoreless outing of one inning each.

My Hitter of the Day:  Nine total bases for the repeat top hitter of the day, Palm Beach’s Xavier Scruggs. A double, triple, home run and two RBI on top of three hits on Friday is a big week for some.

Sunday’s schedule: Players will be boarding planes for Memphis, Springfield and Quad Cities for open house, meet the fans and similar events early in the week. While some versions of rosters are starting to appear, represented as season opening done-deals, don’t necessarily accept them as final because they are probably not. There may be changes between now and Thursday, when the minor league seasons open. Even so, later on Saturday, I will be posting the most recent working rosters on the main site for subscribers.

Memphis (4-9-3) lost to New Orleans, 6-4

Memphis Pitching

Lance Lynn – 5 IP, 9 H, 6 ER, 0 BB, 5 K’s – I hope the 2009 Pitcher of the Year in the system gets this out of his system in Florida.
Eduardo Sanchez – 1 IP, 1 H, 1 BB – Pitching every other day. Third straight scoreless outing after a rough game last Saturday.
Adam Reifer – 1 IP, 1 K – Also getting into a regular groove.
Pete Parise and Blake King – each threw a perfect inning with 1 K

Memphis Hitting

Ruben Gotay – 1-for-2 with a walk and RBI – His importance as insurance to the organization increased when Julio Lugo was dealt to Baltimore.
Jon Jay and Kevin Howard – RBI singles
Tyler Greene – doubled – Interesting that Donovan Solano went to Minneapolis and Greene did not.

Springfield (7-6-3) defeated Jacksonville, 7-4

Springfield Pitching

Nick Additon – 5 IP, 4 H, 2 ER, 0 BB, 6 K’s – Has a career ERA of 2.79 in three pro seasons.
David Kopp – 2 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 3 K’s – Second-rounder in 2007 working to remain healthy and demonstrate his potential.
Ryan Kulik – 1 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 2 K’s
Chuckie Fick – 1 IP, 2 H, 0 R
Thomas Eager – 1 IP, 1 H, 1 K – Cards’ fifth-rounder in 2007 moved to relief last season. Tied for the Florida State League lead in holds with ten and was second with 52 appearances.

Springfield Hitting

Adron Chambers – 3 hits, including an RBI triple and scored 3 runs – Chambers’ 16 triples last season not only led the Cardinals system, it was tops in all of the minor leagues… and the major leagues, too! You can look it up!
Daryl Jones – home run and sacrifice fly
Andrew Brown – two hits, including a long 2-run HR – Getting hot again as camp closes.
Pete Kozma – doubled and tripled – Had 20 doubles and three triples among his 111 hits between Palm Beach and Quad Cities last season.

Quad Cities (6-9) defeated Palm Beach (8-7-1),

Palm Beach Pitching

Brian Broderick – 4 IP, 5 H, 3 ER, 1 BB, 6 K’s
Richard Castillo – 4 IP, 5 H, 6 ER, 3 BB, 1 K – Tough outing for our #18-ranked Cardinals prospect.
Casey Mulligan – 1 IP, 1 BB, 2 K’s – Four consecutive scoreless outings after a rough opener on the 20th allows me to tag a reliever as Pitcher of the Day..

Palm Beach Hitting

I swear this list is the same characters from the day before, including…

Xavier Scruggs – 3-for-4 with double, triple, HR and 2 RBIs – Second consecutive Player of the Day nod.
Luis DeLaCruz – 2-for-3 with a double
Osvaldo Morales – 2-for-4 with a double – Tied for third among Cardinals minor league hitters with 15 home runs last season and his 82 RBI was #2 in the system.
Rich Racobaldo – 2-for-4 with an RBI
Matt Carpenter – hit a solo HR – Had only two home runs in his 251 first professional at-bats.
Jose Garcia – doubled and walked – His 27 steals in 2009 was second in the system.
Tommy Pham – 1-for-2 with a walk and two runs scored – My unofficial Spring MVP.

Quad Cities Pitching

Eric Fornataro – 5 IP, 7 H, 3 ER, 1 BB, 3 K’s – Sixth-rounder in 2008 has career 3.03 ERA, including an 0-5, 5.24 introduction to Quad Cities last summer. Looks to improve on the latter numbers.
Chris Notti – 2 IP, 1 H, 2 BB
Chris Corrigan – 1 IP, 2 K’s – Poised to improve upon 28-to-22 strikeout-to-walk ratio with Batavia last season.
LaCurtis Mayes – 1 IP, 3 H, 2 ER, 2 K’s

Quad Cities Hitting

Frederick Parejo – doubled, homered and had 4 RBIs – Has a real case to the Player of the Day. Has just 62 career RBI in 666 at-bats.
Ryde Rodriguez – singled, homered and had 2 RBIs – Supposed power prospect has five home runs in 523 professional at-bats, all in 2009.
Devin Shepherd – 3-for-4 with two doubles – Did not play in 2009 and his only six extra base hits in 2008 were doubles.
Matt Adams and Robert Stock – each hit solo HR’s – Adams hit ten home runs in 245 at-bats in his first pro season last year while Stock had seven, all at Johnson City in 170 total ABs.
Ryan Jackson – doubled

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Friday brought another camp day in Jupiter during which intersquad games were held. As always, Cardinals director of minor league operations John Vuch shares game highlights. The raw data is his, with the comments mine.

Team summary:  5-1 was the operative score of the day, as Springfield beat their big brothers from Memphis (the ones that aren’t in Minneapolis) and Palm Beach topped Quad Cities. The Florida State League club clinched the best minor league record of the spring as Springfield evened their mark once again. Both of Saturday’s losers, Memphis and Quad Cities, will break camp with losing records this spring.

Combined records: The Cardinals records on the day were… you guessed it, 2-2. Spring totals are now 27-33-8 overall and 18-24-4 versus external competition.

My Pitcher of the Day: Shaun Garceau, pitching for Springfield, tossed six shutout innings at Memphis, scattering six hits and just one walk.

My Hitter of the Day:  Palm Beach’s Xavier Scruggs (pictured) went 3-for-4 with a double and an RBI. His 59 RBI last season between Batavia and Quad Cities ranked ninth in the organization.

Saturday’s schedule: The final day of formal competition will occur as the three northern clubs prepare to break camp and head out for the regular season. Memphis and Quad Cities play their Marlins counterparts while Springfield and Palm Beach are apparently done with game action for the spring.

Springfield (6-6-3) defeated Memphis (4-8-3), 5-1 (in “7-ish” innings)

Memphis Pitching

Evan MacLane – 6.2 IP, 9 H, 5 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, 3 K’s – Veteran lefty decided to return to the organization for 2010.

Memphis Hitting

Charles Cutler – 2-for-2 with a walk and RBI – Is he the best hitting catcher in the system? By how much?
Mark Shorey – 2-for-2 with a double, walk and run scored – Has been coming on strong lately.
Jon Jay – 2-for-3 – Here’s hoping he sees ample time in centerfield this season.

Springfield Pitching

Shaun Garceau – 6 IP, 6 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 K – The Pitcher of the Day coming off a couple of less encouraging outings. Only pitched 30 1/3 innings in 2009.
Matt Meyer – 0.2 IP, 1 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 1 K

Springfield Hitting

Jim Rapoport – 2-for-3 with a double, RBI and run scored
Andrew Brown – 2-for-4 with a double and run scored – Was very hot earlier in camp.
Daryl Jones – doubled and scored – Hope he will turn it on when the season begins.
Curt Smith – singled and walked – Led Palm Beach in all three Triple Crown categories last season.
Colt Sedbrook – singled and scored – Was fourth in walks (52) in the system in 2009.
Steven Hill – singled, scored and had an RBI – With Springfield last season, made 40 starts at catcher, 30 in the outfield and 25 at first base. Also spent part of 2008 in Double-A.

Palm Beach (8-6-1) defeated Quad Cities (5-9), 5-1

Palm Beach Pitching

Jared Bradford – 4 IP, 5 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 2 K’s – What looks to be a very effective outing was almost good enough to make him Pitcher of the Day.
Mark Diapoules – 2 IP, 2 H, 2 K’s – Solid relief from both who followed Bradford.
Jason Buursma – 2 IP, 2 H, 1 K

Palm Beach Hitting

Xavier Scruggs – 3-for-4 with a double and RBI – Player of the Day. Good to see you, Xavier. Where have you been?
Tommy Pham – 2-for-3 with a double and run scored – Running out of superlatives to describe his spring with the bat.
Francisco Rivera – 2-for-3 with a run scored and RBI – A lot of 1B/3B love on this team today.
Roberto Espinoza – 2-for-4 – Catcher is a career .200 hitter in four professional seasons.
Chris Swauger – RBI double
Rich Racobaldo – singled and scored
Jermaine Curtis – singled, scored twice and had an RBI – Fifth-rounder in 2008 is another who hasn’t been a regular in these reports this spring.

Quad Cities Pitching

Aaron Terry – 1 IP, 2 H, 0 R
Daniel Calhoun – 4 IP, 8 H, 4 R, 3 ER, 1 K
Joe Kelly – 3 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 2 K’s – Continuing to look good and is definitely a player to watch in 2010.

Quad Cities Hitting

Niko Vasquez – 2-for-4 with a double and run scored – Is he borrowing Tommy Pham’s bat? He has six hits in last three days including three doubles.
Matt Adams – 2-for-3 with an RBI – Two consecutive days here after having been quiet prior.
Jason Stidham – doubled

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On Thursday, the Cardinals’ five squads remained home as the Marlins walked across from their side of the complex. As always, Cardinals director of minor league operations John Vuch shares game highlights. The raw data is his, with the comments mine.

Team summary:  With camp nearing its end, the Cardinals had by far their best day of the spring as all five clubs won, from top to bottom. Prior to Thursday, their best afternoon was 3-1-1 on the 27^th, also against the Marlins. Palm Beach pulled over .500, the only one of the five to accomplish that.

Combined records: The Cardinals records on the day were 5-0. Spring totals are now 25-31-8 overall and 18-24-4 versus external competition.

My Pitcher of the Day: Matt Frevert of Columbia, MO did not allow a baserunner and fanned three in two scoreless innings of work for Springfield. I bet the family will be traveling to see him this summer.

My Hitter of the Day:  Springfield outfielder Adron Chambers (pictured) hit a home run, tripled, scored twice and collected two RBI. Batted .365, third in the Colombian League this past winter – the country, not the city mentioned just above!

Friday’s schedule: Another camp day in Jupiter is planned during which intersquad games will be held. Saturday will be the final day of formal competition as the three northern clubs get ready to head out. Bus rides are done – for the spring, anyway!

Memphis (4-7-3) defeated New Orleans, 7-5

Memphis Pitching

Trey Hearne – 2.2 IP, 4 H, 2 ER, 1 K
Kevin Thomas – 3.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 K’s – Tossed three scoreless for Palm Beach last time out, but far fewer baserunners this time.
Josh Kinney – perfect inning with 2 K’s – Much better this time out after having a rough spring.
Matt Scherer – perfect inning with 1 K – Improvement here, too.
Tyler Norrick – 1 IP, 2 H, 3 ER, 2 BB, 1 K

Memphis Hitting

Tyler Greene – 3-for-5 with a run scored and RBI – I wonder if he heard about the Lugo trade? (grin)
Jon Jay – doubled twice, walked and scored a run – Needs to create a need for his services in St. Louis.
Amaury Cazana – doubled in his only AB
Daniel Descalso – walked and scored a run in his only PA
Kevin Howard – singled, walked, scored a run and had an RBI – The minor league vet brings his bat every day.
Mark Shorey – double, walked and scored twice – A semi-regular in these highlights.
Charles Cutler – doubled, scored a run and had 2 RBIs – Has always hit regardless of the level. Career .317 batter in two professional seasons.
Shane Robinson – tripled

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

Springfield Pitching

Gary Daley – 2.2 IP, 4 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 1 K – A couple of runs, but just one walk.
Blake King – 2 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 4 K’s – A very strong outing. Maybe this is the year…
Thomas Eager – 2 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 2 K’s
Adam Reifer – 1 IP, 1 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 1 K
Eduardo Sanchez – 1 IP, 1 H, 1 K – Finished them off. Had ten saves for Springfield last season. Yielded three runs in 3 1/3 innings with St. Louis earlier in the spring.

Springfield Hitting

Adron Chambers – tripled, homered, scored twice and had two RBIs – The Player of the Day
Steven Hill – 2-for-4 with a double, homer, 3 RBIs and two runs scored – Has a very strong case, too.
Curt Smith – 3-for-5 with a triple and two runs scored – How many first basemen get triples? Smith had four last season between Palm Beach and Springfield. His .286 average ranked eighth in the Florida State League in 2009. How is that for a pitcher’s league? His 65 RBI last season was fourth-highest total in the Cardinals system.
Andrew Brown – single and triple – Well, no triples for first basemen besides these two, that is! Brown has three triples in the last two seasons combined after collecting seven in his 2007 debut with Batavia.
Pete Kozma – two hits and a walk, scored a run – Greater expectations for the former first-rounder in his expected return to Springfield.
Aaron Luna – two-run double

Palm Beach (7-6-1) defeated Jupiter, 3-2

Palm Beach Pitching

Arquimedes Nieto – 3 IP, 2 H, 2 ER, 3 BB
Ramon Delgado – 2 IP, 1 H, 1 K
Matt Frevert – two perfect innings with 3 K’s – The Pitcher of the Day
Joel Pichardo – 1 IP, 2 H, 2 K’s
David Carpenter – 1 IP, 2 K’s – Same exact line as Tuesday and third consecutive scoreless stint. What more could one ask?

Palm Beach Hitting

Chris Swauger – 2-for-4 with a double and run scored – Was our TCN Player of the Month last August based on his play with Palm Beach. Finished in the top ten in the system last year in many offensive categories (runs, hits doubles, triples, RBI, slugging).
Matt Carpenter – doubled, walked and had an RBI
Rich Racobaldo – double and a run scored – Had an 11-game hitting streak with Johnson City last summer.
Francisco Rivera – game-winning RBI single vs. a lefty
Jose Garcia – single, walk and run scored – Does the little things well as his 14 sacrifice bunts last year lead the system. His 27 stolen bases between Palm Beach and Quad Cities was second-most in the organization in 2009.
Luis DeLaCruz – RBI single

Quad Cities 1 (5-8) defeated Greensboro, 7-3

Quad Cities 1 Pitching

Jorge Rondon – 3 IP, 8 H, 3 ER, 1 BB, 2 K’s – Kept a lot of baserunners from scoring at least.
Mike Blazek – 4 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 3 K’s – A serious contender for Pitcher of the Day.
Jesse Simpson – 1 IP, 1 H, 0 R
Jason Novak – 1 IP, 1 K – By my count, this is Novak’s fifth consecutive scoreless outing. Need to show love to single-inning guys, too!

Quad Cities 1 Hitting

Niko Vasquez – 3-for-4 with a double, 2 RBIs and a run scored – Also doubled Wednesday. Hitting more like a third baseman.
Frederick Parejo – 3-for-4 with a run scored and RBI – Back in the highlights after a big weekend past.
Matt Adams – RBI double – Some readers were worried about you, Matt. Welcome!
Jason Stidham – singled, scored a run and had a sac fly – Like Parejo, had a good weekend.
Devin Shepherd – walked and singled
Luis Mateo – RBI single, good baserunning to advance on throw and scored a run
Ryan Jackson – singled and walked – Shortstop needs to grow offensively this year.
Ivan Castro – walked and scored a run

Extended Spring Training (formerly Quad Cities 2) (3-4-1) defeated Marlins 5^th club, 3-2

EST Pitching

Anthony Ferrara – 3 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 2 K’s – A good day at the office for the 2008 seventh rounder.
Cale Johnson – 2 IP, 1 H, 1 K – 5.2 strikeout to walk ratio last year was fourth-best among all Cardinals minor leaguers.
Travis Lawler – 2 IP, 2 H, 1 unearned run, 1 BB, 3 K’s
Kyle Heim – one perfect inning – Was scored on last two times out, so this is good to see.
Andrew Moss – 1 IP, 1 H, 2 K’s
LaCurtis Mayes – 1 IP, 1 H, 2 K’s

EST Hitting

Ross Smith – 2-for-3, double and 2 RBIs – Haven’t seen a lot of Smith this spring. Maybe this is the start.
Yunier Castillo, Jon Edwards and Rainel Rosario – each doubled
Roberto DeLaCruz and Devin Goodwin – singled and scored a run
Michael Swinson – singled in his only AB

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On Wednesday, the Cardinals had a camp day in Jupiter in which intersquad games were held. As always, Cardinals director of minor league operations John Vuch shares game highlights. The raw data is his, with the comments mine.

Team summary:  As one would expect, the two higher-level clubs defeated their little brothers, though the Memphis-Springfield game was tight as the Redbirds barely picked up their third win of the spring. Palm Beach had their way with Quad Cities pitching.

Combined records: The Cardinals records on the day were of course 2-2. Spring totals are now 20-31-8 overall and 13-24-4 versus external competition.

My Pitcher of the Day: Shelby Miller (pictured), pitching for Quad Cities, tossed three perfect innings at Palm Beach, fanning six.

My Hitter of the Day:  Quad Cities’ Francisco Rivera collected a triple, home run, scored twice and added three RBI.

Thursday’s schedule: The Cardinals five squads will remain home as the Marlins walk across from their side of the complex.

Memphis (3-7-3) defeated Springfield (4-6-3), 4-3 (7 ½ innings)

Memphis Pitching

Brandon Dickson – 5 IP, 6 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 2 K’s
Ryan Kulik – 3 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 2 K’s

Memphis Hitting

Ruben Gotay – 3-run home run – Batted just .200 (4-for-20) in MLB camp but one of those hits was a home run, too. Has 12 MLB home runs in 811 career plate appearances. Also, he lost his #3 jersey to Felipe Lopez.
Daniel Descalso – RBI triple and a walk in his two plate appearances – Then went over the to MLB game where he was hit by a pitch and scored a run.
Mark Shorey – doubled
Tyler Henley – tripled and scored a run – Was a late-game substitution in the MLB game in centerfield but did not get an at-bat.
Kevin Howard – 1-for-2 with a walk and run scored – 28-year-old has a career .287/.354/.421 line in seven minor league seasons for CIN, NYY, LAD, PHI, SEA, TOR and SD. That would make StL his eighth organization.

Springfield Pitching

Scott Gorgen – 4 IP, 3 H, 4 ER, 3 BB, 4 K’s – His strikeout to walk ratio has eroded at each stop.
Chuckie Fick – 2 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K’s – On a non-Shelby day, this outing was good enough to be the Pitcher of the Day, so here’s an honorable mention for the son of Cardinals professional scout Chuck.
Matt Meyer – 1 IP, 1 H – Minor league Rule 5 signee from Cleveland serves as left-handed relief

Springfield Hitting

Jim Rapoport – 3-for-4 with a triple, stolen base and run scored – Has stolen 90 and caught 24 times in 398 career games. Lifetime batting average is just .245, but on-base mark is .322. Slugs less at .317. Surely knows what he needs to do.
Charles Cutler – 2-for-3 with a double and run scored – Catching opportunity upward right now. His combined .322 average last season between Palm Beach and Quad Cities was second highest in the Cardinals system and fifth highest among all minor league catchers.
Mike Folli – solo HR
Aaron Luna – doubled

Palm Beach (6-6-1) defeated Quad Cities 1 (5-8), 10-2

Palm Beach Pitching

Scott McGregor – 5 IP, 3 H, 2 ER, 0 BB, 2 K’s – In two seasons, the Cardinals’ 15^th round pick in 2008 is 11-11, 4.55.
Jason Buursma – 1 IP, 1 H, 0 ER
Casey Mulligan – 1 IP, 1 K – Not a closing situation, but didn’t let down. Good.

Palm Beach Hitting

Francisco Rivera – 2-for-3 with a triple, homer, two runs scored and 3 RBIs – The Hitter of the Day.
Tommy Pham – 2-for-2 with a double, walk, 3 runs scored and two RBIs – I guess I should create a Hitter of the Spring Award just for Pham. Amazing consistency.
Rich Racobaldo – 1-for-3 with a single, RBI and a run scored
Matt Carpenter – 1-for-4 with an RBI
Osvaldo Morales – singled, scored a run and had an RBI

Quad Cities 1 Pitching

Shelby Miller – three perfect innings with 6 K’s – He doesn’t want to pitch in the Quad Cities early spring cold and is making his case for a Palm Beach assignment on the mound. Impressive.
Chris Notti – 1.2 IP, 6 H, 6 ER, 1 BB, 1 K – Ouch. Career 6-5, 3.50 ERA in two seasons.
Jose Rada – 1.1 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 2 K’s
Chris Corrigan – 1 IP, 3 H, 2 ER – Fanned 28 and walked 20 in 47 1/3 innings in his pro debut with Batavia last season.

Quad Cities 1 Hitting

Frederick Parejo – 1-for-2 with a triple, run scored and RBI – Was the starting centerfielder in the 2008 New York-Penn League All-Star Game, but had a quieter 2009 at Quad Cities. Still just 19 until July.
Niko Vasquez – doubled and scored a run – Third round selection in 2008 wants to put a rough 2009 behind him.
Travis Tartamella – singled in his only AB

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After a rain-soaked day on Monday in which the pitchers were able to throw on the side, but the five games against the Marlins were washed out due to wet grounds, the St. Louis Cardinals again faced their New York Mets counterparts on Tuesday.

Just like the major league Cardinals, the Memphis and Springfield teams boarded buses for Port St. Lucie while the two A-level clubs entertained the Mets in Jupiter.

As always, Cardinals director of minor league operations John Vuch shares game highlights. The raw data is his, with the comments mine.

Team summary: Any time any club can hang seven earned runs on a two-time Cy Young Award winner and four-time All-Star, it is a great day, let alone when it is a Triple A club doing the damage. That’s right – Memphis inflicted that pain on the Mets’ Johan Santana, assigned to Triple A Buffalo for the afternoon to get his work in prior to starting for New York on opening day.

(I readily admit that this photo of Santana was from another spring game, but it seemed too appropriate to let pass.)

Mets star Jose Reyes joined Santana as a Bison-for-a-day on Tuesday. Out the entire spring to-date due to a thyroid condition, the two-time All-Star shortstop managed just one hit, a double that could have been a triple, in five plate appearances.

The other three Cardinals teams ran into some good pitching, managing just three runs among them. Springfield encountered a two-hitter by the opposition and was shut out, Palm Beach collected two tallies while Quad Cities scored just once.

Combined records: The Cardinals records on the day were 0-3-1. Spring totals are now 18-29-8 overall and 13-24-4 versus external competition. None of the five clubs, including Quad Cities 2 at 2-4-1, currently has an above-.500 record.

My Co-Pitchers of the Day: Springfield’s Brian Broderick and Quad Cities Scott Schneider each allowed just three baserunners in three scoreless innings.

My Hitter of the Day: Memphis Tyler Henley tripled, walked, scored twice and had two RBI, but I could easily give the award to his entire offense as eight different Redbirds collected and RBI and eight of them scored.

Wednesday’s schedule: The Cardinals have a camp day in which intersquad games will be held. I am hearing there will be an 11 a.m. start.

Memphis (2-7-3) tied with Buffalo, 9-9

Memphis Pitching

Adam Ottavino – 2.1 IP, 4 H, 3 ER, 1 BB, 1 K – First outing since being sent down from St. Louis could have been better.
Rich Rundles – 1.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 K – Veteran lefty was the only Redbirds pitcher to keep Buffalo off the board.
Tyler Norrick – 2 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 1 K
Josh Kinney – 1 IP, 2 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 1 K – Continues to get beaten up. If he is healthy, there could be a real problem.
Fernando Salas – 1 IP, 2 H, 1 ER – Needs to stand out in case he is under consideration to replace Blake Hawksworth due to injury. A shutout inning would have been better.
Matt Scherer – 1 IP, 2 H, 2 ER, 0 BB, 1 K – Once was on the 40-man roster, but was never called up.

Memphis Hitting

Bryan Anderson – 2-for-3 with a run scored and RBI – Remember him? Injuries in St. Louis could open the door a crack after he received just one at-bat in MLB spring training.
Amaury Cazana – 2-for-4 with a double, RBI and run scored – Where will he play this year? I am not talking position, I mean which country?
Daniel Descalso – 2-for-5 with a double, run scored and RBI – Had the game-winning walkoff home run for St. Louis on Monday.
Shane Robinson – 2-for-4 with a run scored – Just keeps producing. Seeing some time at second base.
Tyler Henley – tripled, walked, scored twice and had two RBIs – Hitter of the Day
Mark Shorey – doubled, walked, scored a run and had an RBI – Not giving any ground in outfield battle.
Tony Cruz – doubled and had an RBI – Catcher is having a nice spring and may get to stay in Triple A for awhile to continue to prove his mettle.
Kevin Howard – RBI single – Minor league veteran may be playing a lot at third for the Redbirds this season.
Tyler Greene and Jon Jay – singled, scored a run and had an RBI

Check out the following video of the Memphis battery of Adam Ottavino and Tony Cruz doing battle against Reyes.

Springfield (4-5-3) lost to Binghamton, 1-0

Springfield Pitching

David Kopp – 3 IP, 1 H, 1 ER, 3 BB, 1 K – Comeback from injury continuing well.
Brian Broderick – 3 IP, 2 H, 1 BB – Co-Pitcher of the Day.
Blake King – 1 IP, 1 H, 2 BB, 1 K – The walks didn’t stay away long.
Adam Reifer – 1 IP, 1 BB – Not sure if we should read anything into the order with Reifer apparently pitching the eighth and Sanchez the ninth.
Eduardo Sanchez – 1 IP, 1 BB – Identical line to Reifer. Francisco Samuel out with shoulder pain.

Springfield Hitting

Adron Chambers – singled and stole a base – Has stolen 40 but caught 25 times over three professional seasons.
Aaron Luna – had the only other Springfield hit
Pete Kozma, Matt Carpenter, Daryl Jones, Andrew Brown and Jim Rapoport – all walked – A’s for effort

Palm Beach (5-6-1) lost to St. Lucie, 4-2

Palm Beach Pitching

Rich Hill – 4.2 IP, 4 H, 2 ER, 3 BB, 5 K’s – Major leaguer facing A-level hitters. Hmmm…
Ramon Delgado – 1 IP, 1 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 2 K’s
Joel Pichardo – 1 IP, 1 H, 1 ER, 1 K
Matt Frevert – 1 IP, 2 K’s – 28^th rounder in 2009 quietly ranked in the top ten in the system in WHIP (6^th at 0.99), strikeouts per nine innings (6^th with 11.21) and strikeout to walk ratio (tied for 9^th at 4.40). Sleeper alert!
David Carpenter – 1 IP, 2 K’s – Only starting his second full season on the mound and doing nicely.

Palm Beach Hitting

Tommy Pham – 2-run HR – Owner of one of the Cardinals hottest sticks this spring.
Osvaldo Morales – 2-for-3 with a double
Jose Garcia – tripled and scored a run – Had five of his career eight triples in four pro seasons last summer.
Ryan Jackson – singled in his only AB

Quad Cities 1 (5-7) lost to Savannah, 8-1

Quad Cities 1 Pitching

Deryk Hooker 3 IP, 4 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 4 K’s – Not terrible, but I keep expecting Hooker to dominate at this level.
Scott Schneider – 3 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 1 K – My Co-Pitcher of the Day was our Batavia Pitcher of the Year for 2009.
Zach Russell – 1.1 IP, 4 H, 4 ER, 1BB – Bumpy outing for the former 49^th rounder in 2007.
Michael Thompson – 0.2 IP, 1 H, 1 K
Aaron Terry – 1 IP, 3 H, 2 ER

Quad Cities 1 Hitting

Jon Edwards – 2-for-2 with a double – Has always been streaky, but needs longer, more consistent play to realize great potential.
Ted Obregon – doubled – An oft-forgotten middle infielder.
Michael Swinson – walked twice and scored a run – Keep an eye on him…

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On Sunday, the St. Louis Cardinals’ enter their final week of camp by once again facing the Mets. This time, Memphis and Springfield boarded the bus for Port St. Lucie while the A-level clubs stayed home.

As always, Cardinals director of minor league operations John Vuch shares game highlights. The raw data is his, with the comments mine.

Team summary: It was a tie day all around as each pair of clubs split in both game locations. Behind an offensive explosion, Springfield won on Mets soil while Palm Beach took a home victory. Both clubs pulled their organization spring-best records to .500 with the wins.

Combined records: The Cardinals records on the day were 2-2. Spring totals are now 18-26-7 overall and 13-21-3 versus external competition.

My Pitcher of the Day: Quad Cites 1’s Aaron Terry spun two perfect innings.

My Hitter of the Day: Springfield’s Chris Swauger (pictured) apparently liked twos on the day as he had two singles, two doubles, two RBI and two runs scored in five at-bats.

Monday’s schedule: The Cardinals five squads are “visitors” to their Florida Marlins counterparts as they take the short walk over from their side of the Jupiter complex.

Memphis (2-7-2) lost to Buffalo, 7-2

Memphis Pitching

Evan MacLane – 4 IP, 4 H, four unearned runs, 1 BB, 2 K’s – Our 2009 Memphis Starting Pitcher of the Year came back for the PCL title defense.
Oneli Perez – 2.1 IP, 4 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 2 K’s – That makes 7 runs, six earned, yielded in his last 4 2/3 innings. He fared better in big league camp (in very limited action – two ER in 3 1/3 innings pitched).
Rich Rundles – 1.2 IP, 1 H, no runs, 2 K’s
Matt Scherer – one perfect inning

Memphis Hitting

Mark Shorey – 2-for-4 with a double and run scored – Has to continue to hit like this to keep in the crowded outfield hunt. The 25-year-old left-handed hitter was named the MVP of the Colombian winter league playoffs.
Shane Robinson – 2-for-4 with a triple, run scored and RBI – Three triples in two days is the same total as he had all last season. Robinson has ten three-baggers in his four-year professional career.
Tony Cruz – 2-for-4 with an RBI – On fire. Four for his last seven on Saturday and Sunday.
Jon Jay – doubled and walked – Good to see. Obviously not sulking over being sent down.
Tyler Henley – singled and scored

Springfield (4-4-3) defeated Binghamton, 11-6

Springfield Pitching

Shaun Garceau – 3.2 IP, 6 H, 3 ER, 1 BB, 1 K – Yielded 2 ER in 3 IP last time out.
Chuckie Fick – 3.1 IP, 3 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 3 K’s
Blake King – 1 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 1 K – No walks is a good thing. Only had one in his last outing of two innings.
Jason Buursma – 1 IP, 1 BB – Had an 11-1 strikeout to walk ratio with Quad Cities to start last season, but it dropped to 20-15 after he joined Palm Beach.

Springfield Hitting

Adron Chambers – 3-for-5 with an RBI and run scored – Was Shorey’s Colombian teammate, finishing third in the winter league in average, .365, first in triples with 6, second in hits, and fourth in slugging at .529.
Chris Swauger – 4-for-5 with two doubles, two RBIs and two runs scored – The Player of the Day and another Colombian league player this past winter.
Pete Kozma – 2-for-5 with a run scored and RBI
Antonio DeJesus – 2-for-4 with a double, walk, two runs scored and an RBI
Matt Carpenter – 2-for-4 with three runs scored – Four for his last seven and hit a home run the day before that!
Colt Sedbrook – 2-for-4 with two RBIs and a run scored – Second consecutive day he was on base twice.
Daryl Jones – 2-for-5
Steven Hill – doubled and had two RBIs
Curt Smith – singled and walked

Palm Beach (5-5-1) defeated St. Lucie, 7-5

Palm Beach Pitching

Kevin Thomas – 3 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 4 K’s – Kept those baserunners from crossing the plate.
Houston Summers – 2 IP, 1 H, 2 ER, 3 BB – Last knuckleballer remaining after Charlie Zink was released.
Jose Rada – 2 IP, 4 H, 2 ER, 1 K
Joel Pichardo – 1 IP, 1 K
Matt Frevert – 1 IP, 2 H, one unearned run, 1 BB

Palm Beach Hitting

Tommy Pham – 2-for-3 with a double, two walks, three runs scored and RBI – On base in four of five plate appearances. His career OBP is just .294, so here is hoping there is more where that came from.
Francisco Rivera – 2-for-2
Rich Racobaldo – 2-for-4 with 2 RBIs – On base six times over the last three days and collected four RBI in the process. Drove in 42 in 249 at-bats in 2009 between Johnson City and Quad Cities.
Ryde Rodriguez – doubled and scored a run
Jason Stidham – doubled, walked, and scored a run – On base six times the last three days also and scored each day.
Osvaldo Morales – doubled
Jesus Montero – game-winning RBI triple in his only AB
Jose Garcia – double and RBI

Quad Cities 1 (5-6) lost to Savannah, 11-4

Quad Cities 1 Pitching

Anthony Ferrara – 2.2 IP, 7 H, 7 R, 6 ER, 2 BB, 3 K’s – Rough day at the office.
Jesse Simpson – 2.1 IP, 4 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 3 K’s
Jorge Rondon – 2 IP, 3 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 2 K’s
Aaron Terry – two perfect innings – Maybe he should have started… Struck out 37 and walked nine in 28 innings of relief between Johnson City and Batavia in his 2009 professional debut.

Quad Cities #1 Hitting

Frederick Parejo – 2-for-3 with a double, RBI and run scored – RBIs in each of the last three days. Home run on Friday and on base twice each of the next two days.
Niko Vasquez – 2-for-4 with a run scored and 2 RBIs
D’Marcus Ingram – doubled and scored a run
Jon Edwards – double and RBI
Devin Shepherd – singled in his only AB

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On Saturday, the St. Louis Cardinals’ five squads were “home” as their Florida Marlins counterparts take the short walk over from their side of the Jupiter complex.

As always, Cardinals director of minor league operations John Vuch shares game highlights. The raw data is his, with the comments mine.

Team summary: The Cardinals had just their second winning day of the spring and their best overall to date. Memphis finally collected their second win in camp whiile Palm Beach and Quad Cities 1 were also victorious. Quad Cities 2 tied their Marlins counterpart. Completing the table-turning, the Cardinals’ winningest team this spring, Springfield, was the only one to take a loss on Saturday as their pitching blew a gasket. The other clubs rode their strong pitching to success.

Combined records: The Cardinals records on the day were 3-1-1. Spring totals are now 16-24-7 overall and 11-19-3 versus external competition.

My Pitcher of the Day: Gary Daley, pitching for Memphis, allowed just two baserunners in four shutout innings. How can one not root for a turnaround by the Cards’ third-round selection in 2006 who has 202 strikeouts with 188 walks in 247 1/3 career innings and mid-90’s heat?

My Hitter of the Day: Memphis’ centerfielder Shane Robinson (pictured) was on base four times, including via a pair of triples. Let’s see… The major league team needs a reserve centerfielder and it is Robinson’s natural position. He went 4-for-11 (.374) in big league camp, including two doubles. Shane also walked three times, drove in three and was hit twice by pitches. Maybe he is trying to suggest he deserved more of a chance?

Sunday’s schedule: The Cardinals enter their final week of camp by facing the Mets. This time, Memphis and Springfield board the bus for Port St. Lucie while the A-level clubs stay home.

Memphis (2-6-2) defeated New Orleans, 9-2

Memphis Pitching

Gary Daley – four shutout innings on one hit, one walk and one strikeout – The Pitcher of the Day.
Trey Hearne – 2 IP, 1 H, 2 ER, 4 BB, 1 K
Josh Kinney – 1.2 IP, 1 H, 1 BB – Needs to start putting up goose eggs.
Tyler Norrick – 1.1 IP, 1 H, 1 K
Fernando Salas – one perfect inning with 2 K’s – Pitched better in big league camp this spring than some still there (9 Ks to 1 BB, 2.45 ERA).

Memphis Hitting

Shane Robinson – 3-for-3 including two triples, a walk, 2 runs and an RBI
Tony Cruz – 2-for-3 with a double, a HBP, two runs and two RBIs – If he keeps hitting like this, it will be tough to send him back down to Springfield when the Molina-Pagnozzi dominoes eventually fall.
Amaury Cazana – 2-run HR – Will he return to Mexico? Will he ever play for Memphis again?
Mark Shorey – doubled and scored
Donovan Solano – 1-for-2 with a walk and RBI
Mike Folli – 1-for-2 with an RBI
Tyler Henley – singled and scored – Note Henley is with Memphis while Jones is with Springfield.

Springfield (3-4-3) lost to Jacksonville, 13-3

Springfield Pitching

Scott Gorgen – 4 IP, 8 H, 6 ER, 1 BB, 3 K’s – Rough outing for the 2009 Arizona Fall League participant.
Ryan Kulik 3 IP, 1 H, 2 ER, 4 BB, 1 K – After a 43-10 strikeout to walk ratio in 2008, it zoomed up to 71-46 last season. Not a positive trend.
Thomas Eager – 0.2 IP, 2 H, 3 ER, 2 BB, 1 K – Fifth-round pick in 2007 has yet to turn the corner.
Eduardo Sanchez – 1 IP, 6 H, 2 ER, 2 K’s – Not what one would hope to see from a legitimate closer candidate.

Springfield Hitting

Andrew Brown – 3-for-4 with a run scored and RBI – Getting listed here more days than not this spring.
Matt Carpenter – 2-for-3 with a walk
Curt Smith – RBI double
Daryl Jones and Colt Sedbrook – singled, walked and scored – Since being sent down from big league camp (1-for-5), Mr. Jones, the organization’s 2008 Player of the Year, has been quiet. (Nothing against Jones, but our pick that year was David Freese.)
Aaron Luna – single, walk, RBI
Tommy Pham – walked twice

Palm Beach (4-5-1) defeated Jupiter, 7-2

Palm Beach Pitching

Mark Diapoules – 4 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 3 K’s – Nice showing. Last season, he made 15 appearances with Palm Beach before injury and return to Quad Cities. In the Florida State League, he posted a 5.72 ERA as walks were a problem (28 in 39 1/3 innings).
Arquimedes Nieto – 2.2 IP, 2 H, 1 unearned run, 1 BB, 4 K’s – His 116 strikeouts last season was fourth-highest among all Cardinals minor leaguers. His 22 starts between Quad Cities and Palm Beach ranked ninth in the system.
Ramon Delgado – 1.1 perfect innings with a K
David Carpenter – one hitless inning, one walk, one K – Tied for seventh in appearances in the organization with 52 at Quad Cities despite it being only his first full season after converting from catcher.

Palm Beach Hitting

Rich Racobaldo – 2-for-2 with a double, two runs, RBI
Jason Stidham – two hits, run, two RBIs – Did you know the 22-year-old was born at Lakenheath, United Kingdom? I didn’t.
Domnit Bolivar – two hits, run – To be in the know, work on pronunciation of the 20-year-old Venezuelan shortstop’s name – “DUG-nee BO-lee-var”.
Jose Garcia – tripled and scored
Frederick Parejo – single, walk, RBI
Osvaldo Morales – RBI single

Quad Cities 1 (5-5) defeated Greensboro, 1-0 (10 innings)

Quad Cities 1 Pitching

Kevin Siegrist – four hitless innings, 1 BB, 3 K’s – Could mount a very strong argument for repeating as Pitcher of the Day (also won on 3/22). Seven shutout innings over his last two outings. Impressive. Has a 3.07 ERA in his first two seasons. Was with Batavia in 2009.
Mike Blazek – 4 IP, 4 H, 0 BB, 5 K’s – A shame this fine outing is almost lost among the other standout performances. Blazek led the New York-Penn League with 13 wild pitches last season, but seemed to be right on the mark on this day.
Andrew Moss and David Kington – 1 IP, 1 H each

Quad Cities #1 Hitting

Niko Vasquez – singled and scored the game’s only run
Jonathan Rodriguez – singled and walked
Devin Goodwin – doubled and walked in his two plate appearances – Second baseman taken in 33^rd round in 2009 looking for playing time.
Travis Tartamella – singled in his only AB – 22-year-old catcher batted just .183 in his rookie season at Johnson City.

Quad Cities 2 (2-4-1) tied Marlins 5^th club, 1-1

Quad Cities 2 Pitching

Cale Johnson – 3 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K – Last season, he was fourth among Cardinals relievers with a 5.2 to 1 strikeout to walk ratio.
Hector Hernandez – 2 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 1 K
Chris Corrigan – two hitless innings, two walks, one K
Keith Butler – 2 IP, 1 H, 1 BB, 2 K’s – His 1.02 WHIP in 2009 ranked as eighth-best in the system.

Quad Cities 2 Hitting

Rainel Rosario – 2-for-4 with an RBI – 21-year-old Dominican had a .758 OPS with Johnson City last season, his second in the US.
Anthony Garcia – doubled in his only AB – Seems to be doing well with the bat in his playing time.
Jesus Montero – singled and walked in two plate appearances
Yunier Castillo – singled and scored a run – Encouraging to see the defensive standout appearing again among the offensive highlights.

Roster move: Adam Ottavino was optioned to Memphis on Saturday.

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On Friday, the St. Louis Cardinals’ top four clubs once again faced each other as Memphis took on Springfield and Palm Beach opposed Quad Cities.

As always, Cardinals director of minor league operations John Vuch shares game highlights. The raw data is his, with the comments mine.

Team summary: Memphis missed getting their second win of the spring as they tied Springfield in a shortened, five-inning game. As they should, Palm Beach defeated Quad Cities in the other intersquad contest behind 2009 top draft pick Shelby Miller and a big day from a pair of outfielders.

Combined records: The Cardinals records on the day were 1-1-2. Spring totals are now 13-23-6 overall and 7-18-2 versus external competition.

My Pitcher of the Day: Palm Beach’s Justin Edwards tossed a pair of perfect innings and added a strikeout as well.

My Hitter of the Day: Palm Beach’s Kyle Conley (pictured) had a double, home run and four RBI.

Saturday’s schedule: The Cardinals’ five squads are “home” as their Marlins counterparts take the short walk over from their side of the Jupiter complex.

Memphis (1-6-2) and Springfield (3-3-3) tied 1-1, 5 innings

Memphis Pitching

Matt Meyer – 0 2 IP, 1H, 0 R, 1 BB, 4 K’s
Rich Rundles – struck out the side
Matt Scherer – 1 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 2 K’s
Casey Mulligan – one scoreless inning with two walks

Memphis Hitting

Shane Robinson – doubled and scored a run
Jim Rapoport – RBI single – Led the system with 71 walks last year, but his OBP of .358 did not crack the top ten.
Daniel Descalso – singled and walked in two plate appearances

Springfield Pitching

Blake King – two hitless innings with a walk and a strikeout – Will this be the year he puts it together?
Jason Buursma – 2 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 2 K’s
Adam Reifer – one perfect inning – This is very important to see. It will be very interesting to see who closes for both Memphis and Springfield this season as there are a number of candidates. Surely Reifer is among them.

Springfield Hitting

Adron Chambers – walked twice and HBP in his three plate appearances
Matt Carpenter – solo home run – A sort of under-the-radar prospect was pushed in his first season at 24. Wouldn’t be the first to struggle a bit at Palm Beach only to rebound.

Palm Beach (3-5-1) defeated Quad Cities (4-5), 7-4

Palm Beach Pitching

Shelby Miller – 3 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 2 K’s – Touched by a solo home run. Other than that, he had what looks to be a good outing.
Justin Edwards – two perfect innings, 1 K – Allowed just one home run in 221 batters faced last season.
Pat Daugherty – 1 IP, 2 H, 2 ER, 1 K
Jason Novak – 1 IP, 1 H, 1 K

Palm Beach Hitting

Ryde Rodriguez – 3-for-4 with a run scored and RBI – Ryde, where have you been?
Kyle Conley – doubled, homered and had 4 RBIs – Ditto for you, Kyle. Great to see these two in the highlights. Conley was the organization’s Minor League Player of the Month last August.
Alex Castellanos – 2-for-4 with a run scored and RBI – Continues to appear in these reports almost daily
Frederick Parejo – 2-run HR – Still just 19 years old. Very young for this level.
Jose Garcia – singled, walked and scored two runs – An organizational favorite is another under-the-radar guy.
Xavier Scruggs – RBI single and was HBP
Rich Racobaldo – singled and walked and had an RBI
Luis De La Cruz and Jason Stidham – singled, walked and scored – Last season, De La Cruz had a major league camp invite and was selected to the New York-Penn League All-Star Game. The 20-year-old needs to stay healthy to restore his prospect luster at a position that needs standouts.

Quad Cities Pitching

Scott McGregor – 2.1 IP, 6 H, 5 ER, 1 BB, 2 K’s – Rough day for Scott.
Chris Notti – 3 IP, 3 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 4 K’s
LaCurtis Mayes – 1 IP, 1 H – A guy to watch, especially if he can continue to keep the walks under control.
Miguel Tapia – 1 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 1 BB

Quad Cities Hitting

Devin Shepherd – 2-run HR in his only AB
Niko Vasquez – solo HR (off Miller) – Former shortstop has seven minor league home runs in 704 career at-bats. Would be nice to see a third baseman with power.
Ted Obregon – singled in his only AB – Another shortstop to be considered among those at this position, deep at these levels.
Ivan Castro – 1-for-2 with a run scored

Releases and other news: On Friday, the  Cardinals announced their second group of minor league player releases for the spring. The most prominent of the ten now ex-Cardinals is former second-round draft pick Brad Furnish. The others are pitchers Tyler Lavigne, Randy Santos, Adam Veres, Santo Maertz, Charlie Zink, Pedro Rodriguez and Yoffri Martinez along with outfielders Travis Mitchell and Edwin Gomez. The Cardinal Nation subscribers can read up on all ten players here.

In addition, after their day off changing clubhouses, Tyler Greene and Jon Jay should be appearing in the Memphis highlights later this weekend as the two were cut from the big club on Friday.

The Roster Matrix is up to date on all players, though team assignments will not be changed until the full-season rosters are finalized around April 4. 287 players are currently under contract.

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On Thursday, the St. Louis Cardinals’ top four clubs once again found the Mets as their primary opponent with Memphis and Springfield entertaining their New York opponents in Jupiter, while Palm Beach and Quad Cities 1 again took the short drive to the Mets’ home in Port St. Lucie.

Quad Cities 2 welcomed the World Free Agent Spring Training club.  WFAST is a 17-day spring camp for free agents, offering instruction from independent league coaches and of course, game competition for young men looking for professional contracts. The Cardinals minor leaguers play a game against WFAST each spring.

As always, Cardinals director of minor league operations John Vuch shares game highlights. The raw data is his, with the comments mine.

Team summary: Memphis and Springfield fell while Palm Beach worked a tie and both Quad Cities clubs outscored their competition.

Combined records: The Cardinals records on the day were 2-2-1. Spring totals are now 12-22-4 overall and 7-18-2 versus external competition.

My Pitcher of the Day: Randy Santos of Quad Cities 2 spun three shutout innings, striking out four.

My Hitter of the Day: Quad Cities 1’s Jarred Bogany (pictured) singled, doubled, drove in two and scored.

Friday’s schedule: Once again, the Cardinals have no external opponents to play. As such, we are pretty much guaranteed to have a 2-2 day as Memphis will take on Springfield and Palm Beach will face Quad Cities.

Memphis (1-6-1) lost to New Orleans, 8-1

Memphis Pitching

Brandon Dickson – 4 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 1 K – opposite field solo HR
Brad Furnish – 1.2 IP, 2 H, 2 ER, 4 BB, 3 K’s – Rough outing for the lefty.
Oneli Perez – 2.1 IP, 7 H, 4 ER, 0 BB, 4 K’s – Could be on the bump with more outings like this.
Pete Parise – 1 IP, 3 H, 1 ER – May not get to close to start this year depending on who else makes the team.

Memphis Hitting

Bryan Anderson – 2-for-3, solo HR – Will presumably see more time for Memphis if Pags starts with St. Louis due to Yadier Molina’s injury.
Shane Robinson and Daniel Descalso – singled and walked – Not much else to say about a team that has not been winning so far this spring.

Springfield (3-3-2) lost to Binghamton, 3-2

Springfield Pitching

David Kopp – 3 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 1 K – Continuing his comeback from imjury.
Brian Broderick – 2 IP, 4 H, 2 ER
Richard Castillo – 2 IP, 1 H, 2 BB, 2 K’s
Chuckie Fick – 2 perfect innings, 2 K’s – Almost the Pitcher of the Day.

Springfield Hitting

Aaron Luna – 2-for-3 – Has been hitting all spring.
Andrew Brown – double – Ditto. His offense may be ready for Memphis, but third base experiment is still early.
Antonio DeJesus – single, HBP, scored – Good to see him here. Is a .252 career hitter, but batted just .229 with Springfield last season.
Tommy Pham – RBI single in his only AB – Another hot bat.

Palm Beach (2-5-1) tied with St. Lucie, 4-4

Palm Beach Pitching

Jared Bradford – 3 IP, 4 H, 3 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 2 K’s – Had a 14-to-2 strikeout to walk ratio last season between Gulf Coast League and Palm Beach.
Scott Schneider – 2 IP, 0 R, 1 H, 2 K’s – Our 2009 Batavia Starting Pitcher of the Year. His 0.91 WHIP last season was second-best in the entire system.
Yoffri Martinez – 1 IP, 0 R
Houston Summers – 1 IP, 1 H, 1 unearned run, 1 BB – Knuckleballer has a much better outing.
Jose Rada – one perfect inning – Led the Appalachian League with 23 appearances in 2009 and posted a nice 1.76 ERA, too.
Joel Pichardo – one perfect inning with a strikeout

Palm Beach Hitting

D’Marcus Ingram – 2-for-5, run, stolen base – His 25 swipes in 32 attempts last season ranked fourth in the organization.
Frederick Parejo – 3-run HR – 19-year-old has just three home runs in 666 professional at-bats during the regular season.
Alex Castellanos – RBI double, scored
Oliver Marmol – single, HBP in two plate appearances
Rich Racobaldo – single, walk, stolen base

Quad Cities 1 (4-4) defeated Savannah, 8-6

Quad Cities 1 Pitching

Deryk Hooker – 3 IP, 2 H, 1 BB, 3 K’s – Another solid outing. The first time around, Hooker reached Quad Cities for four starts in 2008 and was very strong (1.61 ERA).  Still just 20 years old.
Zach Russell – 3 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 3 K’s – In 61 career innings, he has 61 walks and 67 strikeouts, but no free passes on this day.
Jesse Simpson – two perfect innings, 2 K’s – His 1.01 WHIP in 2009 ranked seventh in the system.
Aaron Terry – 1 IP, 2 H, 2 ER
Jorge Rondon – 0.1 IP, 2 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 1 K
David Carpenter 0.2 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 2 K’s – His 12 saves last season with Quad Cities was the sixth-most in the organization.

Quad Cities 1 Hitting

Jarred Bogany – 2-for-3, double, two RBIs, run – Only a .250 hitter in his first two seasons, but seems to be hot this spring.
Luis Mateo – 2-for-4, double, 2 RBIs – 19-year-old 2B quietly posted a .912 OPS in 93 at-bats with Johnson City last season.
C.J. Beatty – 2-for-2, run, RBI – Can’t do much better than that!
Travis Tartamella – doubled in his only AB
Jonathan Rodriguez – doubled
Michael Swinson and Devin Shepherd – both singled, walked, scored

Quad Cities #2 (2-4) defeated WFAST, 7-3 (six innings)

Quad Cities #2 Pitching

Randy Santos – 3 IP, 1 H, no runs, 1 BB, 4 K’s – A stellar performance. His 15 wild pitches led the Appalachian League last season, so he needs a good backstop.
Nick McCully – 2 IP, 2 H, 3 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 1 K
Brett Zawacki – one perfect inning – Great to see him out there after a pair of knee surgeries last summer.

Quad Cities #2 Hitting

Travis Mitchell – two hits
Romulo Ruiz – walked twice, scored twice – A much better player than his career line of .167/.229/.269 would indicate.
Rainel Rosario – singled, scored twice, RBI
Cesar Valera – 2-run triple, walk, scored
David Washington – single, two walks in three plate appearances – Looking to rebound from a rough introduction in the Gulf Coast League in 2009 (.165 in 85 at-bats).
Hector Alvarez – 3-run HR

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On Wednesday, the St. Louis Cardinals’ five clubs made the shortest of walking road trips over to the Florida Marlins’ side of the Roger Dean Stadium complex.

As always, Cardinals director of minor league operations John Vuch shares game highlights. The raw data is his, with the comments mine.

Team summary: Only Quad Cities 1 was able to collect a victory, while Springfield tied. The other three clubs, Memphis, Palm Beach and Quad Cities 2 were defeated on the scoreboard.

Combined records: The Cardinals records on the day were 1-3-1. Spring totals are now 10-20-3 overall and 6-16-1 versus external competition.

My Pitcher of the Day: Springfield’s Scott Gorgen fanned five in two scoreless innings of work.

My Hitter of the Day: Memphis’ Kevin Howard (pictured) collected eight total bases, three RBI and scored twice.

Thursday’s schedule: Once again, the Mets are the primary opponent with Memphis and Springfield entertaining their New York opponents in Jupiter, while Palm Beach and Quad Cities 1 again take the short drive to the Mets’ home in Port St. Lucie.

Quad Cities 2 will take on World Free Agent Spring Training.  WFAST is a 17-day spring camp for free agents, offering instruction from independent league coaches and of course, game competition for young men looking for professional contracts. The Cardinals minor leaguers play a game against WFAST each spring.

Memphis (1-5-1) lost to New Orleans, 9-8

Memphis Pitching

Lance Lynn – 3.2 IP, 7 H, 5 ER, 2 BB, 4 K’s – Uncharacteristic tough outing for the reigning Minor League Pitcher of the Year.
Charlie Zink – 0.2 IP, 1 H, 4 ER, 4 BB – Can anyone catch his knuckleball?
Tyler Norrick – 2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 K – Quietly effective
Josh Kinney and Fernando Salas – one perfect inning with two K’s each – Two guys we may see in St. Louis before too long.

Memphis Hitting

Kevin Howard – three hits – single, triple and homer – 3 RBIs and 2 runs scored – Just the Player of the Day!
Donovan Solano – three hits including a double, run, RBI – Provided a pleasant surprise in limited action in big league camp – 11-for-19 (.571), though ten were singles.
Shane Robinson – two hits, an RBI and run scored – Another nice limited-time showing with St. Louis – 4-for-11 (.364) with two doubles and three RBI.
Mike Folli – tripled
Daniel Descalso – double, walk in two plate appearances
Matt Pagnozzi, Tyler Henley and Mark Shorey – singled and scored

Springfield (3-2-2) tied Jacksonville, 4-4

Springfield Pitching

Nick Additon – 2.2 IP, 3 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 1 K
Ryan Kulik – 3 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 1 K
Scott Gorgen – 2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 5 K’s – Pitcher of the Day
Thomas Eager – 1 IP, 1 H, no runs – Cards’ 2007 fifth-rounder had a very quiet 2009.
Eduardo Sanchez – 1 IP, no hits, no runs, 2 BB – Needs to find that elusive control.

Springfield Hitting

Steven Hill – double, triple, RBI and scored – Hill can hit anywhere. Where to play him?
Aaron Luna – three hits – single, double and triple – OBP is always fine, but an improved average could be a difference-maker.
Daryl Jones – 2-for-4, run – Needs to continue the bounceback.
Colt Sedbrook – single, walk

Palm Beach (2-5) lost to Jupiter, 6-4

Palm Beach Pitching

Justin Smith – 2 IP, 3 H, 2 ER
Pedro Rodriguez – 2.1 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 2 K’s
Matt Frevert – 2.2 IP, 1 H, no runs, 0 BB, 3 K’s – Very nice line that was next on my list for Pitcher of the Day. Was ranked in the top ten in the system in strikeout to walk ratio last season at 4.40.
Andrew Moss – 1 IP, 2 H, no runs
Ramon Delgado – 1 IP, 1 BB, 1 K – Sixth in the system with 53 game appearances in 2009.
Michael Thompson – 1 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 2 K’s

Palm Beach Hitting

Oliver Marmol – 2-for-3, HBP, 2 runs – Sixth-rounder in 2007 has a career .200 batting average.
Domnit Bolivar – 2-for-4 with a double
Rich Racobaldo – 2-run HR

Quad Cities 1 (3-4) defeated Greensboro, 4-2

Quad Cities 1 Pitching

Eric Fornataro – 3 IP, 4 H, 2 ER, 0 BB, 4 K’s
Anthony Ferrara – two scoreless innings, no hits, 2 BB’s, 1 K
Joe Kelly – 3 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 K – Another very strong line from a player getting a lot of kudos in camp. Last season, retired 138 opposing hitters without yielding a home run.
Daniel Calhoun – 2 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 4 K’s – Also a strong performance. His 0.95 WHIP last season was fourth-best in the entire system.

Quad Cities 1 Hitting

Jarred Bogany – 3-for-4, run
Ted Obregon – 2-for-2, game-winning 3-run double
Robert Stock – single, run
Travis Mitchell – single, walk and scored two runs – Local St. Louis product making noise.

Quad Cities #2 (2-6) lost to Marlins 5^th club, 6-1

Quad Cities #2 Pitching

Angel DeJesus – two perfect innings
Tyler Lavigne – 0.2 IP, 2 H, 3 ER, 1 BB, 1 K
Kyle Heim – 1 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 1 BB
Keith Butler – 1.1 IP, 1 K – Did not allow a home run to any of 122 batters faced last season.
David Kington – 2 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 1 K
Chris Corrigan – one perfect inning

Quad Cities #2 Hitting

Cesar Valera – 2-for-3
Hector Alvarez – single, walk, run
Anthony Garcia – RBI single – 18^th-rounder in 2009 recently turned 18. Being a Puerto Rican catcher is especially good in this system.

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On Tuesday, it was a camp day as the St. Louis Cardinals’ Memphis and Springfield clubs were scheduled to face off while the Palm Beach and Quad Cities 1 clubs worked out but did not play.

In addition, Quad Cities 2 had external competition in Gildea’s Raiders. Gildea’s is a traveling team that regularly makes the rounds of Florida spring camps. They have visited the Cardinals yearly for at least the last decade.

Cardinals director of minor league operations John Vuch continues to share game highlights. As always, the raw data is his, but the comments mine.

Team summary: Springfield’s hitters got healthy, but it was at the expense of Memphis’ staff. Quad Cities 2 were victims of the traveling Raiders.

Combined records: Records on the day were 1-2. Spring totals are now 9-17-2.

My Pitcher of the Day: Quad Cities 2’s Hector Hernandez spun two perfect innings, striking out three.

My Hitter of the Day: Springfield’s Curt Smith (pictured) drove in six runs on three hits, including a grand slam. What? No triple?

Wednesday’s schedule: The Cardinals’ five clubs have a walking road trip over to the Marlins’ side of the Roger Dean Stadium complex.

Memphis (1-4-1) lost to Springfield (3-2-1), 15-4

(this game went 11 ½ innings to enable all scheduled pitchers to get their work in)

Memphis Pitching

Evan MacLane – 3 IP, 1 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 2 K’s – First outing in minor league camp since being sent down. Allowed four runs on 4 2/3 innings with St. Louis and a rough “B” game outing.
Gary Daley – 2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 1 K – Continues to exhibit steady progress and was the only Memphis hurler on the day to put a zero on the scoreboard.
Trey Hearne – 2 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 1 K
Santo Maertz – 0.2 IP, 2 H, 4 ER, 2 BB
Matt Meyer – 1 IP, 2H, 1 ER, 1 K
Matt Scherer – 1 IP, 3H, 2 ER, 2 K’s
Rich Rundles – 1 IP, 2 H, 1 unearned run
Adam Reifer – 0.2 IP, 2 H, 4 ER, 2 BB – Rough outing for our 20^th-ranked Cardinals prospect. Also had an up and down Arizona Fall League stint in which his control was shaky and his ERA was 7.59.

Memphis Hitting

Steven Hill – 2-for-2, HR, 2 RBIs – Can’t do much better than that, but where could he play defensively for a Memphis roster that appears set at his positions?
Kevin Howard and Colt Sedbrook – doubled
Bryan Anderson – RBI single

Springfield Pitching

Shaun Garceau – 3 IP, 3 H, 2 ER, 0 BB, 1 K – The comeback continues…
Mark Diapoules – 3 IP, 3 H, 1 ER
Kevin Thomas – 3 IP, no hits, 1 ER, 3 BB, 1 K – Has walked 50 in 153 1/3 professional innings in 2008 and 2009.
LaCurtis Mayes – 1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB – 21-year-old reliever fanned 33 and walked 13 in 25 1/3 Batavia innings last summer.
Jason Buursma – 1 IP, 1 K

Springfield Hitting

Tommy Pham – 3-for-4 with triple, RBI, two runs, two walks – Extending his strong hitting this spring.
Curt Smith – three hits including 2-run double, grand slam = 6 RBI – Player of the Day!
Andrew Brown – 2-for-5 with double, two walks, two runs, RBI – Continues to produce and will be especially intriguing if third base experiment is successful.
Charlie Cutler – two doubles in 3 ABs, 4 RBI – All the catcher does is hit, but has Pags, Anderson, Hill and Cruz blocking him.
Matt Carpenter – double – 24-year-old 3B slowed considerably after mid-season arrival in Palm Beach. It was his third level in 2009.
Pete Kozma – single and two walks – Stole a base and scored a run in major league camp despite getting just one official at-bat.

Palm Beach (2-4) and Quad Cities 1 (2-4)

Both clubs worked out Tuesday, but did not play a game.

Quad Cities #2 (2-5) lost to Gildea’s Raiders, 8-3

(this game went 12 innings to enable all scheduled pitchers to get their work in)

Quad Cities #2 Pitching

Hector Hernandez – 2 perfect innings with 3 K’s – Pitcher of the Day
Travis Lawler – 2 IP, 3 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 2 K’s
Trevor Rosenthal – 2 IP, 3 H, an unearned run, 2 K’s – Fanned 26 in 24 innings in pro debut in Gulf Coast League pen in 2009.
Cale Johnson – 2 IP, 3 H, 3 ER, 1 BB, 3 K’s

Pitching then combined for four perfect innings with 10 K’s to finish the game.

Jason Novak – 1 IP, 2 K’s
Miguel Tapia – 1 IP, 2 K’s
Casey Mulligan and Blake King – each struck out the side in their inning of work – I don’t know about you, but I think these two are definitely ringers!

Quad Cities #2 Hitting

Jason Stidham – 2-for-2 with double, two walks, run – Middle infielder posted a .700 OPS with Quad Cities in his professional debut in 2009. Was the Cards’ eighth-round pick.
Romulo Ruiz – two-run double
Cesar Valera – double, run
Jesus Montero – double – 18-year-old making first US appearance after two VSL and one DSL seasons. Challenge is .605 career OPS.
Edgar Lara – single, walk, run – Starting fifth year in the system and should contend for Quad Cities after two seasons with Johnson City.
Anthony Garcia – RBI single in only AB – Puerto Rican catcher was taken in the 18^th round last June. Batted .235 in 51 GCL at-bats.

Releases: Earlier in the day, the Cardinals released seven minor leaguers, pitchers Justin Fiske, Andres Rosales, Jonathan Gonzalez, Reynier Gonzalez and Marco Gonzalez, first baseman Matt Arburr and catcher Blake Murphy.

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On Monday, the St. Louis Cardinals’ Memphis and Springfield clubs were to entertain their New York Mets opponents at home in Jupiter, while Palm Beach and Quad Cities took a short trip to the Mets’ home in Port St. Lucie.

Cardinals director of minor league operations John Vuch continues to share game highlights. As always, the raw data is his, but the comments mine.

Team summary: Well, the Jupiter games could not be played due to rain, despite the major league club getting their game in against Boston. Palm Beach (win) and Quad Cities (loss) split over on the Mets’ fields.

Combined records: 1-1 on the day, 8-15-2 on the spring.

My Pitcher of the Day: Kevin Siegrist of Quad Cities (pictured) with three shutout innings. Palm Beach’s Scott McGregor also had a good case.

My Co-Hitters of the Day: Quad Cities Michael Swinson tied with teammate Matt Adams. Swinson drew a walk to go along with his three hits while one of Adams’ three safeties was a double.

Tuesday’s schedule: As the Mets and Marlins will likely face off against each other, the Cardinals have no other organization in the area to play other than themselves. At least that is the case for the top four clubs as Quad Cities 2 will face external competition in Gildea’s Raiders. Gildea’s is a traveling team that regularly makes the rounds of Florida spring camps. They have visited the Cardinals yearly for at least the last decade.

Memphis (1-3-1) was rained out

Springfield (2-2-1) was rained out

Palm Beach (2-4) defeated St. Lucie, 7-4

Palm Beach Pitching

Shelby Miller – 2 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 2 K’s – The Cardinals first-rounder makes his first appearance in a spring game in minor league camp. Others have suggested Miller may start the season in extended spring training and join Palm Beach when it warms up. That doesn’t compute to me since EST and Palm Beach start at about the same time and play in the same place!
Scott McGregor – three shutout innings, allowing two hits
Aaron Terry – 2 IP, 2 H, 1 ER
Jose Rada – 1 IP, 3 H, 1 ER – 21-year-old Venezuelan led the 2009 Appalachian League with 23 appearances while posting a tidy 1.76 ERA. Fanned 30 and walked eight in 30 2/3 innings.
David Carpenter – 1 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 2 K’s

Palm Beach Hitting

Osvaldo Morales – walked, 2-run HR – 22-year-old was tied for third in the system with 15 home runs in 2009 and his 82 RBI was second-highest. Did most of his damage with Quad Cities.
Domnit Bolivar – 2-for-4 with a double and 3 RBIs – Starting fifth year in the system and has yet to turn 21.
Hector Alvarez – 2-for-3, 2 runs – Only has 18 regular-season runs scored and a .201 career average in 60 career games.
David Washington – doubled, RBI
Devin Goodwin – RBI single in only AB
Ryde Rodriguez – singled

Quad Cities #1 (2-4) lost to Augusta, 7-4

Quad Cities #1 Pitching

Kevin Siegrist – 3 scoreless innings with one hit and 2 K’s – See above. Has a career ERA of 3.07 in two seasons.
Mike Blazek – 2 IP, 6 H, 4 ER, 1 BB, 2 K’s
Justin Edwards – 2 IP, one hit, no runs, 1 BB – Posted 3.25 ERA in 15 games, including eight tandem starts for Batavia in 2009.
Michael Thompson – 1 IP, 4 H, 3 ER
Chris Corrigan – 1 IP, 1 H, 1 K – 3.80 ERA in 16 games / 7 tandem starts for 2009 Muckdogs.
Nick McCully – one perfect inning – 21-year-old placed in Quad Cities after being taken in the ninth round and struggled to a 7.20 ERA in first 20 professional innings.

Quad Cities #1 Hitting

Michael Swinson – 3-for-4 with a walk, run and RBI – Can play defense too with only one error and five outfield assists in 2009.
Matt Adams – 3-for-4 with a double, RBI, run – His .355 average between Johnson City and Batavia led the entire system in 2009.
Ryan Jackson – 2-for-3
Romulo Ruiz – 2-for-4
Jonathan Rodriguez – a 2-strike RBI single, run – 17^th round pick is an official sleeper after finishing first in the system with a .421 OBP last season and third in OPS (.858) between Gulf Coast League and Johnson City. Now 20 years old.
Kevin Moscatel – RBI single

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On Sunday, the St. Louis Cardinals’ five minor league squads hiked over to the western part of the Jupiter complex to the home of the Marlins’ minor leaguers.

Cardinals director of minor league operations John Vuch continues to share game highlights. As always, the raw data is his, but the comments mine.

Team summary: Completing a rough weekend on the diamonds, the Cardinals clubs trudged back to their clubhouse after picking up just one win, by Springfield in a slugfest. Three of St. Louis’ clubs yielded double digit run totals.

This was on the heels of a 0-4 Saturday. For the weekend, the Cardinals were outscored 88-39 in their nine games. In other words, the pitching staffs yielded an average of 9.8 runs per game! Even so, there were again a number of notable individual pitching performances on Sunday.

Combined records: 1-4 on the day, 7-14-2 on the spring.

My Co-Pitchers of the Day: Memphis’ Richard Castillo (pictured). playing up at least one level at the age of 20, had an impressive two-inning stint as Springfield’s Matt Frevert closed the one Cardinals win of the day in style.

My Hitter of the Day: Springfield’s Andrew Brown isn’t letting his new defensive assignment at third base get in the way of his hitting with three doubles on the day.

Monday’s schedule: It is a repeat of Saturday, as the top four clubs face off against their New York Mets counterparts on the same fields. Hopefully, the results will be better as Memphis and Springfield will entertain their New York opponents in Jupiter, while Palm Beach and Quad Cities again take the short trip to the Mets’ home in Port St. Lucie.

Memphis (1-3-1) lost to New Orleans, 7-5

Memphis Pitching

Brandon Dickson – 2 IP, 5 H, 5 ER, 2 BB
Brad Furnish – 2.1 scoreless IP, 1 H, 2 K’s – A very solid outing for an often overlooked hurler who struggled at Springfield in 2009 but excelled at Palm Beach.
Richard Castillo – two perfect innings on just 14 pitches – See above.
Matt Meyer – loss, 1 IP, solo HR, 1 BB, 1 K – Minor league Rule 5 lefty has a career 12-10 record with a 3.86 ERA in 148 games, all in relief.
Rich Rundles – 1 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 1 K – Minor league journeyman also added for lefty relief help.

Memphis Hitting

Amaury Cazana – 2-for-4 with an RBI – Also 2-for-3, both doubles, for St. Louis this spring with three MLB RBI.
Steven Hill – 2-for-4 with double, run, 2 RBIs – No matter how well he hits, will likely get bumped down to Springfield when Matt Pagnozzi is optioned out.
Mark Shorey – 2-run double, scored – Solid outfielder couldn’t score a big camp invite due to competition despite a career .799 OPS.

Springfield (2-2-1) defeated Jacksonville, 12-11

Springfield Pitching

Arquimedes Nieto – 0.2 IP, 5 H, 3 ER
Yoffri Martinez – 3.1 IP, 4 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 5 K’s – Doesn’t look as if control was the concern for the new Cardinal.
Adam Veres – 2 IP, 5 H, 4 ER, 1 BB, 2 K’s
Ramon Delgado – 2 IP, 1 H, 1 ER, 1 K – Deserves some credit for slowing the bleeding. Durable reliever led the entire system with 82 innings out of the pen in 2009.
Matt Frevert – save with 1, 2, 3 ninth and a called third strike to end game – Bravo! Has a total of five saves in 52 career relief appearances across 2008 and 2009.

Springfield Hitting

Andrew Brown – three doubles, 2 RBIs and two runs – The line of the day.
Chris Swauger – tripled, homered, two RBIs and a run – Seven bases isn’t so bad, either. Quietly finished in the top ten in the system in 2009 in runs, hits, doubles, triples, RBI and slugging. Dangerfield alert!
Oliver Marmol – 2-for-3 with double, walk, two runs, RBI
Curt Smith – tripled, singled, scored and drove in a run – His .286 average was eighth-best in the Florida State League last season.
Francisco Rivera – two hits, doubled, walked, scored, drove in two
Charles Cutler – doubled and walked
Pete Kozma – singled, walked, two RBIs, run – Made a tough play in the hole with two outs and a runner on third base.
Blake Murphy – singled and walked – Nice day, but numbers game probably has his Springfield days numbered.

Palm Beach (1-4) lost to Jupiter, 11-5

Palm Beach Pitching

Houston Summers – loss, 2.2 IP, 3 H, 3 ER, 2 BB, 4 K’s – Another knuckleball fail.
Jonathan Gonzalez – 2.1 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 1 K – Stepped back from Palm Beach to Quad Cities during last season, but had attempted a huge leap from 2008 Venezuelan Summer League.
Andrew Moss – 0.2 IP, 3 H, 5 R, 3 ER, 2 BB
Pedro Rodriguez – two scoreless innings with 2 K’s – Newcomer hasn’t pitched in a regular season game since 2006!
Josh Squatrito – 3 hits and 3 ER with 2 K’s in 1 IP – Second tough outing in a row but impressed in relief for Batavia in his first pro season in 2009.

Palm Beach Hitting

Rich Racobaldo – 2-for-5 with a run and RBI – May need to return to Quad Cities after tearing up the Appalachian League at age 24.
Ryde Rodriguez – 2-for-5 with an RBI
Alex Castellanos – 2-for-5 with double, homer, two RBIs – Made the highlights list again. Was the Cardinals’ 10^th round pick in 2008.
D’Marcus Ingram – singled and walked – His 25 stolen bases in 32 attempts last season placed him fourth in the system.
Xavier Scruggs – doubled
Domnit Bolivar – singled in his only AB
Jason Stidham – RBI single
Roberto Espinoza – singled and scored

Quad Cities 1 (2-3) lost to Greensboro, 10-2

Quad Cities 1 Pitching

Chris Notti – 1.2 IP, 6 H, 6 ER, 2 BB, 2 K’s – Has a 3.50 ERA across his first two pro seasons.
Zach Russell – 3 IP, 3 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 4 K’s
Deryk Hooker – 2 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 2 K’s
Tyler Lavigne – two perfect innings, five groundballs, 1 K – In any other day, could/should have been the Pitcher of the Day.
David Kington – 1 IP, 2 hits, no runs – His eight saves in 2009 led the Appalachian League.

Quad Cities 1 Hitting

Michael Swinson – 2-for-4, scored – One of my potential breakout candidates for 2010.
Travis Mitchell and C.J. Beatty – RBI doubles
Ryan Jackson – singled twice
Yorbel Alcala – 2-for-2 – 20-year-old catcher making his first USA appearance. Was second in the 2009 Dominican Summer League with 52.4 percent caught stealing rate (44 of 84).

Quad Cities 2 (1-2) lost to Marlins 5^th club, 6-4

Quad Cities 2 Pitching

Pat Daugherty – 1 IP, 1 BB, 1 unearned run – 21-year-old lefty joined the Cards in the 12^th round of the 2009 draft.
Reynier Gonzalez – 2 IP, 2 H, no runs
Randy Santos – 1.2 IP, 2 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 1 K
Kyle Heim – 1.1 IP, 1 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 1 K
Keith Butler – 1.1 IP, 4 H, 2 ER, 1 K
Jason Novak – 1.2 IP, 1 H, no runs – 48^th-rounder in 2009 draft shines.

Quad Cities 2 Hitting

Edgar Lara – 3-for-5 with a double, run, 2 RBIs – Outfielder dropped 30 points of average in second tour with Johnson City in 2009, but kept OPS in the .750-.760 range. Dominican just turned 21 this month.
Romulo Ruiz – 2-for-3 with a double, walk, RBI – Infielder has lots of potential but slowed by injury since 2007.
Hector Alvarez – 2-for-4 with walk, run, RBI
Yunier Castillo – singled and stole a base – Is he the shortstop in the system with the most upside? Some think so.

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On Saturday, the St. Louis Cardinals minor leaguers faced off against the New York Mets, just like their major league counterparts. Memphis and Springfield entertained their New York counterparts in Jupiter, while Palm Beach and Quad Cities took the short trip to the Mets’ home in Port St. Lucie.

Cardinals director of minor league operations John Vuch continues to share game highlights with this site and several others with interest in Cardinals prospects. As always, the raw data is his, but the comments mine.

Team summary: The location was irrelevant as it was a rough day for the system at any site. Memphis, Springfield, Palm Beach and Quad Cities all lost – by a combined score of 41-13. Needless to say, the Cardinals pitching had an especially rough, rough afternoon.

Team records: (0-4) on the day, (6-10-2) on the spring.

My Pitcher of the Day: Palm Beach’s Miguel Tapia posted a pair of shutout innings, something no other Cards minor league pitcher at any level on the day could claim.

My Hitter of the Day: Springfield’s Curt Smith was most productive. His three RBI led the system on Saturday.

Sunday’s schedule: The Cardinals’ five squads will hike over to the western part of the Jupiter complex to the home of the Marlins’ minor leaguers.

Cardinals top prospect day. Each of the players from The Cardinal Nation / Scout.com Top 40 Cardinals prospect list from this past off-season (2010) or most recent prior listing will be noted below.

Memphis (1-2-1) lost to Buffalo, 7-1

Memphis Pitching

Ryan Kulik – 2 IP, 3 H, 1 ER
Charlie Zink – 2 IP, 2 H, 1 ER
Nick Additon (#23) – 2 IP, 2 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 1 K
Justin Fiske – 1 IP, 2 H, 2 ER, 1 BB
Tyler Norrick (#26 in 2008) – 2 IP, 2 H, 1 ER 2 BB, 1 K

Memphis Hitting

Mark Hamilton (#19) – 3-for-4
Bryan Anderson (#13) – singled and walked
Mike Folli – tripled and scored the Redbirds’ only run
Amaury Cazana (#23 in 2007) and Shane Robinson (#33 in 2009) – 1-for-2

Springfield (1-2-1) lost to Binghamton, 12-6

Springfield Pitching

Brian Broderick – 2 IP, 5 H, 4 ER, 2 BB, 3 K’s
David Kopp (#34 in 2009) – 2 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 1 K
Thomas Eager – 2 IP, 1 H, 1 unearned run
Casey Mulligan (#31) – allowed all five batters he faced to reach base, allowing 5 ER
Jason Buursma – 1 scoreless inning, 1 BB, 1 K
Adam Reifer (#20) – 1 IP, 1 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 1 K
Blake King (#34 in 2008) – one perfect, six pitch inning

Springfield Hitting

Curt Smith (#39 in 2009) – 2-for-4 with a homer, two runs scored, a HBP and 3 RBIs
Aaron Luna (#24) – 2-for-4 with an RBI
Pete Kozma (#14) – two hits
Antonio DeJesus – tripled and had 2 runs scored
Adron Chambers (#29) – singled and was HBP in his two plate appearances, stole a base and scored a run

Palm Beach (1-3) lost to St. Lucie, 9-2

Palm Beach Pitching

Jared Bradford – 2 IP, 4 H, 3 ER, 2 K’s
Eric Fornataro – 0.1 IP, 3 BB, 2 ER
Scott Schneider (#37) – 1.2 IP, 2 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 1 K
Miguel Tapia – two hitless innings with a walk and 2 K’s
Joel Pichardo – 0.1 IP, 2 hits, 2 unearned run, 1 BB, 1 K
David Carpenter – one perfect inning, 1 K

Palm Beach Hitting

Xavier Scruggs – 2-for-3 with a walk and RBI
D’Marcus Ingram (#39 in 2008) – 1-for-2 with two BB’s
Ryde Rodriguez – singled and was HBP
Domnit Bolivar – singled
Jason Stidham – walked twice and scored

Quad Cities 1 (2-2) lost to Savannah, 13-4

Quad Cities 1 Pitching

Joe Kelly (#32) – 2 IP, 2 H, 1 unearned run, 3 K’s
Anthony Ferrara (#33) – 1.2 IP, 2 H, 4 unearned runs, 2 BB, 2 K’s
Travis Lawler – 2.1 IP, 2 H, 3 ER, 2 BB, 1 K
Hector Hernandez – 1 IP, 5 H, 5 ER, 1 BB, 1 K
Andres Rosales – 1 IP, 2 BB, 2 K’s

Quad Cities 1 Hitting

Matt Adams (#38) – 2-for-4 with a stolen base
Michael Swinson (#39) – homered and walked in his two plate apps and scored twice
Niko Vasquez (#34) – singled and had three RBIs
Travis Tartamella – doubled and scored
Travis Mitchell – singled and scored
Luis Mateo – singled

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On Friday, the St. Louis Cardinals minor leaguers faced off against each other as the top two minor league clubs, Memphis and Springfield met, as did Palm Beach and Quad Cities 1. Quad Cities 2 squad faced a traveling team, the Long Island Storm.

The Storm field travel teams of various age groups from the Long Island and New York City area. They compete in various invitational leagues and tournaments nationwide. Former Cardinals Minor League Player of the Year Reid Gorecki, now in the New York Yankees system, and his brother Ryan are among the Storm’s instructional staff.

Cardinals director of minor league operations John Vuch continues to share game highlights with this site and several others with interest in Cardinals prospects. As always, the raw data is his, but the comments mine.

Team summary: Palm Beach won while Quad Cities 1 and 2 both lost. Memphis and Springfield tied.

Team records: (1-2-2) on the day, (6-6-2) for the spring.

My Co-Pitchers of the Day: Memphis’ Gary Daley (pictured) and Springfield’s Shaun Garceau, two players with a lot to prove in 2010. If they can maintain control, look out!

My Hitter of the Day: Springfield’s Tommy Pham repeats from Thursday. On fire early in camp.

Saturday’s schedule: The Mets are the common opponent, with games in two locations. Memphis and Springfield entertain their New York counterparts in Jupiter, while Palm Beach and Quad Cities make the short bus ride to Port St. Lucie. (That is a short ride, not a short bus!)

Memphis (1-1-1) tied Springfield (1-1-1), 4-4 (5 innings)

Memphis Pitching

Gary Daley – two perfect innings, one strikeout – With results like this, he may continue to receive starting opportunities. Coming off uneven 2009 with 58 BB in 88 IP, while fanning 79. Also had Arizona Fall League stint with 8.03 ERA.
Kevin Thomas – 1.2 IP, 5 H, 3 ER, 2 BB, 4 K’s
Marco Gonzalez – 1 IP, 1 H, 1 ER

Memphis Hitting

Brendan Ryan – 1-for-5 with a run scored – First official game action of the spring. Will be chomping at the bit to see action for St. Louis.
Shane Robinson – 1-for-3 – Went 4-for-11 with two doubles in major league camp earlier this spring.
Mark Hamilton – 1-for-2 with a run scored
Kevin Howard – 1-for-2 with a run scored and RBI – Newcomer infielder continues to stand out in the daily highlights.
Jose Martinez – game-tying 2-run double – Could be a force if healthy, but has Descalso ahead of him at 2B in Memphis.

Springfield Pitching

Shaun Garceau – two perfect innings, two strikeouts – Has all the talent. If focused on the game, could be the comeback player of the year.
Mark Diapoules – two innings, one hit
Jose Rada – one IP, 3 hits, 4 runs, 2 ER

Springfield Hitting

Tommy Pham – 2-for-3 with a double, run scored and RBI – On base eight times in three days. If I remember correctly, Pham was a fast starter in previous springs, too.
Charles Cutler – 1-for-2 with a triple, run scored and RBI – Could put pressure on projected returning Springfield catchers Tony Cruz and Steven Hill.
Francisco Rivera – 1-for-2 with an RBI
Andrew Brown – singled and walked in two plate appearances – Getting a tryout at third base. If he sticks, he can move up quickly.
Aaron Luna – RBI double and scored – Second base experiment is apparently over.

Palm Beach (1-2) defeated Quad Cities 1 (2-1), 4-1

Palm Beach Pitching

Scott McGregor – 2 IP, 3 hits, 1 unearned run, 2 BB
Aaron Terry – 2 IP, 1 H, 2 K’s – The 2009 42nd rounder was our Johnson City Reliever of the Year before moving up to Batavia at the end of the season.
LaCurtis Mayes – 1 IP, 1 K

Palm Beach Hitting

Alex Castellanos – solo HR – Now listed as an outfielder.
Devin Goodwin and Luis DeLaCruz – singled and walked in two plate appearances
Jared Bogany and Ryde Rodriguez – RBI singles
Rich Racobaldo – singled and scored – Our 2009 Johnson City Player of the Year had a 1.061 OPS there, but struggled after leaping over Batavia to Quad Cities.

QC1 Pitching

Justin Edwards – 1.2 IP, 3 H, 2 ER, 3 BB
Michael Thompson – 2 IP, 1 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 2 K’s
Santo Maertz – 1 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 1 BB – 2009 New York-Penn League All-Star posted a 3-1 record with three saves and a 1.45 ERA. Fanned 36 and walked 11 in 31 innings for Batavia.

QC1 Hitting

Luis Mateo – doubled
Niko Vasquez, Devin Shepherd and Kevin Moscatel (RBI) – all 1-for-2
Edwin Gomez 1-for-2 with a run scored – Coming back after appearing in just six games between the Gulf Coast League Cardinals and Batavia in 2009 after suffering a broken hamate bone in his left hand.

Quad Cities #2 (1-1) lost to the Long Island Storm, 7-1

QC2 Pitching

The last four pitchers were taken in the June 2009 First-Year Player Draft. Rounds noted below.

Kevin Siegrist – 2 IP, 1 H, 1 unearned run, 1 BB, 2 K’s
Trevor Rosenthal (21st round) – 2 IP, 1 H, 1 unearned run
Cale Johnson (41st round) – 2 IP, 3 hits, 1 earned run, 1 K
Nick McCully (9th round) – 0.1 IP, 2 H, 3 BB, 4 ER
Chris Corrigan (30th round) – 1.2 IP, 1 H, 2 BB, 1 K

QC2 Hitting

Cesar Valera – 2-for-4 – Venezuelan shortstop signed for $500,000 in 2008 and debuted in the 2009 Gulf Coast League.
Rainel Rosario – RBI triple
Yunier Castillo, Romulo Ruiz, David Washington and Hector Alvarez – all singled

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On Thursday afternoon, the St. Louis Cardinals minor leaguers had their first games against external competition. Their opponents were the Florida Marlins, their Jupiter, Florida complex co-habitants.

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

It was the first of ten spring dates in which all five clubs play, compared to just seven dates ahead in which there will be no fifth contest.

Team summary: The Cardinals bookended the Marlins as Memphis at the top won, their first “W” of the spring in two tries, and both Quad Cities teams took victories. Springfield and Palm Beach were defeated.

My Pitcher of the Day: Springfield’s Scott Gorgen – two perfect innings, two strikeouts.

My Hitter of the Day: Springfield’s Tommy Pham – 3-for-4 with a triple, HR and also walked. On base six times between Wednesday and Thursday.

Friday’s schedule: In a rematch of Wednesday’s action, the Cardinals’ top two minor league clubs, Memphis and Springfield will meet, as will Palm Beach and Quad Cities 1. Quad Cities 2 squad will face a traveling team, the Long Island Storm.

The Storm field travel teams of various age groups from the Long Island and New York City area. They compete in various invitational leagues and tournaments nationwide. Former Cardinals Minor League Player of the Year Reid Gorecki, now in the New York Yankees system, and his brother Ryan are among the Storm’s instructional staff.

New! Player links: For more player information, click on the highlighted player names to head over to TheCardinalNation.com. There, you can view the detailed player profile pages for each of these players and several hundred more Cardinals farmhands.

Who else’s Cardinals spring training report offers that kind of integration and depth?

Memphis (1-1) defeated New Orleans, 6-5

Memphis Pitching

Trey Hearne – 2 IP, 3 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 2 K’s

Brandon Dickson – 2 IP, 1 H, 1 BB, 1 K

Chuckie Fick – 2 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 BB, 2 K’s

Matt Meyer – one perfect inning. Meyer was taken from the Cleveland Indians in the Rule 5 draft. Because he was taken in the minor league phase, the Cardinals can roster him anywhere they choose and would have no motivation to return him.

Matt Scherer – earned the win with a scoreless inning, allowing one hit. Once highly-thought of enough in the organization to have been placed on the 40-man roster, Scherer’s fortunes dropped since. He did not even score an invite to big league camp as an NRI.

Rich Rundles – picked up the save with a scoreless 9th, allowing one hit with a strikeout. A professional since 1999, Rundles pitched for Springfield for part of the 2006 season. After that, he made his MLB debut with a total of nine appearances for the 2008 and 2009 Indians.

Memphis Hitting

Daniel Descalso – 2-for-5 with an RBI and run scored. Texas League All-Star, Team USA Olympian and Arizona Fall League invitee would have to do a lot this season to top his 2009.

Tyler Henley – 2-for-4 with a walk and run scored. One of my dark horses in the system will need another good season to fight through the crowded outfield scrum to start for Memphis.

Daryl Jones – singled, scored a run and had two walks. His 2009 was wrecked by injury. It is time to step forward. Drafted in the same 2005 class as Colby Rasmus.

Donovan Solano – 1-for-2 with a run scored and two RBIs. Quietly gets the job done.

Colt Sedbrook – singled and walked in his two plate appearances

Mark Hamilton – walked, scored a run and had an RBI. Waiting to see if he gets time in the outfield as first base is nowhere to play in this system.

Kevin Howard – walked and singled and made a key tough play at 3rd.

Amaury Cazana – go-ahead triple and walked. Will he play in Mexico for a third straight year? Nothing against him personally, but why do the Cardinals keep him around? He can hit, but they obviously don’t have much in the way of plans for the 30-something Cuban native.

Jose Martinez – 1-for-4. Nice to see the former top prospect back in action after a long period of personal tragedy followed by shoulder problems.

Springfield (1-1) lost to Jacksonville, 12-7

Springfield Pitching

Scott Gorgen – two perfect innings, two strikeouts. Didn’t set the 2009 Arizona Fall League on fire, but was one of the more inexperienced pros there.

Brad Furnish – 2 IP, 3 hits, 3 runs, 2 ER, 1 K

Arquimedes Nieto – 1.2 IP, 5 hits, 5 R, 4 ER, 1 BB, 2 K’s

Blake King – 0.1 IP, 3 hits, 3 unearned runs, 2 BB, 0 K’s. Discouraging to see the walks return. Hopefully, it won’t become a 2010 pattern.

Yoffri Martinez – 1 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 1 K. Recent free agent signee was not lights out in his Cardinals debut. The 24-year-old had been released by Pittsburgh last August and has yet to reach Double-A.

Jason Buursma – two scoreless innings, one hit

Springfield Hitting

Adron Chambers – 2-for-5. Coming off a big 2009 and finished third in the Colombian Winter League in average (.365), first in triples (6), second in hits, and fourth in slugging (.529).

Curt Smith – 2-for-3 with a run scored. That makes him 4-for-6 in his first two days. Was the 2008 Applachian League Most Valuable Player.

Chris Swauger – homered

Tommy Pham – 3-for-4 with a triple, HR and also walked. On base six times between Wednesday and Thursday.

Francisco Rivera – singled, homered and two RBIs

Matt Arburr – hit a solo HR

Palm Beach (0-2) lost to Jupiter, 10-0

Palm Beach Pitching

Adam Veres – took the loss, 2 IP, 3 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 1 K

Jonathan Gonzalez – 0.2 IP, 2 H, 4 ER, 1 BB, 1 K

Pedro Rodriguez – 1.1 IP, 2 H, 1 unearned run. His first outing as a Cardinal. The 22-year-old Venezuelan was signed in late October as a minor league free agent. The right-handed Tommy John veteran pitched in winter ball for Caribes and inked his first deal with the Red Sox as a 16-year-old in 2004.

Houston Summers – 2 IP, 1 H, 1 unearned run, 1 BB, 1 K. Another veteran free agent signee. The 22-year-old former catcher converted to pitching in 2007 and features the knuckleball, so I imagine there may have been a wild pitch or passed ball or perhaps some of both behind that unearned run.

Ramon Delgado – 2 IP, 1H, 1 ER, 2 K’s

Matt Frevert – 1 IP, 2 H, 1 ER

Palm Beach Hitting

Rich Racobaldo – 2-for-4 with a double. A 2009 Appalachian League All-Star with Johnson City.

Xavier Scruggs – doubled

Osvaldo Morales – 2-for-2 with a double

Jason Stidham – doubled

Ivan Castro and Frederick Parejo – singled. Parejo will be a player to watch this year after he followed up his solid 2008 (New York-Penn League All-Star) with a quiet 2009. Still just 19 years old.

Quad Cities #1 (2-0) defeated Greensboro, 5-0

QC1 Pitching

Five pitchers combined on a five-hit shutout.

Mike Blazek – 2 IP, 2 hits, 4 K’s

Deryk Hooker – 2 perfect IP, 2 K’s. Could have been pitcher of the day along with Gorgen, but I expect Hooker to be able to handle this level of play.

Chris Notti – 2 IP, 1 hit, 2 K’s

Zach Russell – 2 IP, 1 hit

Andres Rosales – 1 IP, 1 H, 1 K

QC1 Hitting

C.J. Beatty and Travis Tartamella – each doubled and scored a run. From what I hear, if Beatty is half as charismatic on the field as he is off, the Cardinals really have something here. Too early to tell on the field as he missed 70 percent of his games with Johnson City in 2009 due to elbow and wrist ailments.

Ross Smith – singled and walked in his two plate appearances

Travis Mitchell – singled and scored a run

Robert Stock and Devin Shepherd – RBI singles. Stock, the Cardinals’ second-rounder in 2009, was the All-Star catcher in the Appalachian League before his late-season promotion to Quad Cities.

Luis Mateo – bases-loaded walk

Niko Vasquez, Edwin Gomez, Yorbel Alcala – singled

Quad Cities #2 (1-0) defeated Marlins 5th team, 3-0

QC2 Pitching

Five pitchers combined on a four-hit shutout.

Reynier Gonzalez – 2 IP, 1 H, 1BB, 2 K’s

Pat Daugherty – 0.2 IP, 1 K

Randy Santos – 1.1 IP, 1 H

Kyle Heim – 2 IP, 2 H

Tyler Lavigne – 2 IP, 1 BB, 1 K

QC2 Hitting

Edgar Lara – 2-for-4 with a double and run scored. Ranked in the top ten in the 2009 Appy League in these categories: 1st in games (64), 7th in doubles (16), 5th in home runs (9), 10th in walks (26).

Hector Alvarez – 3-for-4 with a run scored

Rainel Rosario – singled and had two RBIs. Great bounceback candidate after missing half the 2009 season with Johnson City due to a blood clot or cyst above his right knee.

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On Wednesday, the St. Louis Cardinals minor leaguers had their first games. This was intersquad action before they take on the Florida Marlins Thursday in the first of 2 ½ weeks of spring game competition.

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

Both lower-level clubs took close wins in day one as Quad Cities won on a grand slam.

My Pitcher of the Day: Jesse Simpson, Palm Beach
My Hitter of the Day: Xavier Scruggs, Palm Beach

Springfield (1-0) defeats Memphis (0-1), 5-4

Memphis pitching

Charlie Zink – 1.2 IP, 3 H, 2 ER, 0 BB, 2 K’s. I watched Zink pitch BP the other morning and find his knuckleball release amazing. He barely strides toward the plate at all (see photo).

David Kopp – 1.1 IP, 3 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 1 K. The oft-injured righty has been rehabbing hard all winter. Someone to watch closely this spring.

Nick Additon – 1.2 IP, 1 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 4 K’s

Thomas Eager – 0.2 IP, 1 H, 1 BB

Adam Reifer – one perfect inning. Will his secondary offerings improve enough so hitters can’t sit on his fastball?

David Carpenter – one perfect inning with two K’s. The less-heralded of the former catcher-to-pitcher converts proved his durability last season. His 52 appearances for Quad Cities tied for seventh-most in the system and his 12 saves was sixth.

Memphis hitting

Kevin Howard – 1-for-3, 2 RBI’s. Veteran minor leaguer seems slated to play third for the Redbirds.

Jim Rapoport – 2 walks, scored a run. Continues to draw walks. His 71 free passes at Springfield last season was by far the most in the system as the next closest was 54 (Niko Vasquez).

Mark Shorey, Colt Sedbrook and Tony Cruz – 1-for-3

Mike Folli – 1-for-3, run scored, diving play on ground ball up the middle.

Springfield pitching

Richard Castillo – 2 IP, 0 hits, 1 BB, 1 K. A very encouraging start for a young man (age 20) from whom much is still expected.

Eric Fornataro – 1.2 IP, 3 hits, 3 runs, 2 ER, 2 BB, 1 K

Scott Schneider – 1.2 IP, 1 H, 1 unearned run, 1 BB, 1 K

Miguel Tapia – 1 IP, 1 H, 1 K

Joel Pichardo – one perfect inning

Springfield hitting

Pete Kozma – RBI single and scored. Ex-first-rounder had a cup of coffee in MLB camp earlier, going 0-for-2 with a stolen base and run scored.

Curt Smith – 2-for-3 with a HR and a walk. Great 2008 debut and now fighting to rise above considerable 1B competition (Arburr, Brown, Hamilton).

Blake Murphy – 2-for-2 with a double, walk and RBI

Tommy Pham – singled and walked

Rich Racobaldo – doubled, scored and was HBP

Charlie Cutler – singled in his only AB. Cutler’s .322 batting average last season between Quad Cities and Palm Beach was second in the entire system to Matt Adams (.355).

Quad Cities (1-0) defeated Palm Beach (0-1), 8-7

Palm Beach pitching

Joe Kelly – 2 IP, 0 hits, 2 BB, 2 K’s. Minor league pitching coordinator Dyar Miller has been among the coaches calling out the converted closer as a pitcher impressing early in camp.

Andrew Moss – 2 IP, 2 hits, 2 unearned runs, 1 BB, 1 K

Jesse Simpson – two perfect innings, 3 K’s. His 1.01 walks per nine innings last season was seventh-stingiest in the system. Simpson pitched at Batavia.

Justin Smith – 2 IP, 0 hits, 1 unearned run, 2 BB, 1 K

Josh Squatrito – took the loss, 1 IP, 4 hits, 5 ER, 1 BB, 2 K’s

Palm Beach hitting

Jose Garcia – 2-for-5, run scored, 2 RBIs. A player Jeff Luhnow told me could be one to step forward this season.

Xavier Scruggs – 2-for-4, 2 runs, HR, walk, 2 RBIs. Scruggs finished tied for eighth in the system in 2009 with 59 RBI between Batavia and Quad Cities.

Osvaldo Morales – 2-for-3

Ivan Castro – solo HR

D’Marcus Ingram – 1-for-4

Quad Cities pitching

Daniel Calhoun – 2 IP, 1 H, 2 ER, 2 BB

Angel DeJesus – 2 IP, 5 hits, 5 runs, 3 ER, 2 K’s

Anthony Ferrara – 2 IP, 1 H, 2 K’s

Keith Butler – 1 IP, 1 H, 1 BB, 3 K’s

Jason Novak – winning pitcher with a perfect 8th inning

Hector Hernandez – struck out two in a perfect 9th inning for the save. Lefty was taken in the 10^th round in 2009 and remained in the Gulf Coast League all summer.

Quad Cities hitting

Niko Vasquez – Grand Slam to cap a 5-run 9th inning. The shortstop-turned-third baseman has just seven career regular season home runs – four in 2008 and three last season.

CJ Beatty, Ted Obregon and Jonathan Rodriguez – all singled in the 9th to set up the heroics by Vasquez.

Devin Shepherd doubled. Back after a year away. Was taken in the 11th round in 2008, them played in the GCL that summer (.272/.346/.325). Haven’t seen him do anything more than take BP cuts this spring, but he has the look of a player (see photo).

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The St. Louis Cardinals currently have at least 281 players under contract. The matrix places each one at his current assigned level in the system as well as by position. It is kept updated throughout the season.

The occasion for this refresh is the opening of the Venezuelan Summer League season. Subscribers to Scout.com can read more about what I’ve written there on the subject, but here we have an overview of the 34-man VSL opening roster.

The next update of the roster matrix should be coming within the next ten days to two weeks as the Dominican Summer League will open. Following that, the players in Extended Spring Training will couple with next month’s draftees to define the 2009 Batavia, Johnson City and Gulf Coast League rosters.

For details behind the codes used in the matrix as well as 2009 transactions to date, check out the earlier versions of the Cardinals organization roster matrix as follows:

Link to previous matrices: January – March, 2009, April – May, 2009

Transactions

May 19 update: Signed VSL pitchers John De Aguas, Angelo Echeverria, Johnny Polanco, Ramon Ulacio and Dail Villanueva. New total 281.

May 20 update: RHP Chris Carpenter activated by StL, OF Shane Robinson optioned to Mem.

May 21 update: LHP Jonny Bravo to QC DL. RHR Jason Buursma from EST to QC. Mem C Brandon Yarbrough placed on DL eff 5/20. LHR Charlie Manning outrighted off 40-man roster.

May 23 update: OF Jon Edwards placed on QC DL. OF Jairo Martinez from EST to QC. 1B Mark Hamilton to Spr DL. 1B Matt Arburr from PB to Spr.

May 24 update: OF Rick Ankiel activated from DL, SS Tyler Greene optioned to Mem. Spr LHR Joe Williams released. RHR Eduardo Sanchez from PB to Spr. RHR Casey Mulligan QC to PB. New total 280.

May 25 update: RHS David Kopp from PB to Spr. RHR Joel Pichardo from EST to QC. RHR Kyle Mura to Spr DL. IF Donovan Solano returned to Spr from Mem.

May 27 update: RHS Josh Wilson placed on restricted list from QC active roster. RHS Brett Zawacki from EST to QC. Spr RHR Eddie Degerman to DL.

May 29 update: OF Ryan Ludwick activated from DL. SS Khalil Greene placed on 15-day DL. OF Joe Mather activated from Mem DL. 1B Javier Brito placed on Mem DL. Eff 5/31, QC moves to five-man rotation with Adam Veres and Scott McGregor to the pen.

May 30 update: 2B Aaron Luna activated from QC DL and assigned to PB. LHR Kristhiam Linares activated from Spr DL and assigned to PB.

June 1 update: RHS Deryk Hooker activated from QC restricted list and assigned to EST (Batavia). RHS Nick Additon to PB DL, RHR Shaun Garceau to PB DL. IF Oliver Marmol act from PB DL. RHP Elvis Hernandez activated from Spr DL and assigned to PB.

June 3 update: RHS Tyler Herron released from Spr. RHR Eddie Degerman act from Spr DL. New total 280.

June 4 update: RHR Blaine Boyer DFAed. RHR Jess Todd from Mem to StL. LHR Ian Ostlund act from Mem DL.

June 5 update: RHS Kyle Lohse onto StL DL. IF Tyler Greene from Mem to StL. C Blake Murphy act from QC DL and promoted to PB.

June 6 update: C Nick Derba promoted from PB to Spr. RHS Blake Hawksworth from Mem to StL. RHR Jess Todd from StL to Mem. IF Donovan Solano from Spr to Mem.

The St. Louis Cardinals Roster Matrix (effective 06/06/09)

St. Louis (25+5)	40-man (38)
SP	RP	C	1B	2B	SS	3B	OF
Carpenter	Franklin	LaRue	Pujols	Schumaker	K Greene (i)	Glaus (i)	Ankiel
Lohse (i)	Thompson	Molina		Thurston	Ryan		Duncan
Pineiro	McClellan				Barden		Ludwick
Wainwright	Motte (4)				T Greene (16)		Rasmus (1)
Wellemeyer	C Perez						Stavinoha (35)
Ja Garcia (9iL)	Miller (L)
Hawksworth	Reyes (L)
Memphis (24+5)
SP	RP	C	1B	2B	SS	3B	OF
	Boyer (DFA)	Anderson (3)	Brito (i)	Hoffpauir	Solano	Craig (18)	Jay (12)
Mortensen (11)	Salas (31)	Pagnozzi		Rowlett		Freese (5i)	Mather
Parisi (i)	Scherer	Yarbrough (i)				Wallace (2)	Shorey
Walters (17)	Kinney (20)						Robinson (27)
Ottavino (15)	Maekawa (L)
Boggs (10)	Ostlund (L)
MacLane (L)	Manning (L)
	Ring (L)
	Todd (7)
Others (1)
							Cazana
							(Mexico)
Springfield (24+8)
SP	RP	C	1B	2B	SS	3B	OF
Kopp (28)	Mura (i)	Hill (34)	A Brown (i)	Descalso	Kozma (8)	Folli	Jones (6)
	M Gonzalez	T Cruz (36)	Hamilton (i)		Jo Martinez (37ti)		Rapoport
Hearne	Degerman	Derba	C Smith (40)				Ant. DeJesus
Fiske (iL)	Parise		Arburr				Henley
Lynn (14)	Samuel (21)
Kulik (L)	McCormick (i)
	Dew (i)
	Norrick (L)
	Dickson
	Furnish (L)
	Sanchez
	Maiques (susp)
Palm Beach (25+2)
SP	RP	C	1B	2B	SS	3B	OF
Broderick	Diapoules		Rivera	Marmol	Bolivar	Curtis	Chambers
R Castillo (19)	Eager	Vazquez		Jo Garcia	Sedbrook		Pham
Additon (26iL)	King	Murphy		Luna (39)			Peterson
Gorgen (22)	Reifer (24)						Swauger
Fick	Linares (L)
	Freeman (L)
	Garceau (29i)
	Mulligan
	E Hernandez
Quad Cities (25+4)
SP	RP	C	1B	2B	SS	3B	OF
Daley, Jr.	Carpenter	Cutler	Morales	Toribio	Vasquez (13)		Parejo
Zawacki	Delgado	Espinoza		A Castellanos			Edwards (23i)
	Buursma			Lilley			P Cruz
Bravo (iL)	Rosales			Toribio			Bogany
Bradford (i)	M Tapia						Mitchell
Nieto	Pichardo						Ja Martinez
Cardenas (L)	Veres
Thomas	McGregor
J Wilson (restr)
Ext. Spring (63)
SP	RP	C	1B	2B	SS	3B	OF
A Cruz	A Castillo	A Perez	D Medina	Landin	Alvarez	Teran	Babrick
Ang. De Jesus		Castro	Rigoli	L Mateo	Y Castillo	R DeLaCruz (38)	Gomez
Arredondo	Calero	Cawley	Scruggs		Mambell		Hage
Blazek	Frevert	L DeLaCruz			Mosquera		Ingram
Diaz	Maertz	Moscatel			Obregon
Fornataro	Mayes	Polanco			R Ruiz		Lara
Javier	Munoz	Alcala			Valera		Rivero
Leach	Orozco						R Rodriguez
North	Ortiz						R Rosario
Notti							Riportella
R Gonzalez	Rondon						Shepherd
Rada	Russell						Swinson
Richardson	Y Gonzalez
Rios	J Castellanos (L)
Santos	Siegrist (L)
Hooker (32)
A Ferrara (L)
G Brown (L)
EST (visa delay 2)
SP	RP	C	1B	2B	SS	3B	OF
	Estalis	J Castillo (susp)
Batavia (TBD)
SP	RP	C	1B	2B	SS	3B	OF
Johnson City (TBD)
SP	RP	C	1B	2B	SS	3B	OF
GCL (TBD)
SP	RP	C	1B	2B	SS	3B	OF
DSL (32)
SP	RP	C	1B	2B	SS	3B	OF
A Tapia	Concepcion	V Ferreira	Pimentel	Avila	Cabrera	Villar	Beras
Franco	E Rivera	L Perez		Hiraldo	G Hernandez		Encarnacion
Jimenez	M Martinez	Montero		J Lopez			J Pena
Pasen	Pinard			W Perez			Reyes
Urena	D Rodriguez (L)						Sandoval
Herrera (L)	Mercedes (L)						Taveras
L Rosario (L)	P Pena (L)
	Uribe (L)
VSL (34+1)
SP	RP	C	1B	2B	SS	3B	OF
Avendano	Cedeno	Rivas	R Perez	M Marquez	O Medina	H Garcia	Argenal
Bier	F Marquez	Viloria		Vargas		Yegues	Cortez
Corpas	Guzman	Velazco		Vivas (susp)		H Martina	Fonseca
Nieves	Polanco						Inojoza
Oraa	Ulacio						A Castellano
Colorado (L)	Ramos						Martines
	Solarte
	Weffer (L)
	R Alvarado (L)
	De Aguas (L)
	Echeverria (L)
	Villanueva (L)

Codes:

(#): My Cardinals prospect ranking from over the winter at Scout.com

(i): injured – on the disabled list

(t): temporary inactive list

(susp): suspended list

(restr): restricted list

(L) left-handed pitcher

Bold: on the Cardinals’ 40-man roster

(#+#) number of active players on the roster plus number of inactive (i+t+susp+restr) players

The initial versions of those four minor league rosters, Memphis, Springfield, Palm Beach and Quad Cities, are complete. Also included are injured and suspended players as well as those granted personal leave.

All of the invitees to Extended Spring Training camp are included together, a group that currently sits at 78 players with five more scheduled to arrive next month. The three US-based short-season rosters, for Batavia, Johnson City and the Gulf Coast League Cardinals, are left blank for the time being.

Come June, those clubs will be populated from the EST standouts as well as 2009 draftees and free agent signings. I will keep this roster matrix updated between now and then and then republish another fresh version once the short-season rosters are announced.

Most of the remainder of the EST players will return to the Dominican and Venezuelan Summer Leagues. The additional 62 players on the DSL and VSL rosters not invited to the US are listed below in their most recent league assignments.

All told, the organization currently has 282 players under contract, from St. Louis down through the Venezuelan Summer League Cardinals.

Like everything here at The Cardinal Nation, the matrix is provided at no charge. That doesn’t mean it didn’t take a lot of work to create and maintain. Please be respectful and link back here if you want to reference the matrix rather than copying it elsewhere.

Remember, this Roster Matrix can always be accessed in several ways. You can enter the term “roster matrix” in the blue search box in the upper right of the site or access this information through the top red menu bar under “Players/Staff” > “Depth Charts/Roster Matrix”.

Update 4/10: RHP Andres Rosales promoted from EST to QC to replace suspended Deryk Hooker

Update 4/13: 2B Oliver Marmol placed on Palm Beach DL, Jose Garcia promoted from EST to Palm Beach. Mark Hamilton activated by Springfield from EST, Brandon Buckman placed on the Springfield DL.

Update 4/15: Chris Carpenter to 15-day DL, Brad Thompson optioned to Memphis. Chris Perez and Mitchell Boggs promoted from Memphis to StL.

Update 4/16: LHR Royce Ring activated from Memphis 7-day DL.

Update 4/17: RHS P.J. Walters from Memphis to StL, RHR Josh Kinney optioned out. 2B Aaron Luna to Quad Cities DL, C Blake Murphy activated.

Update 4/20: OF Brian Barton traded to Atlanta for RHR Blaine Boyer.

Update 4/21: 3B David Freese optioned to Memphis to make room for Boyer in StL.

Update 4/23: RHR Kenny Maiques assigned to Extended Spring Training from Springfield. Eddie Degerman activated from PB DL to Springfield. OF Paul Cruz to Quad Cities DL. 2B Brett Lilley promoted to QC from EST.

Update 4/24: OF Amaury Marti injured (Oaxaca Guerreros of the Mexican League. LHP Katsuhiko Maekawa placed on Memphis 7-day DL.

Update 4/25: Acquired LHP Evan MacLane from Triple-A Reno (Arizona). Assigned to Triple-A Memphis. 282 players under contract.

Update 4/27: LHS Ryan Kulik promoted from PB to Spr as LHS Justin Fiske placed on DL. RHS Scott Gorgen promoted from Extended Spring Training.

Update 4/30: IF Brendan Ryan placed on StL 15-day DL. Tyler Greene promoted to StL from Memphis. OF Paul Cruz activated from DL by QC. C Blake Murphy returned to QC DL. Marco Gonzalez from Mem to Spr with Donovan Solano going the other way. OF Shane Robinson placed on Memphis DL with C Brandon Yarbrough and RHR Fernando Salas activated. SS Pete Kozma from PB to Spr. Kyle Mura to Spr DL. Trey Hearne into Spr rotation for Mura.

Update 5/1: IF Domnit Bolivar from QC to PB. IF Guillermo Toribio from EST to QC.

Update 5/2: LHP Jonny Bravo from EST to QC. RHP Chuckie Fick from QC to PB. RHP Lance Lynn from PB to Spr. Elvis Hernandez to Spr DL. PB ends tandem rotation with Mark Diapoules and Shaun Garceau to the bullpen.

Update 5/3: 1B Matt Arburr activated by PB. OF Charlie Kingrey released. New total 281.

Update 5/4: RHP P.J. Walters optioned to Mem with RHP Brad Thompson promoted to StL.

Update 5/5: 1B Brandon Buckman released from Spr. RHR Marco Gonzalez to Spr DL. LHP Joe Williams signed and added to Spr. OF Shane Robinson off Mem DL with 2B Jarrett Hoffpauir on.

Update 5/7: OF Rick Ankiel placed on the 15-day DL (likely effective 5/5). OF Shane Robinson added to 40-man roster and promoted from Memphis.

Update 5/8: IF Mike Folli from Spr to Mem. OF Brian Buck released from QC, replaced by Frederick Parejo from EST. LHP George Brown sent from QC to EST, replaced by RHP Josh Wilson. RHP Marco Gonzalez activated by Spr with LHP Kristhiam Linares onto Spr DL. QC moves Andres Rosales and Miguel Tapia to bullpen. New total 280.

Update 5/9: OF Alexander Castellano to VSL from DSL. C Jesus Montero to DSL from VSL. RHPs David Brito and Carlos Noguera released from EST. New total 278.

Update 5/12: IF Brendan Ryan assigned to Mem on rehab. RHP Kyle Mura activated by Spr. Ps Carlos Gonzalez, Jose Penaloza, Adam Prange and Senger Peralta released from EST. New total 274.

Update 5/13: OF Ryan Ludwick placed on StL DL, OF Nick Stavinoha recalled from Mem. OF Jarred Bogany from EST to Quad Cities, with OF Ryde Rodriguez going from QC to EST. LHP Ian Ostlund to Mem DL.

Update 5/14: OF Joe Mather to Mem DL. 2B Jarrett Hoffpauir and LHP Katsuhiko Maekawa activated from Mem DL. 1B Javier Brito signed for Mem as minor league free agent. New total 275.

Update 5/15: Spr 1B/OF Andrew Brown placed on DL. 1B Curt Smith from PB to Spr. OF Chris Swauger from QC to PB. OF Travis Mitchell from EST to QC. RP Kenny Maiques transferred from EST to Spr and suspended 50 games. RHP Mitchell Boggs from StL to Mem, with IF Brendan Ryan activated from Mem rehab.

Update 5/16: Mem 3B David Freese to DL. 3B Brett Wallace from Spr to Mem. Amaury Cazana activated from DL in Mexico.

Update 5/18: IF Mike Folli returned to Spr from Mem.

The St. Louis Cardinals Roster Matrix (effective 05/18/09)

St. Louis (25+5)	40-man (39)
SP	RP	C	1B	2B	SS	3B	OF
Carpenter (i)	Franklin	LaRue	Pujols	Schumaker	K Greene	Glaus (i)	Ankiel (i)
Lohse	Thompson	Molina		Thurston	Ryan		Duncan
Pineiro	McClellan				Barden		Ludwick (i)
Wainwright	Motte (4)				T Greene (16)		Rasmus (1)
Wellemeyer	C Perez						Robinson (27)
Ja Garcia (9iL)	Miller (L)						Stavinoha (35)
	Reyes (L)
	Boyer
Memphis (24+4)
SP	RP	C	1B	2B	SS	3B	OF
Walters (17)	Todd (7)	Anderson (3)	Brito	Hoffpauir	Solano	Craig (18)	Jay (12)
Hawksworth	Kinney (20)	Pagnozzi		Rowlett		Freese (5i)	Shorey
Mortensen (11)	Salas (31)	Yarbrough				Wallace (2)	Mather (i)
Parisi (i)	Scherer
Ottavino (15)	Ring (L)
MacLane (L)	Maekawa (L)
Boggs (10)	Ostlund (iL)
	Manning (L)
Others (1)
							Cazana
							(Mexico)
Springfield (24+8)
SP	RP	C	1B	2B	SS	3B	OF
Dickson	E Hernandez (i)	Hill (34)	A Brown (i)	Descalso	Kozma (8)	Folli	Jones (6)
Herron (25)	M Gonzalez	T Cruz (36)	Hamilton		Jo Martinez (37ti)		Rapoport
Hearne	Degerman		C Smith (40)				Ant. DeJesus
Fiske (iL)	Parise						Henley
Lynn (14)	Samuel (21)
Kulik (L)	McCormick (i)
	Dew (i)
	Norrick (L)
	Linares (iL)
	Furnish (L)
	Williams (L)
	Mura
	Maiques (susp)
Palm Beach (25+1)
SP	RP	C	1B	2B	SS	3B	OF
Broderick	Sanchez	Derba	Rivera	Marmol (i)	Sedbrook	Curtis	Chambers
R Castillo (19)	Eager	Vazquez	Arburr	Jo Garcia	Bolivar		Pham
Additon (26L)	King						Peterson
Gorgen (22)	Reifer (24)						Swauger
Kopp (28)	Freeman (L)
	Diapoules
	Garceau (29)
	Fick
Quad Cities (25+4)
SP	RP	C	1B	2B	SS	3B	OF
Daley, Jr. T4	Carpenter	Cutler	Morales	Luna (39i)	Vasquez (13)		Parejo
Bravo (L) T3	Delgado	Espinoza		A Castellanos	Toribio		Edwards (23)
Hooker (32 susp)	Mulligan	Murphy (i)		Lilley			P Cruz
J Wilson T3	Rosales						Bogany
McGregor T2	M Tapia						Mitchell
Nieto T2
Cardenas (L) T1
Thomas T1
Veres T4
Bradford (i)
Ext. Spring (63)
SP	RP	C	1B	2B	SS	3B	OF
A Cruz	A Castillo	A Perez	D Medina	Landin	Alvarez	Teran	Babrick
Ang. De Jesus		Castro	Rigoli	L Mateo	Y Castillo	R DeLaCruz (38)
Arredondo	Buursma	Cawley	Scruggs		Mambell		Gomez
Blazek		L DeLaCruz			Mosquera		Hage
Diaz	Calero	Moscatel			Obregon		Ingram
Fornataro	Frevert	Polanco			R Ruiz		Ja Martinez
	Maertz						Lara
	Mayes
Javier	Munoz						R Rodriguez
Leach	Orozco						R Rosario
	Ortiz						Riportella
North							Shepherd
Notti	Pichardo						Swinson
R Gonzalez
Rada	Rondon
Richardson	Russell
Rios	Y Gonzalez
Santos
Zawacki	J Castellanos (L)
G Brown (L)	Siegrist (L)
A Ferrara (L)
EST (May 15) (5)
SP	RP	C	1B	2B	SS	3B	OF
	Estalis	Alcala			Valera		Rivero
		J Castillo (susp)
Batavia (TBD)
SP	RP	C	1B	2B	SS	3B	OF
Johnson City (TBD)
SP	RP	C	1B	2B	SS	3B	OF
GCL (TBD)
SP	RP	C	1B	2B	SS	3B	OF
DSL (34)
SP	RP	C	1B	2B	SS	3B	OF
A Tapia	Concepcion	V Ferreira	Pimentel	Avila	Cabrera	H Martina
Franco	E Rivera	L Perez		Hiraldo	G Hernandez	Villar	Beras
Jimenez	M Martinez	Montero		J Lopez			Encarnacion
Pasen	Pinard			W Perez			J Pena
Urena	D Rodriguez (L)						Martines
Herrera (L)	Mercedes (L)						Reyes
L Rosario (L)	P Pena (L)						Sandoval
	Uribe (L)						Taveras
VSL (26+1)
SP	RP	C	1B	2B	SS	3B	OF
Avendano	Cedeno		R Perez	M Marquez	O Medina	H Garcia	Argenal
Bier	F Marquez	Rivas		Vargas		Yegues	Cortez
Nieves	Guzman	Viloria		Vivas (susp)			Fonseca
Colorado (L)	Oraa	Velazco					Inojoza
Weffer (L)	R Alvarado						A Castellano
	Ramos
	Solarte