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More Cardinals World Series replica ring promotions coming

Brian Walton — Thu, 17 May 2012 15:24:53 +0000

One of the most popular promotions in recent history is popping up across the St. Louis Cardinals minor league system this season.

On at least five upcoming nights, St. Louis Cardinals 2011 World Series replica rings will be given in limited numbers of fans in Memphis, Springfield and now, Quad Cities. In addition, St. Louis is having another ring night themselves.

Next up is Triple-A Memphis. On Friday, July 6, the first 3,000 to arrive at AutoZone Park will receive a ring of their own. Busch Stadium attendees will also be given rings that same night.

Newly-announced on Wednesday is the promotion in Davenport. On two different Wednesdays in July, the 8^th and 22^nd, the first 2,000 Quad Cities River Bandits attendees each evening will leave with their own ring.

Earlier, Springfield announced they will have two additional World Series replica ring promotions this season. However, as of yet, the dates have not been disclosed. The Double-A club had two ring nights early in 2012.

Despite the earlier giveaways, interest level in these rings remains high. They are currently selling on ebay for prices approaching $100.

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To err is human, but the 2012 Cardinals do it rarely

Brian Walton — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 12:42:37 +0000

In the most important stat of all, won-loss record, the St. Louis Cardinals’ major league club and its highest-level affiliate are at polar opposites.

St. Louis is among the top three teams in the National League with its 11-6 record through 17 games. The Triple-A Memphis Redbirds have been scuffling along in Pacific Coast League action, winning just one-third of their initial contests at 6-12.

One area in which the two clubs share early success, however, is in limiting physical errors in the field. Each shares the lead for fewest miscues committed across its respective 16-team league.

In the NL, St. Louis has just nine errors as a team. That ties them with Philadelphia and Washington for the lowest total in the Senior Circuit. Shortstop Rafael Furcal is the only Cardinal with multiples and he has committed just two.

At the other end of the spectrum, two Western Division clubs, San Francisco and San Diego, each have made over twice as many errors as St. Louis, with 19 each. The Cardinals’ current opponent, Chicago, is next with 16 miscues in 17 games.

Cubs shortstop Starlin Castro is all alone at the top of this unenviable NL leaderboard with seven errors. The Giants have three players with four each, catcher Buster Posey, third baseman Pablo Sandoval and shortstop Brandon Crawford.

Down in Triple-A, Memphis is tied for the PCL lead for the fewest errors with 12, along with Nashville (Milwaukee) and Oklahoma City (Houston). They are spread very evenly over the Redbirds roster, with third baseman Zack Cox and shortstop Ryan Jackson being the only Memphians with as many as two miscues.

The big-league Giants shouldn’t be looking for fielding help from Triple-A, as the most error-prone club in the PCL is their Fresno affiliate, with 25 in 19 games. The Bees’ three middle infielders alone have committed 17 miscues among them.

Coming into 2012, one area of expected improvement in the St. Louis club was to be their defense. With a ground-ball oriented pitching philosophy and a staff to match, this seemed very important.

So far, so good. At least in terms of errors committed in the early going, significant progress is being shown. Remember that in 2011, only one NL club, Chicago, was charged with more miscues than St. Louis. Right now at least, no club has fewer than the Cardinals.

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Cardinals organization roster matrix: 2012 full-season

Brian Walton — Mon, 02 Apr 2012 21:08:55 +0000

With the full-season 2012 clubs preparing for regular-season action, it is time for another refresh of the St. Louis Cardinals system roster matrix. This version reflects the changes made from the conclusion of 2012 spring training through the beginning of the regular season and extended spring training until the draft and the start of short-season action in June. The previous matrix reflects the rosters as they evolved from when spring training invitations were issued through the end of camp.

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

At the time of this posting, the St. Louis Cardinals had 253 players under contract from top to bottom, including 39 players on the 40-man roster. The matrix places each one at his assigned level in the system by position and is updated daily or whenever transactions occur.

There is a group of 16 players listed under Injured/Rehab. They are not active on any of the rosters at this time.

Extended spring training camp invitees are shown in separate groups. The first is those initially invited to major league camp as NRIs and the early minor league camp invitees. The second group is the holdovers from regular minor league spring training while the third group is those who arrived for EST at the start of April.

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

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

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

Full team rosters and player profiles at The Cardinal Nation

Remember that to get detailed profile information on every single one of these 253 Cardinals players, simply check out their free player profiles updated at The Cardinal Nation.com / Scout.com. You can see bios, photos, videos, articles, news items, links to current season and career stats and much more – everything you need to know about a player in one place.

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

Full-season clubs

St. Louis Cardinals
Memphis Redbirds
Springfield Cardinals
Palm Beach Cardinals
Quad Cities River Bandits

Short-season clubs

Batavia Muckdogs
Johnson City Cardinals
Gulf Coast League Cardinals
Dominican Summer League Cardinals

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

Looking ahead and back

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

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

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

Transactions

04/02: New matrix. Organization total: 253 players.

04/02: C Kleininger Teran onto Spr DL.

04/03: RHR Adam Ottavino lost via outright waivers to Colorado. New organization total: 252 players.

04/04: C Adam Lewis placed on QC DL. RHP Deryk Hooker to Spr DL. LHR Nick Greenwood from Spr to Mem. RPs Justin Wright and Jesse Simpson from PB to Spr. OF Cedric Hunter acquired from Oakland, assigned to Mem. New org total: 253 players.

04/05: RHR Ricky Martinez from EST to PB. C Travis Tartamella onto PB DL. C Roberto Espinoza onto Mem DL.

04/06: RHR Scott Linebrink onto StL DL. RHR Victor Marte onto 40-man, moves from Mem to StL.

04/09: C Casey Rasmus from EST to PB. C Luis De La Cruz from PB to Mem. C Steven Hill onto Mem DL.

04/12: RHS Seth Blair onto PB DL. RHR Logan Billbrough from QC to PB. RHR Kevin Jacob from EST to QC. IF Roberto De La Cruz to QC DL. IF Jeremy Patton from EST to QC.

04/13: C Luis De La Cruz from Mem to PB. C Casey Rasmus from PB to EST. C Mitch Canham signed, assigned to Mem. New organization total: 254 players.

04/15: OF Michael Swinson onto PB DL. OF Kyle Conley from Spr DL to PB.

04/20: 1B Lance Berkman onto StL 15-day DL. IF/OF Skip Schumaker off 15-day DL. IF Tyler Rahmatulla onto QC DL. C Adam Lewis off QC DL.

04/21: OF Tommy Pham onto Spr DL. OF Kyle Conley from PB to Spr. OF Michael Swinson off PB DL.

04/26: 2B Starlin Rodriguez onto PB DL. C Travis Tartamella off PB DL. OF Roberto Reyes, C Adam Lewis onto QC DL. OF Virgil Hill from EST to QC. IF Roberto De La Cruz off QC DL.

04/28: IF Packy Elkins to PB DL. IF Neal Pritchard from EST to PB.

05/01: IF Tyler Rahmatulla off QC DL. IF Jeremy Patton from QC to EST. OF/IF Allen Craig off StL DL. OF Erik Komatsu DFAed. New organization total: 253 players.

05/03: C Steven Hill off Mem DL. OF Chris Swauger from Mem to Spr. OF Rainel Rosario from Spr to PB.

05/04: OF Erik Komatsu claimed off waivers by Twins. OF Michael Swinson onto PB DL. RHP Todd McInnis to QC DL. C Adam Lewis off QC DL. OF Mark Hamilton off Mem DL. IF Jermaine Curtis from Mem to Spr. IF Niko Vasquez from Spr to PB. C Audry Perez to Spr TI list. C Kleininger Teran off Spr DL.

05/05: IF Neal Pritchard from PB to EST. C Casey Rasmus from EST to QC. C Jesus Montero from QC to EST.

05/06: C Travis Tartamella, RHR Ricky Martinez onto PB DL. 2B Starlin Rodriguez and LHS Kevin Siegrist off PB DL.

05/07: IF Tyler Rahmatulla to QC DL. OF Roberto Reyes off QC DL. C Audry Perez off Spr TI list. C Kleininger Teran, RHR Jesse Simpson to Spr DL. IF Neal Pritchard from EST to Spr.

05/08: LHS Jonathan Cornelius from EST to QC. C Adam Lewis to QC DL. Ps Fermin Montanez, Jeff Nadeau released. New organization total: 251 players.

05/13: 1B Lance Berkman off StL DL. OF Shane Robinson from StL to Mem.

05/14: LHR J.C. Romero released by StL. RHR Eduardo Sanchez from Mem to StL. Mem OF Amaury Cazana released. LHR Sam Freeman from Spr to Mem. RHR Jesse Simpson off Spr DL. IF Neal Pritchard from Spr to EST. RHS Richard Castillo from PB to Spr. RHS Todd McInnis from QC DL to PB. IF Tyler Rahmatulla off QC DL. OF Virgil Hill onto QC DL. New organization total: 249 players.

05/15: OF Jon Jay onto StL DL. OF Shane Robinson from Mem to StL.

05/17: LHR Clay Zavada, UT Jamie Romak signed to Mem. Mem LHR R.J. Swindle released. PB 3B Niko Vasquez released. C Travis Tartamella off PB DL. OF Anthony Garcia onto QC DL. OF Virgil Hill onto QC DL.

05/18: OF Allen Craig, RHR Kyle McClellan onto StL DL. OF Adron Chambers, RHP Brandon Dickson from Mem to StL. LHS John Gast from Spr to Mem. RHP Deryk Hooker off Spr DL.

05/19: IF Neal Pritchard, LHP Bob Revesz, RHP Travis Miller from EST to QC. IF Garrett Wittels, RHPs Brandon Creath, Kevin Jacob from QC to EST. RHS Carlos Martinez, UT Alan Ahmady to PB DL. LHP Ryan Sherriff and 3B Jeremy Patton from EST to PB.

05/20: StL 1B Lance Berkman to DL. 1B Matt Adams onto 40-man roster, from Mem to StL.

05/21: OF Lou Montanez signed, assigned to Mem. RHPs Seth Maness, Chris Corrigan from PB to Spr. RHP Scott Schneider from Spr to PB. RHP Jorge Rondon to Spr DL. OF Michael Swinson off PB DL. New organization total: 250 players.

05/22: 1B Aaron Bates signed, assigned to Mem. New organization total: 251 players.

05/23: UT Matt Carpenter onto StL DL. C Steven Hill added to 40-man, from Mem to StL.

05/24: RHP Michael Santana released. New organization total: 250 players.

The St. Louis Cardinals Organization Roster Matrix (effective 05/24/12)

25-man (25+7)	40-man (40)
SP	RP	C	1B	2B	SS	3B	OF
C Carpenter (DL)	Boggs	Molina	Berkman (DL)	Schumaker	Furcal	Freese	Holliday
Lohse	McClellan (DL)	T Cruz	Adams	Descalso	T Greene	M Carpenter (DL)	Jay (DL)
Westbrook	Salas	S Hill					Craig (DL)
Wainwright	Motte						Beltran
Ja Garcia (L)	Rzepczynski (L)						Robinson
Lynn	Sanchez						Chambers
	Linebrink (DL)
	Marte
	Dickson
Memphis (24+2)
SP	RP	C	1B	2B	SS	3B	OF
Additon (L)	Browning (L)	Anderson	Bates	Kozma	R Jackson	Cox	Hamilton
Broderick	Todd	Canham		Velez			Romak
Kelly	Cleto	Espinoza (DL)					Luna (DL)
S Miller	Zavada (L)						Hunter
Gast (L)	Reifer						Montanez
	Greenwood (L)
	Fick
	S Freeman (L)




Springfield (25+6)
SP	RP	C	1B	2B	SS	3B	OF
Gorgen	Butler	A Perez	Scruggs	Wong	Jo Garcia	Curtis	Pham (DL)
Hooker	Wright (L)	Derba			G Garcia		Taveras
Rosenthal	Corrigan	Teran (DL)					Swauger
Ri Castillo	Delgado (DL)						Shaffer
Lyons (L)	Blazek						Melker
McGregor (DL)	Fornataro						Conley
Swagerty (60DL)	Thomas
Maness	Simpson
	Rondon (DL)


Palm Beach (25+8)
SP	RP	C	1B	2B	SS	3B	OF
Sherriff (L)	Schneider	L DeLaCruz	J Rodriguez	S Rodriguez	Elkins (DL)	Ahmady (DL)	Edmondson
C Martinez (DL)	Reid	Klein			Gil	Patton	Swinson
McInnis	Nazario (L)	Tartamella			Albitz		Longmire
Ferrara (L)	Russell						O’Neill
Blair (DL)	A Lucas						R Rosario
Benes	Kiekhefer (L)
Whiting (DL)	R Martinez (DL)
Bibona (L DL)	Billbrough
Siegrist (L)
Copeland (L DL)


Quad Cities (25+4)
SP	RP	C	1B	2B	SS	3B	OF
Jenkins	T Miller	J Castillo	R DeLaCruz	Lu Mateo	M Williams	Rahmatulla	An Garcia (DL)
H Hernandez (L)	Revesz (L)	Rasmus		Walsh	Pritchard		Martini
Cornelius (L)	Cole	Stanley (SL)					D Medina
Gaviglio	Miranda (L)	Lewis (DL)					Rbto Reyes
Hald (L)	Stock						V Hill
Villanueva (L)	Wyatt
	Paulino
	De Jesus (RL)

EST (72+2)
Injured/Rehab (5)
P	P	C	1B	2B	SS	3B	OF
Canache	Costantino
J Lucas	Rada
E Hiraldo









Early camp/NRI (5)
P	P	C	1B	2B	SS	3B	OF
DeLeon					Peoples-Walls		Jeffries
							McElroy
							Tilson

Reg camp others (32+2)
P	P	C	1B	2B	SS	3B	OF
Y Castillo	Baker	Ehrlich	Washington	Stienstra	C Valera	Tuivailala	Apelian
Nuernberg	Bileckyj (L)	Keener	Bergin	B Valera		Wittels	S Ramos
Ulacio	Gillung (L)	Byrd					Bryant
Pasen	Hunt	Velazco					Williams (SL)
Jacob	Springer	L Perez
Almarante	Creath	Montero
S Lopez	B Watson
M Harris (MIL)	Melling (L)
	Mills




New arrivals (30)
P	P	C	1B	2B	SS	3B	OF
B Martinez	Toribio	J Gomez	Knox	Rblys Reyes	Martin	R Garcia	Ro Castillo
B Freeman (L)	A Tapia		Argenal	Le Mateo	R Medina		Capellan
Rein (L)	DeLosSantos			Vargas	Barbuena		Deol
Bautista	F Flores						Dodd
Aguilar	S Garcia						Acevedo
Brand	Gerdel
	Paredes
	Jh Polanco
	Villegas

Batavia (TBD)
P	P(2012 added)	C	1B	2B	SS	3B	OF

Johnson City (TBD)
P	P(2012 added)	C	1B	2B	SS	3B	OF

Gulf Coast (TBD)
P	P(2012 added)	C	1B	2B	SS	3B	OF

DSL (24+1)
SP	RP	C	1B	2B	SS	3B	OF
Salazar	A DeLaCruz (L)	Baez	Mejia		Pina	Agustin	Araujo
Escudero	A Gonzalez (RL)	Godoy			E Alvarez		Franco
Perdomo	I Brito (L)	L Cruz					Celestino
Negrette (L)	F Gonzalez						J Pena
D Perez (L)							Torres

Serrano
J Perez
DeLaRosa
D Martinez

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

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Cardinals minor league spring training notebook: 04/01

Brian Walton — Sun, 01 Apr 2012 23:30:35 +0000

On Sunday, the St. Louis Cardinals minor leaguers had their final games of the spring. It was yet another camp day – with a twist.

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

Memphis pitching	IP	H	ER	BB	K	Notes
Brian Broderick	5	7	1	0	4	Opened last season in Nationals’ pen
Chuckie Fick	2		0		3	40-man roster addition over the winter
Barrett Browning	1		0		1	47 K but 35 BB in 66.1 IP for Salt Lake in 11

Memphis hitting	AB	R	H	RBI	2B	3B	HR	BB	Notes
Bryan Anderson	3		2						Good to see his bat isn’t disappointed
Jermaine Curtis	2		1	1	1				May make team in place of Aaron Luna
Anthony Bryant	2		1		1
Chris Swauger	2		1						Moving up from Springfield last 1.5 seasons
Pete Kozma		1							Starting at second base for Memphis in 2011

Palm Beach pitching	IP	H	ER	BB	K	Notes
Richard Castillo	3	3	0	1	1	Strong Pitcher of the Day contender
Dean Kiekhefer	2	3	0		1	One unearned run allowed
Justin Wright	2		0	1	3	31 of 37 career appearances were scoreless
R.J. Swindle	1	1	0		1	Veteran free agent will open with Memphis

Palm Beach hitting	AB	R	H	RBI	2B	3B	HR	BB	Notes
Lance Berkman	3	1	3		1				What did you expect from a ringer?
Alan Ahmady	2		1						Can play all over
Geoff Klein	2		1	1	1				Catcher has been in these reports often lately
Ronny Gil	1		1
Travis Tartamella	1		1
Nick Longmire	3		1						Looking for rebound after quiet 2011

Extended spring training 4, Quad Cities 3

Quad Cities pitching	IP	H	ER	BB	K	Notes
Sam Gaviglio	4	1	0	1	5	Highest-drafted Cards pitcher last June
Brandon Creath	1	1	1		1	11.84 K/9 IP was #2 in Appy League in 11
Willy Paulino	1	3	3		3	Seems like many runs allowed this camp
Travis Miller	1	1	0		2	28 appearances in 11 tied for 1st in NYPL

Quad Cities hitting	AB	R	H	RBI	2B	3B	HR	BB	Notes
Matt Williams	3	1	1						SS continues to impress
David Medina	3	1	1						Regular in these reports to play OF mostly
Adam Lewis	2	1	1	1			1		Tryout C apparently has earned a contract
Roberto De La Cruz	3		1
Colin Walsh								2	Career .371 OBP in two pro seasons
Nick Martini								2	Drew 28 BB vs. 34 K in rookie GCL campaign

Extended spring pitching	IP	H	ER	BB	K	Notes
Dail Villanueva	4	2	1	2	1	3.64 ERA in US debut – 2011 GCL
Shooter Hunt	1	1	1		1	Spent last 2 years at High-A
Dyllon Nuernberg	1	1	1	2		5.36 career ERA in two seasons
Kevin Jacob	1		0		2	31st-rounder in 2011 from Georgia Tech

Extended spring hitting	AB	R	H	RBI	2B	3B	HR	BB	Notes
Virgil Hill	3		2	3		1	1		Clearly our Player of the Day
Gerwuins Velazco	2		1					1	20 y/o Venezuelan hit .245 in 2011 GCL
Kolby Byrd	1	1	1						C making his only AB of the day count
Adam Ehrlich	2		1						C was Cards’ 6th-rounder in 2011
Gary Apelian	3		1						OPS’ed .845 for Johnson City last season

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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Cardinals minor league spring training notebook: 03/31

Brian Walton — Sun, 01 Apr 2012 02:46:11 +0000

On Saturday, the Cardinals had yet another camp day, their sixth of the spring. Memphis faced Springfield while Palm Beach and Quad Cities matched up on the George Kissell Quad behind Roger Dean.

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

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

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

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

Springfield 4, Memphis 0

Memphis pitching	IP	H	ER	BB	K	Notes
Brandon Dickson	4	9	4		3	Will open in Memphis’ rotation again
Adam Reifer	2	1	0		1	Is he getting back into form?

Memphis hitting	AB	R	H	RBI	2B	3B	HR	BB	Notes
Chris Swauger	2		1		1				7th in Texas League with .296 average in 2011
Sam Tuivailala	2		1		1				Cards 3rd-rounder in 2010 draft
Pete Kozma	2		1		1				Still on the 40-man roster
Jermaine Curtis	2		1						Even pitched 1 2/3 scoreless innings last summer

Springfield pitching	IP	H	ER	BB	K	Notes
Scott Gorgen	4	3	0	0	5	Career ERA of 2.97 over three seasons
Nick Greenwood	1	1	0			LHR was non-roster MLB camp invitee

Springfield hitting	AB	R	H	RBI	2B	3B	HR	BB	Notes
Jake Shaffer	4	1	1						First Cardinals hit – just signed
Xavier Scruggs	3	1	2						Yesterday’s Player of the Day keeps hitting
Niko Vasquez	3		1	2					Two-run single
Kolten Wong	2	1	1						Top-ranked second baseman in the system
Greg Garcia	3		1	1	1
Rainel Rosario	3		1	1	1				Led PB in hits, doubles and RBI in 2011
Nick Derba	2		1
Jose Garcia	1		1		1				Second in system with .320 BA last year

Palm Beach 6, Quad Cities 1

Palm Beach pitching	IP	H	ER	BB	K	Notes
Drew Benes	4	4	1		2	Four starts, 34 career relief appearances
Chase Reid	2	1	0		3	2.28 ERA in 19 pen G for Palm Beach
Zack Russell	2	1	0	2	1	Made 23 starts for Quad Cities in 2011
Jose Pasen	1		0	1		OBA of .252 was 5th-best for Appy SPs in 11

Palm Beach hitting	AB	R	H	RBI	2B	3B	HR	BB	Notes
Ronny Gil	4	1	2	1	1				Fifth in system with 18 stolen bases last year
Starlin Rodriguez	3	1	1						2011 Midwest League All-Star
Mike O’Neill	3	1	1	1				1
Luis De La Cruz	1	1	1					1	C was non-roster spring training camp invitee
Nick Longmire	3		1		1
Alan Ahmady	3		1	1	1				Drew 71 walks last season in 110 games
Vance Albitz	2		1					1	Signed last August 24 from independent ball
Jonathan Rodriguez	2		1	2					4th in MWL with 20 HRs, 5th in OBP at .389
Packy Elkins	0	1						1

Quad Cities pitching	IP	H	ER	BB	K	Notes
Todd McInnis	4.2	4	1	1	3	2011 NY-Penn League All-Star
Robert Stock	1	3	4	1		There are going to be some bumps in road
Iden Nazario	0.2	1	1	2	2	Fanned 39 in 33 1/3 innings
Danny Miranda	1	2	0			15 saves led the 2011 NY-Penn League

Quad Cities hitting	AB	R	H	RBI	2B	3B	HR	BB	Notes
Matt Williams	4		2		2				.845 OPS for Johnson City in rookie 2011 season
Colin Walsh			1		1			1
Anthony Garcia			1	1			1
David Medina	4		1						2011 NY-Penn League All-Star
Roberto De La Cruz	4		1						Signed for $1.1 million in Dominican in 2008

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Cardinals minor league spring training notebook: 03/30

Brian Walton — Sat, 31 Mar 2012 02:28:56 +0000

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

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.

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.

Memphis 2, Buffalo 1

Memphis pitching	IP	H	ER	BB	K	Notes
Nick Additon	4.1	1	0	4	5	5th in system with 128 Ks last season
Jess Todd	2.2	3	0	0	4	One unearned run
Barrett Browning	1	0	0	1	2	LHR Rule 5 addition from Angels
R.J. Swindle	1	1			1	Former Tampa Bay lefty

Memphis hitting	AB	R	H	RBI	2B	3B	HR	BB	Notes
Zack Cox	3		2						Has to be happy for Matt Carpenter and himself
Pete Kozma	4		2						May be second base starter
Mark Hamilton		1	1	1			1	1	Will be playing in outfield in 2012
Chris Swauger				1	1				2-out go-ahead RBI double in the 7th
Sam Tuivailala					1			1
Steven Hill		1			1

Springfield 4, Binghamton 2

Springfield pitching	IP	H	ER	BB	K	Notes
Seth Maness	5	4	0	0	2	Moved quickly in 2011 rookie year
Kevin Thomas	2	1	0		2	One unearned run
Jorge Rondon	1	1	1	1		57:46 K:BB ratio in 11 bet. PB and Spr
Eric Fornataro	1	1	0		1	5th in system in IP last season (144.2)

Springfield hitting	AB	R	H	RBI	2B	3B	HR	BB	Notes
Xavier Scruggs	3	1	2	3		1	1	1	Check out his blog all about his bats
Niko Vasquez	3	1	2		2				Batted just .226 last year bet. PB and Springfield
Adam Melker	4		2		1				Then went over to MLB game and doubled again
Kenny Peoples-Walls	1	1	1		1				4th rounder in 2011 began with GCL
Audry Perez			1		1

Palm Beach 9, St. Lucie 2

Palm Beach pitching	IP	H	ER	BB	K	Notes
Seth Blair	5	5	2	2	3	Looking to put behind inconsistent 2011
Aidan Lucas	2	2	0		2	One of my unheralded pitchers to watch
Heath Wyatt	2	0	0	1	1	3rd in Appy League with eight saves in 11

Palm Beach hitting	AB	R	H	RBI	2B	3B	HR	BB	Notes
Geoff Klein	2		2	4	1			1	Strong Player of the Day contender
Luis De La Cruz				2			1		Two-run blast
Jeremy Patton	4		2	1					38th-rounder had strong rookie year with Batavia
Neil Pritchard	1		1
David Bergin	1		1
Charlie Tilson		1						1
Starlin Rodriguez	3	2	1					1	2B is our #27-ranked Cards prospect

Quad Cities 6, Savannah 4

Quad Cities pitching	IP	H	ER	BB	K	Notes
Tyrell Jenkins	4	7	4	1	4	Our #8 Cardinals prospect for 2012
Ricky Martinez	2	0	0	0	1	Career 3.03 ERA in two seasons
Robert Revesz	1	0	0	0	0	LHP missed entire 2011 season
Cody Springer	1	0	0	0	0	Free agent signee – Southern Arkansas
Ethan Cole	1	0	0	0	1	Only threw 10 2/3 innings in Batavia debut

Quad Cities hitting	AB	R	H	RBI	2B	3B	HR	BB	Notes
Matt Williams	3		3		1	1			Did not hit into a double play the entire 2011 season
Roberto Reyes	2		1	3			1		Very productive day at the plate
Jesus Montero	3		2						C batted .276 for Johnson City last year
David Medina	3	2	2					2	7th in system with .382 OBP in 2011
Tyler Rahmatulla	3		1						Having nice spring
Colin Walsh					1
Anthony Garcia	3	1	1	1					Ranked #22 on our top 40 prospect list
Roberto De La Cruz			1						3B will see time at 1B and in OF in 2012

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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Cardinals minor league spring training notebook: 03/29

Brian Walton — Fri, 30 Mar 2012 00:29:23 +0000

On Thursday, the St. Louis Cardinals’ five minor league clubs faced their Miami Marlins counterparts for the final time of the spring, just as did the major league clubs. The farm team games were held on the Marlins side of the Roger Dean Stadium complex.

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.

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.

New Orleans 4, Memphis 1

Memphis pitching	IP	H	ER	BB	K	Notes
Shelby Miller	5	6	2	0	2	Not a dominating spring for #1 prospect
Sam Freeman	1	1	0			One unearned run against lefty
Chuckie Fick	1	0	0	0	0	40-man roster reliever
Maikel Cleto	1	0	0	0	1	Conversion to reliever is permanent
Eduardo Sanchez	1	2	0	0	2	One unearned run for our #7 prospect

Memphis hitting	AB	R	H	RBI	2B	3B	HR	BB	Notes
Amaury Cazana					1				The legend continues
Mark Hamilton		1	1
Pete Kozma			1	1					Two-out RBI hit
Jermaine Curtis	2		1
Jeremy Patton	3		1						MO native had .825 OPS with Batavia in 2011
Adron Chambers	4		1						First appearance in this report after being w/StL
Chris Swauger	4		1

Springfield 8, Jacksonville 7

Springfield pitching	IP	H	ER	BB	K	Notes
Michael Blazek	4.1	4	3	2	5	Made 24 Double-A starts in 11 and looks to be back
Deryk Hooker	2	2	1		3	Only threw 65 1/3 IP last season due to injury
Scott Schneider	0.1	2	3	2	1	Started 20 and relieved in 15 for 2011 S-Cards

Springfield hitting	AB	R	H	RBI	2B	3B	HR	BB	Notes
Kolten Wong	5	1	3						A regular in this report this spring
Oscar Taveras	4	1	2						Springfield jump looks real
Greg Garcia	2	2	2	1				2	Folks had better remember his name
Jose Garcia	3	2	1	1	1			2	Also had solid Memphis trial last season
Adam Melker			1	1	1
Nick Derba			1	2	1				90 RBI in 924 career ABs over five seasons
Tommy Pham			1	1					Injury last week was just a stinger

Jupiter 2, Palm Beach 0

Palm Beach pitching	IP	H	ER	BB	K	Notes
Anthony Ferrara	5	3	0	1	2	PB would be his fifth level in 5 seasons – at QC in 11
Jesse Simpson	2				2	ERA four runs higher at Springfield vs. PB last year
Shooter Hunt	2	2	2	2	2	At least the line was symmetric
Willy Paulino	1	0	0	0	0

Palm Beach hitting	AB	R	H	RBI	2B	3B	HR	BB	Notes
Charlie Tilson	4		2						Could he make a full season club?
Mike O’Neill			1					2	OF moved wherever needed in 2011
Vance Albitz	2		1
Travis Tartamella	2		1
Packy Elkins	3		1

Greensboro 8, Quad Cities (Red) 2

Quad Cities Red pitching	IP	H	ER	BB	K	Notes
Hector Hernandez	3	6	4	3	1	No one escaped unscathed on this day
Dyllon Nuernberg	2	3	1	1	2	53 Ks in 48 2/3 career innings
Bradley Watson	2	4	2	1		Our 2011 GCL Cardinals Starter of the Year
Brandon Creath	2	2	1	3	3	11.84 K/9 IP 2nd among GCL relievers in 2011

Quad Cities Red hitting	AB	R	H	RBI	2B	3B	HR	BB	Notes
Roberto Reyes	4		2		1				OF has .233 career BA over four seasons
Virgil Hill	4		2						32-for-49 in steals over first three summers
Nick Martini			1
Luis Mateo	3		1	1				1
Colin Walsh	2		1	1
Garrett Wittels	2		2						College hit king for Florida International

Quad Cities (White) 5, Jamestown 3

Quad Cities White pitching	IP	H	ER	BB	K	Notes
Kyle Hald	4	6	3	0	5	Lefty was 2011 Appy League All-Star with 1.84 ERA
Nick Gillung	2	0	0	1	1	1.73 ERA for 2011 Johnson City champs
Kevin Jacob	2	0	0	0	3	Fanned 18 but walked 20 in 17 2/3 IP for Batavia
Corey Baker	1	1	0		1

Quad Cities White hitting	AB	R	H	RBI	2B	3B	HR	BB	Notes
Kolby Byrd	4		3	1			1		13th rounder in 11 began with Johnson City
Gerwuins Velazco	3	1	1		1				20 y/o Venezuelan made US debut in 11 GCL
Neil Pritchard	3		1
Adam Ehrlich	3		1
David Bergin	4	1	1	2	1				Hit .284 in 67 AB pro debut with JC last season
Gary Apelian	4		1	1	1
Anthony Bryant	4		1

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Cardinals minor league spring training notebook: 03/28

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

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

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

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

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

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

Springfield 6, Memphis 4

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

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

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

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

Palm Beach 5, Quad Cities 1

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

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

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

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

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Cardinals minor league spring training notebook: 03/27

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

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

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

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

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

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

Memphis 4, New Orleans 3

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

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

Jacksonville 10, Springfield 7

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

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

Palm Beach 3, Jupiter 3

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

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

Quad Cities (Red) 5, Greensboro 0

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

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

Quad Cities (White) 9, Jamestown 3

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

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

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Cardinals minor league spring training notebook: 03/26

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Memphis 7, Buffalo 5

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

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

Springfield 3, Binghamton 0

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

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

Palm Beach 2, St. Lucie 1

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

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

Savannah 5, Quad Cities 2

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

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

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Cardinals minor league spring training notebook: 03/25

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Springfield 3, Memphis 0

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

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

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

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

Palm Beach 4, Quad Cities Red 4

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

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

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

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

Quad Cities White intersquad 3-1

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

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

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

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

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Cardinals minor league spring training notebook: 03/24

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Memphis 7, Buffalo 5

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

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

Springfield 13, Binghamton 6

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

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

St. Lucie 4, Palm Beach 3

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

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

Savannah 3, Quad Cities 2

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

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

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Cardinals minor league spring training notebook: 03/23

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

New Orleans 3, Memphis 1

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

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

Springfield 2, Jacksonville 2

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

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

Jupiter 8, Palm Beach 7

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

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

Quad Cities (Red) 7, Greensboro 5

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

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

Jamestown 5, Quad Cities (White) 0

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

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

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Cardinals minor league spring training notebook: 03/22

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Memphis 8, Springfield 5

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

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

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

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

Quad Cities (Red) 4, Palm Beach 3

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Cardinals minor league spring training notebook: 03/20

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Springfield 12, Memphis 11

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

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

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

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

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

Palm Beach 3, Quad Cities (White) 2

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

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

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

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

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Cardinals minor league spring training notebook: 03/19

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

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

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

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

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

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

New Orleans 3, Memphis 0

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

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

Jacksonville 6, Springfield 3

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

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

Palm Beach 5, Jupiter 2

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

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

Quad Cities (Red) 5, Greensboro 5

Vuch explains about the circumstances behind this particular game.

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

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

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

Quad Cities (White) 3, Jamestown 1

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

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

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Cardinals minor league spring training notebook: 03/18

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Springfield 7, Memphis 5

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

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

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

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

Quad Cities 4, Palm Beach 1

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

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

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

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

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Cardinals minor league spring training notebook: 03/17

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Binghamton 9, Springfield (0-2) 3

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Cardinals minor league spring training notebook: 03/16

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Memphis 8, New Orleans 6

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

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

Jacksonville 11, Springfield 4

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

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

Jupiter 5, Palm Beach 3

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

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

Quad Cities (Field 4) 9, Greensboro 5

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

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

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

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

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

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Potential buyer for AutoZone Park kicking the tires

Brian Walton — Mon, 12 Mar 2012 13:19:29 +0000

Much has been written in recent years about the long-standing financial problems surrounding the Memphis Redbirds franchise and its state-of-the-art playing facility, AutoZone Park.

Now, the city of Memphis is considering purchasing the downtown ballpark from the not-for-profit Memphis Redbirds Baseball Foundation, reports the Memphis Commercial Appeal. In December, the Foundation disclosed it was preparing a plan to place both the team and its home on the market and apparently recently approached the city with a proposal to sell AZP.

Considered one of, if not the best facility in minor league baseball, AutoZone opened in 2000. It came with a resulting heavy load, as its $80.5 million cost set a new record high for a minor league stadium. The combination of the high stadium debt, back tax liabilities and operating expenses out of line with declining revenues led to an untenable financial situation.

As of late last year, Fundamental Advisors LP, a private-equity firm, was owned more than $50 million in bond payments from the Foundation. The firm had spent $24 million to purchase tax-exempt bonds used to finance the ballpark after they went into default. The bonds are backed by the franchise and the stadium.

The Foundation must negotiate sale parameters acceptable to Fundamental Advisors, since the latter essentially has control of both the team and ballpark.

If the city does purchase AutoZone Park, it may make the Redbirds a more appealing target to prospective buyers as well.

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Memphis Redbirds adding jumbo HD video board

Brian Walton — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 15:38:03 +0000

The fan experience at one of the best ballparks in all of the minor leagues will be even better in 2012. Earlier this winter, the Memphis Redbirds announced a major new facility addition, which is now underway and expected to be ready for the Pacific Coast League club’s home opener on April 13.

The AutoZone Park scoreboard is being replaced by a new 60 foot by 60 foot LED high-definition video display. The 20-ton unit, constructed by Daktronics, will sit 127 feet above the playing surface at its highest point and is reported to be the largest in all of minor league baseball.

It appears the entirety of the old scoreboard at AZP was of comparable size, though the video portion at 21 feet by 28 feet was just one-sixth the square footage of the new board. The top portion of the old board was used for balls and strikes plus the line score with the sides and bottom covered with fixed advertising.

It remains to be seen how advertising will be worked into the new board, as it surely will be. The video board can be dynamically partitioned into multiple zones or windows. Yet the artist’s rendering of it devoted entirely to one image looks stunning.

I am anxiously awaiting my visit to AutoZone Park this summer to see the new scoreboard for myself.

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Cardinals organization roster matrix: 2012 spring training

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Full team rosters and player profiles at The Cardinal Nation

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

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

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

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

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

Looking ahead and back

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

Related resources

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

Transactions

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

03/26: OF Adron Chambers optioned out.

03/27: C Cody Stanley suspended 50 games.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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



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

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

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

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



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


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



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

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

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

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

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

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

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Memphis Redbirds being prepared for sale

Brian Walton — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 15:35:42 +0000

From a business perspective, the St. Louis Cardinals minor league system has enjoyed considerable stability in recent years. One reason is that the major league club owns all but three of its US-based affiliates.

The external owners of two of the three others are or will soon be actively shopping their clubs. The highest level team, the Triple-A Memphis Redbirds, is being prepared for sale. The short-season Class-A Batavia Muckdogs club has been on the market for about 18 months. The third externally-owned affiliate is the Class-A Quad Cities River Bandits.

The not-for-profit Memphis Redbirds Baseball Foundation is preparing a plan to place the team and its home, AutoZone Park, on the market, reports the Memphis Commercial Appeal. The Redbirds have been mired in a complex financial mess for several years that made it almost impossible to sell the team.

Fundamental Advisors LP, a private-equity firm, is owned more than $50 million in bond payments by the Foundation. The firm had purchased $25 million of tax-exempt bonds used to finance the ballpark after they went into default. The bonds are backed by the franchise and the stadium.

The current focus of the Foundation appears to be establishing sale parameters that would be acceptable to Fundamental Advisors, since the latter essentially has control of the team and stadium. This would provide a yardstick against which to measure prospective bids.

From the external view at least, the situation in Memphis appears to be improving somewhat. The club’s increase in attendance in 2011 of 31,000 was its first after nine straight years of decline. The business side of the team and the park have been facility-managed since 2009 by Global Spectrum, a unit of media giant Comcast.

When the Redbirds formally reach the market, it is not known if the St. Louis Cardinals will again show interest in acquiring the club. Back in September 2008, the Cardinals signed a letter of intent to purchase the team and rent AutoZone Park, but withdrew four months later due to the muddled finances.

Regarding the on-field product, the Cardinals’ current Player Development Contract with the Redbirds expires at the end of the 2012 season. The two began their relationship in the Pacific Coast League team’s first year, 1998. Agreements are typically executed in two- or four-year increments.

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Cardinals organization roster matrix: 2011-2012 off-season

Brian Walton — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 04:49:26 +0000

NOTE: This version of the roster matrix is no longer current. It reflects the changes from the end of the 2011 World Series until the announcement of spring training invitations. It should now be considered a historical reference document. For the active roster matrix covering 2012 spring training, click here.

With the 2011-2012 free agent period underway, it is time for another refresh of the St. Louis Cardinals system roster matrix. This version will reflect the changes made from the conclusion of the World Series until 2012 spring training. The previous matrix reflects the rosters as they evolved from the start of short-season ball through the end of 2011 play.

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

After eight major league and seven minor leaguers declared free agency following the season, the St. Louis Cardinals had 278 players under contract from top to bottom, including 33 players on the 40-man roster. The matrix places each one at his current assigned level in the system based on his placement at the end of the season as well as by position. It is kept updated daily or as transactions occur.

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

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

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

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

At the end is a group of currently inactive and unassigned players.

Free agents are listed, but are not included in the system-wide totals. As they sign, their organization will be noted.

Full team rosters and player profiles at The Cardinal Nation

Remember that to get detailed profile information on every single one of these 278 Cardinals players, simply check out their free player profiles updated at The Cardinal Nation.com / Scout.com. You can see bios, photos, videos, articles, news items, links to 2011 season and career stats and much more – everything you need to know about a player in one place.

Click on the following links to be taken to one of the nine team pages at The Cardinal Nation:

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

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

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

Looking ahead and back

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

Transactions

11/9: New matrix. Organization total: 278 players. GCL RHR Richard Mendoza released. New total: 277 players.

11/11: Seven released: Mem RHP Bryan Augenstein, Spr OFs Jim Rapoport, D’Marcus Ingram, PB OF Edgar Lara, QC P Cale Johnson, Bat P Manuel De La Cruz, C Kevin Moscatel. New total: 270 players.

11/17: PB RHS Arquimedes Nieto released. New total: 269 players.

11/18: Three added to 40-man roster: RHS Adam Ottavino, RHR Chuckie Fick, LHR Sam Freeman.

11/27: JC 3B Hector Garcia released. New total: 268 players.

12/8: Rule 5 draft: OF Erik Komatsu (Was) onto 40-man. LHR Barret Browning (LAA), RHS Shooter Hunt (Min) to Mem. Taken were Spr C Charlie Cutler (Pit), PB SS Domnit Bolivar (Mil), Bat RHS Javier Avendano (Tor).

12/10: Free agent SS Rafael Furcal re-signs with StL. New total: 269 players.

12/12: IF Ryan Theriot non-tendered, becomes free agent. New total: 268 players.

12/15: LHR J.C. Romero signed to StL. New total: 269 players.

12/18: RHR Hector Corpas released. New total: 268 players.

12/21: LHR R.J. Swindle and 2B/OF Eugenio Velez signed to minor league deals. New total: 270 players.

12/22: Free agent OF Carlos Beltran came to terms on a two-year contract. New total: 271 players.

01/12: C Koyie Hill signed to minor league deal. New total: 272 players.

01/15: QC IF Jason Stidham retired. New total: 271 players.

01/23: PB P Justin Smith retired. Bat OF Victor Encarnacion released. RHP Cole Springer signed. C Adam Lewis invited to minors camp as a tryout player. Both assigned to Batavia on matrix.

The St. Louis Cardinals Organization Roster Matrix (effective 01/23/12)

25-man (NA)	40-man (39)
SP	RP	C	1B	2B	SS	3B	OF
C Carpenter	Boggs	Molina	Berkman	Schumaker	Furcal	Freese	Holliday
Lohse	McClellan	T Cruz	Hamilton	Descalso	T Greene	M Carpenter	Jay
Westbrook	Sanchez	Anderson			Kozma	Cox	Craig
Wainwright	Motte						Beltran
Ja Garcia (L)	Rzepczynski (L)						Chambers
Dickson	Lynn						Komatsu (R5)
Cleto	Salas						Robinson
Ottavino	Reifer
	S Freeman (L)
	Fick
	Romero (L)

Free agents (15)	not incl in total
Majors (new org)
SP	RP	C	1B	2B	SS	3B	OF
E Jackson (Type B offered, declined)	Dotel (Type B Det)	Laird (Det)	Pujols (Type A LAA)		Furcal (StL)	Punto (Bos)	Patterson
	Rhodes (L Type B not offered)
Minors (new org)
	Rundles (L)			Bynum	Solano (Mia)		Stavinoha (Japan)
	Lyman			Duncan (KC)			Jones (Cin)


Memphis (16)
SP	RP	C	1B	2B	SS	3B	OF
Additon (L)	Marte	Derba		Velez			Cazana
Broderick	Rauschenberger	S Hill
Blazek	Parise	K Hill
Hunt	Todd
	Kopp
	Browning (L)
	Swindle (L)

Springfield (23)
SP	RP	C	1B	2B	SS	3B	OF
Gast (L)	Delgado	Tartamella	Adams	Jo Garcia	R Jackson	Curtis	Pham
Gorgen	Swagerty	A Perez					Swauger
McGregor	Greenwood (L)						Luna
S Miller	Samuel
Kelly	Schneider
Thomas	Rada
Hooker	Rondon


Palm Beach (22)
SP	RP	C	1B	2B	SS	3B	OF
Fornataro	Corrigan	L DeLaCruz	Scruggs	Obregon		N Vasquez	Conley
Lyons (L)	Reid	Stock		G Garcia		Ahmady	R Rosario
C Martinez	Butler			S Rodriguez			Melker
Siegrist (L)	Calhoun (L)
Ri Castillo	Simpson
	Wright (L)


Quad Cities (32)
SP	RP	C	1B	2B	SS	3B	OF
Russell	Lucas	Espinoza	V Sanchez	Lu Mateo	Gil	J Rodriguez	Longmire
Whiting	Kiekhefer (L)	Stanley		Bergman	Elkins		Edmondson
Bibona (L)	Maness	Klein		Walsh			Swinson
Blair	De Jesus	Teran		Wong			Taveras
A Ferrara (L)	Nazario (L)	Keener
Rosenthal	Edwards (L)
Copeland (L)
Benes
H Hernamdez (L)

Batavia (31+2)
P	P(2011 added)	C	1B	2B	SS	3B	OF
Y Castillo	Miranda (L)	Rasmus	D Medina	Stienstra	Wittels	Patton	Martini
Almarante	Cole	J Castillo	R Ruiz		C Valera		Rbto Reyes
Daugherty (L)	Tra Miller	Lewis (TO)	Cerreto		Albitz		V Hill
R Martinez	Cornelius (L)						O’Neill
Mijares (L)	McInnis						Williams (SL)
S Watson (L)	Baker
	Bileckyj (L)
	Sherriff (L)
	Jacob
	Gaviglio
	Springer
Johnson City (36)
P	P(2011 added)	C	1B	2B	SS	3B	OF
Jenkins	Mills	Byrd	Washington	Rahmatulla	M Williams	R DeLaCruz	Apelian
Pasen	Hald (L)	Montero		B Valera	Pritchard		Ro Castillo
Santana	Gillung (L)				Martin		An Garcia
Canache	Billbrough						S Ramos
B Freeman (L)	Creath						Bergin
Bautista	Wyatt						Tilson
Nuernberg	Rein (L)
E Hiraldo	Costantino
J Lucas	Melling (L)
Revesz (L)
Nadeau (L)
Paulino


Gulf Coast (25)
P	P(2011 added)	C	1B	2B	SS	3B	OF
Aguilar	B Watson	Velazco	Knox	Le Mateo	Peoples-Walls	Tuivailala	Jeffries
Brand		L Perez		Vargas			Argenal
DeLeon		Ehrlich					McElroy
Toribio							Dodd
A Tapia							Bryant
S Lopez							Deol
Villanueva (L)
Ulacio
B Martinez
Montanez

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


Unassigned (6)
P	P	C	1B	2B	SS	3B	OF
M Harris (MIL)		P Vasquez (RL)
Eager (RL)
Patterson (RL)
Novak (RL)
Mulligan (RL)

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Cardinals familiar with Rangers at the Triple-A level

Brian Walton — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 12:53:18 +0000

Despite the fact that prior to the 2011 World Series, the St. Louis Cardinals only faced the Texas Rangers in three interleague games back in 2004, a number of the Cardinals players are already familiar with many of the Rangers personnel.

The Cardinals’ top farm club, the Memphis Redbirds, takes on the Rangers’ Triple-A club over a dozen times each season in Pacific Coast League action.

In 2011, Round Rock, located near Austin, carried the Rangers flag after what amounted to an affiliate swap with the Houston Astros and the Oklahoma City PCL club. The Rangers had been in Oklahoma City from 1983-2010.

Though the major league Rangers reached the 2010 World Series while the Cardinals missed the playoffs, the Cards were superior at the Triple-A level. Memphis posted a stellar 12-7 regular-season record against Oklahoma City in 2010 and even more importantly, swept them out of the playoffs in three straight. The Redbirds enjoyed the regular-season edge at home (7-3) and on the road (5-4).

This season, however, Memphis lost five of eight to Round Rock both at AutoZone Park and away for an overall 6-10 record against Texas’ PCL club. Plenty of other teams struggled against the Express as well as Round Rock won 87 games, taking their division by 17. Memphis came in second, winners of 77 contests, with their division champion, Omaha, ousting Round Rock in the playoffs.

The Redbirds logged two of their biggest innings of the year against Round Rock, plating seven in the seventh inning on April 30 en route to a 10-7 win and five runs in the fourth inning on July 26 in what would be a 10-4 victory. To be fair, the Express also had two five-run innings against Memphis’ PCL ERA champion pitching staff.

In terms of individual accomplishments, Tony Cruz was an Express killer. On April 28, the catcher had a walkoff RBI single in the 10^th inning of a 6-5 Memphis win. Just two days later, Cruz victimized Round Rock pitcher Zach Phillips for a grand slam, one of six grand slams by a Redbird in 2011. Even better, the next batter up, Aaron Luna, also went deep off Phillips, making it the first of three back-to-back homer attacks for Memphis this past season. On July 26 at Round Rock, Nick Stavinoha drove in six runs, tying for the biggest RBI day by a Memphis hitter in 2011.

In 2010, the Redbirds logged four walkoff victories against Oklahoma City, including in three consecutive games in late July. The successful batters were Daniel Descalso, Mark Hamilton (twice) and Bryan Anderson. Last September 8, Joe Mather launched two home runs in Game 1 of the PCL playoffs versus the RedHawks. Two days later, Lance Lynn (see photo) spun his most masterful performance as a professional, setting the Memphis team record by striking out 16 Oklahoma City batters in the first-round playoff-clinching contest.

On a lifetime regular season basis, Memphis is 108-119 against the Rangers’ Triple-A clubs – Round Rock in 2011 (6-10) and Oklahoma City prior (102-109).

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Bid on Memphis Organ Donor Night Jerseys

Brian Walton — Sun, 21 Aug 2011 18:53:39 +0000

Fans did not have to attend the Memphis Redbirds’ Organ Donor Night, held on August 13, to be able to bid on one of the special jerseys worn that night, such as the one worn by Nick Derba shown here. The Redbirds have four of them available for bidding on ebay.

The auctions are scheduled to run until Friday morning, August 26 with the proceeds going to the National Foundation for Transplants. Click on the links below to be taken to the various auction pages.

ebay auctions:

Adam Ottavino signed #32 jersey

#3, #21 and #46 jerseys

Other related posts:

Link to photos of jerseys being worn in game action

Link to article with background on the promotion

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Memphis Redbirds Organ Donor Night jerseys

Brian Walton — Sun, 14 Aug 2011 04:16:35 +0000

The Triple-A Memphis Redbirds held Organ Donor Night at AutoZone Park on Saturday, August 13. They defeated Tucson 5-2 as Shane Robinson, Tyler Greene and Nick Stavinoha hit consecutive home runs in the third inning.

The club shared these photos from the evening.

Andrew Brown

Brandon Dickson

Nick Stavinoha

Nick Derba

More details on the event can be found here and here.

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Memphis’ organ-themed jerseys – the real thing

Brian Walton — Tue, 09 Aug 2011 22:11:46 +0000

Last month, the St. Louis Cardinals’ Triple-A affiliate, the Memphis Redbirds, announced a most unusual promotion. On Saturday evening August 13, AutoZone Park will host Organ Donor Night.

Fans can sign up to be an organ donor and there will be drawings for a keyboard organ, a team autographed jersey, and a heart-healthy food basket.

That evening, the team will wear organ-themed jerseys sponsored by the National Foundation for Transplants. A silent auction will take place during the game for fans to bid on the jerseys.

With the special night near, the club has released photos of the actual jerseys. The photos depict the number 16 jersey of catcher Bryan Anderson.

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Memphis Redbirds to play their guts out

Brian Walton — Fri, 22 Jul 2011 00:43:27 +0000

August 16 update: Welcome to FOX Sports readers arriving here. In addition to this post, which provides background on the promotion, there is also a later one which includes actual photos of the jerseys being worn in game action. Click here.

When I received the following press release, it surely caught my eye. Minor league clubs often get creative in their promotions to try to encourage families to attend games, but this one from the St. Louis Cardinals’ Triple-A Memphis Redbirds is one of the most unique that I can ever recall.

Fireworks are great. The Beach Boys in concert were once fun, but they can’t be everywhere. Both can get old. In fact one of them already is. How many Bobblehead Nights can you have before they lose all their appeal? Last time I visited Springfield, it was Porch Mat Night, but how many front porches do any of us have?

So, let’s give the Redbirds’ promotion department an “A” for effort for their upcoming Organ Donor Night. Encouraging new sign-ups for this vital function is not only creative, but it supports a very good cause.

I admit that I chuckled out loud when I saw the grand prize for the themed drawing planned for August 13. It is a very good thing they specified that it is a “keyboard” organ.

That didn’t compare to my reaction when I spied the artist’s rendering of the commemorative jerseys the Redbirds will be wearing that evening. I just don’t think I would want to bid on one of these. It does put quite a literal spin on the tired line of playing one’s guts out for their team, though.

I suppose the Redbirds staff would say the club is already doing that each night as they have been locked in a heated battle for first place in the Pacific Coast League American North Division.

At this point, there is no confirmation that the Redbirds’ August 13 opponent, the Tucson Padres, plan to wear hospital scrubs-themed uniforms to show solidarity with the promotion.

It is an absolute crying shame that former Redbirds’ fan favorite Bo Hart has long since retired. Maybe they could transplant the gutsy and scrappy second baseman back just for this one special night. If not, perhaps they could scope out getting Bartolo Colon from the New York Yankees to appear.

Memphis Redbirds release:

On Saturday August 13, the Memphis Redbirds will host Organ Donor Night at AutoZone Park with first pitch scheduled for 6:05 p.m.

The Redbirds will be encouraging fans to sign up to be an organ donor at the National Foundation for Transplants table located on the concourse. Those who sign up or show their driver’s license that they are already a donor will be entered to win a keyboard organ donated by AMRO Music, a team autographed jersey, or a heart healthy basket from US FoodService.

The team will sport organ themed jerseys (picture attached) sponsored by the National Foundation for Transplants. A silent auction will take place during the game on the concourse for fans to bid on the jerseys. An organ transplant recipient will be throwing out the first pitch while post-game fireworks sponsored by Thomas & Betts will round out the night.

More than 111,000 people are waiting for organ transplants, and a new name is added to the waiting list every 11 minutes. Ninety percent of Americans say they support organ donation, but only 38 percent have actually registered as donors while only 26 percent of Shelby County residents have registered. In Tennessee there are 2,504 people currently waiting for transplants.

About NFT

NFT is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization based in Memphis, Tenn. that has been helping transplant patients overcome financial obstacles since 1983. NFT provides fundraising expertise and advocacy to transplant patients by organizing fundraising campaigns in the patients’ own communities. In the past 28 years, NFT’s fundraising campaigns have generated nearly $59 million to assist patients.

NFT currently assists more than 1,000 transplant candidates and recipients nationwide. For more information about NFT, please call 901.684.1697 or visit www.transplants.org. Click the Transplant Challenge logo to learn more about organ donation.

Join the Redbirds Saturday, August 13 and sign up to be an organ donor. For ticket information call 901.721.6000 or visit memphisredbirds.com.

Update

Welcome to all the readers arriving at The Cardinal Nation Blog from the homepage of Yardbarker.com as well as from the MLB front page of FOXSports.com, where this article is being featured on Friday.

Please come back here often to sample the varied St. Louis Cardinals-related topics and join in the discussions.

Also be sure to check out the main site, TheCardinalNation.com, part of the Scout network in association with FOX Sports.

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Cardinals organization roster matrix: 2011 short season

Brian Walton — Fri, 24 Jun 2011 19:21:18 +0000

NOTE: This version of the roster matrix is no longer current. It reflects the 2011 changes from the start of short-season ball until the end of the 2011 World Series. It should now be considered a historical reference document. For the active roster matrix covering the 2011-2012 off-season, click here.

With the short-season minor league schedule now underway, it is time for another refresh of the St. Louis Cardinals system roster matrix. This version will reflect the changes made from the first week of 2011 short-season play. The previous matrix reflects the rosters as they evolved from the end of spring camp until then.

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

In the first week of 2011 short-season play, the St. Louis Cardinals had 288 players under contract from top to bottom, including a full 40-man roster. The matrix places each one at his current assigned level in the system based on his placement at the end of last season as well as by position. It is kept updated daily or as transactions occur.

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

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

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

The short-season pitchers are broken out into returnees and summer 2011 signees. The latter group is either denoted by the round drafted or FA (for free agent).

At the end is a group of currently inactive and unassigned players. The final group, 2011 unsigned draftees, is not a part of the signed total.

Full team rosters and player profiles at The Cardinal Nation

Remember that to get detailed profile information on every single one of these 288 Cardinals players, simply check out their free player profiles freshly updated now at The Cardinal Nation.com / Scout.com. You can see bios, photos, videos, articles, news items, links to current season and career stats and much more – everything you need to know about a player in one place.

Click on the following links to be taken to one of the nine team pages at The Cardinal Nation:

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

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

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

Looking ahead and back

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

Transactions

6/24: New matrix. Organization total: 288 players. LHR Iden Nazario from Bat to QC. LHR Justin Wright from QC to PB. RHR Francisco Samuel to PB DL. C Steven Hill from Spr to Mem. 1B Matt Adams off Spr DL.

6/25: C Nick Derba from Mem to Spr. 2B Kolten Wong (1st round) signed, assigned to QC. New total: 289 players.

6/26: LHR Justin Wright onto PB DL. RHR Arquimedes Nieto off PB DL. C Travis Tartamella onto Spr DL.

6/27: IF Nick Punto and 3B David Freese off StL DL. OF Andrew Brown and IF Pete Kozma from StL to Mem. OF Dutch Deol (17th round) signed, assigned to GCL. LHP Justin Edwards from Bat to QC. RHS Carlos Martinez and 2B Starlin Rodriguez from QC to PB. 2B Jose Garcia from Mem to Spr. IF Luis Mateo to PB DL. New total: 290 players.

6/28: RHP Richard Castillo from Spr to PB. IF Freddie Bynum to Mem DL. LHS John Gast from PB to Spr. RHR Eric Binder from JC to Bat.

6/29: RHR Aaron Terry released from PB. IF Domnit Bolivar from Spr to PB. IF Packy Elkins from PB to QC. IF Joey Bergman from QC to Bat. StL RHR Ryan Franklin released. OF Reggie Williams from Bat to GCL. New total: 288 players.

6/30: RHP Brandon Dickson added to 40-man and moved from Mem to StL. Contract of 23rd round RHP Kyle Deese voided (JC). LHR Rich Rundles re-signed to Mem.

7/1: C Cody Stanley onto QC DL. C Kleininger Teran off QC DL.

7/2: Five Latin American signees (DSL): LHPs Dewin Perez, Alirio Negrette, RHP Luis Arias (2012 contract), C Jose Godoy, SS Eliezer Alvarez. FA IF Garrett Wittels signed, assigned to Bat. New total: 294 players.

7/4: C Nick Derba onto Spr DL. C Travis Tartamella off Spr DL. FA LHP Matt Rein signed, assigned to JC. RHP Kevin Jacob (31st round) signed, assigned to Bat. New total: 296 players.

7/5: 1B Albert Pujols off StL DL. LHR Brian Tallet onto StL DL. LHR Ron Mahay, RHR Blaine Boyer signed to minor league contracts, assigned to Mem. SS Kenny Peoples-Walls (4th round) signed, assigned to GCL. New total: 299 players.

7/6: RHS Joe Kelly from PB to Spr. GCL rehab of PB RHR Jeff Lyman ends.

7/7: LHR Daniel Calhoun from PB to Spr. RHRs Jose Rada, Chase Reid onto Spr DL. C Gerald Laird off StL DL. RHP P. J. Walters from Mem to StL, onto 40-man. Mem RHP Bryan Augenstein DFAed. OF Daryl Jones from Mem to Spr. RHS Adam Ottavino, C Steven Hill onto Mem DL. RHP Brandon Dickson, 1B Mark Hamilton from StL to Mem. IF Freddie Bynum off Mem DL. RHP Mike Blazek, LHR Nick Greenwood from Spr to Mem. OF D’Marcus Ingram to Spr DL. C Cody Stanley off QC DL. C Kleininger Teran onto QC DL.

7/9: LHR Ron Mahay activated at PB.

7/11: RHS Blaine Boyer activated at PB. LHS Kevin Siegrist to PB DL. RHP Bryan Augenstein outrighted to Mem. RHS Mike Blazek and LHR Nick Greenwood from Mem to Spr.

7/14: LHR Ron Mahay from PB to Mem. OF Shane Robinson off Mem DL to Spr. C Travis Tartamella to PB DL. RHS Drew Benes from Bat to QC. RHP Javier Avendano to Bat DL.

7/15: RHR Hector Corpas to QC DL (retro 7/12).

7/16: RHR Scott Bittle from GCL to Bat. OF Mike O’Neill from Bat to QC, IF Jonathan Rodriguez, OF Nick Longmire to QC DL. IF Luis Mateo from PB DL to QC.

7/17: OF Kyle Conley off PB DL. OF Edgar Lara onto PB DL. C Nick Derba from Spr DL to Mem. 2B Freddie Bynum onto Mem DL.

7/18: RHS Adam Ottavino off Mem DL. LHS Nick Additon onto temp inactive list.

7/19: OF C.J. McElroy (3rd round) signed, assigned to GCL. New total: 300 players.

7/21: Spr RHR Brett Zawacki released. RHR Francisco Samuel from PB to Spr. LHR Justin Wright off PB DL. 1B Mark Hamilton to Mem DL. LHS Nick Additon off Mem TI list. New total: 299 players.

7/22: OF Shane Robinson from Spr to Mem. OF Jim Rapoport from Mem to Spr. IF Jonathan Rodriguez off QC DL. OF Mike O’Neill onto QC DL.

7/23: IF Hector Garcia from GCL to JC.

7/25: IF Luis Mateo onto QC DL. OF Nick Longmire off QC DL.

7/26: LHS Nick Additon from Mem to Spr. LHR Daniel Calhoun from Spr to PB. RHS Blaine Boyer from PB to Mem. Bat RHR Scott Bittle released. DSL Ps Carlos Oraa and Alberth Almeida released. RHP Norge Parades signed, assigned to DSL. New total: 297 players.

7/27: LHR Manuel De La Cruz from JC to Bat. OF Colby Rasmus, LHRs Trever Miller and Brian Tallet and RHR P.J. Walters traded to Toronto. RHS Edwin Jackson, LHR Mark Rzepczynski, RHR Octavio Dotel and OF Corey Patterson from Tor to StL.

7/28: LHR Raul Valdes from StL to Mem. LHS Kevin Siegrist off PB DL. RHR Jeff Lyman from PB to Spr.

7/29: IF Nick Punto to StL DL. IF Tyler Greene from Mem to StL. IF Freddie Bynum off Mem DL. RHP Kevin Thomas to Spr DL.

7/30: LHR Rich Rundles to Mem DL. DSL Ps Delvi Rodriguez and Jean Carlos De La Cruz off RL. OF Jose Martinez and P John De Aguas released from DSL. New total: 295 players.

7/31: SS Rafael Furcal acquired from LA Dodgers. Spr OF Alex Castellanos to LA. SS Tyler Greene from StL to Mem. RHR Eduardo Sanchez from 15- to 60-day DL.

8/1: OF Aaron Luna from Mem to Spr. IF/OF Edgar Lara off PB DL. LHP Kevin Siegrist onto PB DL.

8/3: IF Breyvic Valera from GCL to JC. OF Mike O’Neill off QC DL. 1B Victor Sanchez onto QC DL.

8/4: RHP Seth Blair onto QC DL. RHP Hector Corpas off QC DL. 1B Mark Hamilton off Mem DL. IF Donovan Solano from Mem to Spr.

8/5: LHR Manuel De La Cruz to Bat DL. IF/OF Phil Cerreto from PB DL to Bat. Spr RHR Casey Mulligan retired. Spr 2B Jose Garcia to DL.

8/9: RHS Seth Blair off QC DL.

8/10: RHR Lance Lynn onto StL DL. IF/OF Allen Craig off StL DL.

8/11: RHS Deryk Hooker from Spr DL to PB. RHR Joel Pichardo off PB DL and released. RHS Arquimedes Nieto onto PB TI list. RHP Manuel De La Cruz off Bat DL. RHP Sam Gaviglio (5th round) signed, assigned to Bat. OF Aaron Luna to Spr DL. Total remains 295 players.

8/12: 2B Kolten Wong, OF Michael Swinson to QC DL. RHR David Kopp Spr to Mem. RHR Jordan Swagerty PB to Spr. LHR Ron Mahay released from Mem. LHR Rich Rundles off Mem DL. 2B Joey Bergman Bat to QC. OF Edgar Lara PB to QC. LHR Raul Valdes DFA off 40-man, Mem 25-man. C Tony Cruz from StL to Mem. LHR Arthur Rhodes signed to StL. RHR Chase Reid off Spr DL to PB. LHS Kevin Siegrist off PB DL. New total still 295.

8/13: RHS Seth Blair back to QC active roster. RHP Chris Costantino (43rd) signed, assigned to JC. RHR Eric Binder released from Bat. RHS Blaine Boyer released from Mem. LHS Nick Additon from Spr to Mem. RHS Arquimedes Nieto off PB TI to Spr. 2B Jose Garcia off Spr DL. New total 294 players.

8/15: OF Charlie Tilson (2nd round) signed, assigned to GCL. RHR Francisco Samuel to Spr DL. RHS Kevin Thomas off Spr DL.

8/16: Spr RHS Shelby Miller suspended. C Nick Derba onto Mem DL. LHS Ryan Sherriff from JC to Bat. Mem LHR Raul Valdes claimed by NYY off waivers. New total 293 players.

8/17: RHR Ethan Cole signed, assigned to Bat. IF/OF Phil Cerreto to Bat DL. New total: 294 players.

8/18: RHS Seth Maness from Bat to PB. RHS Deryk Hooker from PB to Spr.

8/21: C Audry Perez onto Spr DL. C Travis Tartamella off Spr DL. OF Victor Encarnacion from GCL to Bat.

8/23: RHS Shelby Miller off Spr SL. RHS Arquimedes Nieto from Spr to PB. RHS Carlos Martinez onto PB DL.

8/24: OF Reggie Williams from GCL to Bat. RHP Juan Bautista from DSL to JC. LHP Jonathan Cornelius and OF Roberto Reyes onto Bat DL. RHS Seth Blair off QC DL. RHR Hector Corpas onto QC DL. Purchased contract of SS Vance Albitz from Lincoln of American Assoc and assigned to Bat. New total: 295 players.

8/25: OF Charlie Tilson from GCL to JC. LHR Manuel De La Cruz to Bat DL.

8/27: 1B Phil Cerreto off Bat DL.

8/28: 2B Kolten Wong off QC DL. OF Mike O’Neill from QC to GCL. RHS Carlos Martinez off PB DL. RHP Seth Maness from PB to QC. Ps Brandon Creath, Tyler Melling and Willy Paulino from GCL to JC.

8/30: OF Edgar Lara from QC to PB. OF Mike O’Neill from GCL to QC. RHP Cale Johnson from QC to JC. RHS Todd McInnis onto Bat DL.

8/31: IF Greg Garcia onto PB DL.

9/1: RHS Brandon Dickson from Mem to StL. C Nick Derba off Mem DL. RHS Mike Blazek from Spr to Mem. RHR Francisco Samuel off Spr DL. LHS Jonathan Cornelius off Bat DL. RHS Jose Almarante onto Bat DL.

9/2: OF Shane Robinson to 40-man roster, from Mem to StL. RHR Lance Lynn from 15- to 60-day DL.

9/3: RHP Maikel Cleto from Mem to StL.

9/5: LHS Hector Hernandez from Bat to QC.

9/6: C Tony Cruz, SS Tyler Greene, OF Adron Chambers from Mem to StL. IF Nick Punto off StL DL. RHS Seth Blair to QC SL. C Jonathan Keener from JC to QC. OF Mike O’Neill from QC to Bat.

9/13: RHR Eduardo Sanchez off 60-day DL. Spr RHR Francisco Samuel DFAed.

9/25: Contract of DSL RHP Luis Arias voided. New total 294.

10/9: RHR Lance Lynn off 60-day DL. OF Andrew Brown DFAed.

10/12: OF Andrew Brown claimed off outright waivers by COL. New organization total: 293 players.

The St. Louis Cardinals Organization Roster Matrix (effective 10/19/11)

25-man (33+1)	40-man (40+1)
SP	RP	C	1B	2B	SS	3B	OF
C Carpenter	Boggs	Molina	Pujols	Schumaker	Theriot	Freese	Holliday (I)
Lohse	McClellan (I)	Laird		Descalso	Furcal	Punto	Berkman
Westbrook	Sanchez (I)	T Cruz (I)			T Greene (I)		Patterson (I)
Wainwright (60DL)	Motte						Jay
Ja Garcia (L)	Rzepcyznski (L)						Craig
E Jackson	Dotel						Robinson (I)
Dickson (I)	Lynn						Chambers
	Salas
	Rhodes (L)
(I) Inactive in WS	Cleto (I)
Memphis (20+3)
SP	RP	C	1B	2B	SS	3B	OF
Broderick	Marte	Anderson	Hamilton	Bynum	Kozma	M Carpenter	Stavinoha
Blazek	Rauschenberger	S Hill (DL)
Additon (L)	Parise	Derba
Ottavino	Reifer (DL)
	Todd
	Fick
	Augenstein
	Rundles (L)						Cazana (MX)
	Kopp


Springfield (24+8)
SP	RP	C	1B	2B	SS	3B	OF
Gast (L)	Delgado (DL)	Cutler	Adams	Duncan	R Jackson	Cox	Pham (DL)
Gorgen (DL)	Lyman	A Perez (DL)		Jo Garcia	Solano	Curtis	Swauger
McGregor (DL)	Greenwood (L)	Tartamella					Rapoport
S Miller	Swagerty						Ingram (DL)
Kelly	Schneider						Jones
Hooker	S Freeman (L)						Luna (DL)
Thomas	Rada (DL)
	Rondon
	Samuel


Palm Beach (25+1)
SP	RP	C	1B	2B	SS	3B	OF
Fornataro	Calhoun (L)	L DeLaCruz	Scruggs	S Rodriguez	Bolivar	N Vasquez	Conley
Lyons (L)	Corrigan	Stock		Obregon		Ahmady	R Rosario
Ri Castill0	Wright (L)			G Garcia (DL)			Melker
Siegrist (L)	Reid						Lara
C Martinez	Simpson
Nieto	J Smith
	Butler





Quad Cities (25+9)
SP	RP	C	1B	2B	SS	3B	OF
Russell	Lucas	Espinoza (DL)	V Sanchez (DL)	Walsh	Gil	J Rodriguez	Longmire
Whiting	Corpas (DL)	Stanley		Stidham (DL)	Elkins		Edmondson
Bibona (L DL)	H Hernandez (L)	Klein		Wong (1)			Swinson (DL)
Blair (SL)	De Jesus	Teran (DL)		Lu Mateo (DL)			Taveras
A Ferrara (L)	Nazario (L)	Keener (32)		Bergman
Rosenthal	Edwards (L)
Copeland (L)	Kiekhefer (L)
Benes	Maness (11)


Batavia (29+6)
P	P (Draft round)	C	1B	2B	SS	3B	OF
Y Castillo	Miranda (L 8th)	Ca Rasmus (36)	D Medina	Stienstra (12)	C Valero	Patton (38)	Martini (7)
Almarante (DL)	Cole (FA)	J Castillo	R Ruiz		Wittels (FA)		Rbto Reyes (DL)
Daugherty (L)	Tra Miller (16)	Moscatel	Cerreto		Albitz		V Hill
R Martinez	Cornelius (L 24)						Encarnacion
Mijares (L DL)	McInnis (25 DL)						Williams
Avendano (DL)	Baker (49)						O’Neill
S Watson (L)	Bileckyj (L FA)
M DeLaCruz (L DL)	Gaviglio (5)
	Jacob (31)
	Sherriff (L 28)

Johnson City (36+2)
P	P (Draft round)	C	1B	2B	SS	3B	OF
Jenkins	Mills (9)	Byrd (13)	Washington	Rahmatulla (34)	M Williams (15)	R DeLaCruz	Apelian (27)
Pasen	Hald (L 18)	Montero		B Valera	Pritchard (FA)	H Garcia	Ro Castillo
Santana	Gillung (L 19)				Martin		An Garcia
Canache	Billbrough (FA)						S Ramos
B Freeman (L)	Costantino (43)						Bergin (30)
J Lucas	Wyatt (33)						Tilson (2)
Nuernberg	Rein (L FA)
E Hiraldo	Melling (L 39)
Nadeau (L DL)	Creath (44)
Revesz (L DL)
Bautista
Paulino
C Johnson

Gulf Coast (25)
P	P (Draft round)	C	1B	2B	SS	3B	OF
Aguilar	B Watson (37)	Velazco	Knox (41)	Le Mateo	Peoples-Walls (4)	Tuivailala	Jeffries (10)
Brand		L Perez		Vargas			Argenal
DeLeon		Ehrlich (6)					Deol (17)
Toribio							Dodd
A Tapia							Bryant
S Lopez							McElroy (3)
Mendoza
Ulacio
B Martinez
Villanueva (L)




DSL (37+3)
SP	RP	C	1B	2B	SS	3B	OF
Paredes	A DeLaCruz (L)	Baez	Mejia	Rblys Reyes	Pina	Agustin	Araujo
Escudero	A Gonzalez (RL)	J Gomez			R Medina	R Garcia	Capellan
Perdomo	Ceballo	L Cruz			Barbuena		Celestino
S Garcia	F Gonzalez	Godoy			E Alvarez		J Pena
Salazar	F Flores						Torres
DeLosSantos	Villegas						D Diaz
Jh Polanco	I Brito						Acevedo
	Montanez (I)
	D Rodriguez (L)
	JC DeLaCruz
	Gerdel
D Perez (L)	Planchart
Negrette (L)



Unassigned (6)
P	P	C	1B	2B	SS	3B	OF
M Harris (MIL)		P Vasquez (RL)
Eager (RL)
Patterson (RL)
Novak (RL)
Mulligan (RL)

Draft unsigned (15)
P (Draft round)	P (Draft round)	C	1B	2B	SS	3B	OF
Matulis (L 28)	Schmidt (47)	Ar Garcia (20)		Medrano (14)			Asher (48)
Kirsch (L 21)	Poarch (42)	Arnsberg (40)		Moseley (45)
Kamplain (L 22)	Madrigal (35) retired	Kaalekahi (46)		Sibley (50)
Graves (26)	Deese (23) failed physical

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

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