Izzy got the start tonight for Springfield and here is Kary Booher’s review of the outing. Booher also had a piece on everyone’s favorite overachiever, Shane Robinson, and his heroics last night.

Baseball Prospectus has an audio interview with Matt Slater, who is the Special Assistant to the GM and the lead scout in Asia for the Cardinals. I must admit that I haven’t listened to this yet, but it sounds like it would be interesting.

Now that the draft is over, the international signing period is on the front burner. Baseball America has an article that discusses that signing bonuses will almost certainly break the all time record for international free agents (Wily Mo Pena, Yankees – $2.44M). There is also a mention of the Cardinals being one the teams that is expected to be more active this year than in the past.

BA also did a Prospect Hot Sheet Q & A where they received this Bryan Anderson question:

Jake from Missouri asks:
Q: Did Bryan Anderson receive any consideration for the list? He’s mashed all year.

A: Matt Eddy: It’s astonishing that Anderson has reached Triple-A at age 21 and has served as Memphis‘ everyday catcher. But to say he’s mashed is an overstatement. He’s a terrific hitter for average (.351 this season; 314 career), but the power has been lacking thus far. Of course, that’s to be expected from a 21-year-old backstop in Triple-A.

I don’t think this answer give Anderson enough credit (although the caveat at the end seems to acknowledge this). On the year (combined between Springfield and Memphis), he’s slugging .467, which would be good enough for fourth-best catcher in the majors. It is true that Anderson hasn’t hit many homers (only two on the year) and that his slugging percentage has slipped since his promotion to Memphis, but I think any expectation of ‘more power’ would be asking a lot.

On to the games: the system went 3-2 on the night. All the details are after the jump.

Iowa 2, Memphis 5

• After getting knocked around in the big leagues and sent down, Mike Parisi comes out and throws a complete game gem in his first start back at Memphis. He gave up two runs on four hits and a walk and he struck out four.
• Colby Rasmus continued his hot streak, going 2-4 with a walk.
• Brian Barden provided the power, going 3-4 with a double and a homerun.
• Bryan Anderson was 1-3 with a walk and Nick Stavinoha was 2-5.

Arkansas 1, Springfield 6

• As stated in the intro, Jason Isringhausen got the start and went 1.2 scoreless innings, giving up only a leadoff hit and strikout out two.
• The real pitching star, however, was Jess Todd. He relieved Izzy and was lights out for the final 7.1 innings. He allowed an unearned run on five hits and two walks while striking out six. Since getting called up to Springfield he has only allowed four earned runs in 43.1 innings and combined on the year he has only allowed nine earned runs in 70.2 innings. His BABIP is a little low since moving up to AA (.204) but his other peripherals are all solid. We better start clearing out some space at the top of our prospect lists for this guy.
• Shane Robinson, Jon Jay and Matt Pagnozzi were all 1-3.
• Allen Craig (who had a throwing error) and Casey Rowlett were each 2-4; Rowlett homered.
• Mark Hamilton was 1-4 with a three run homerun. I hate to say it, but Hamilton’s disappinting start this year (a .376 slugging percentage? really?) screams “Mike Ferris” to me.

Clearwater 9, Palm Beach 3

• Arnoldi Cruz played catcher and threw out the only runner that dared try to steal against him. He was also 2-4 at the plate.
• Donovan Solano was 3-5.
• James Rapoport was 2-4 with a walk.
• Daryl Jones was 1-3 with a triple and a walk.
• Richard Castillo and Eddie Degerman formed the piggyback and each pitched three scoreless innings. Castillo allowed two hits and two walks, while striking out two and Degerman did not allow a hit, but walked three.
• The game fell apart when the bullpen took over in the seventh. Brandon Garner gave up six runs (two earned) on two hits and three walks in only two thirds of an inning. Cardoza Tucker threw gasoline on the fire by allowing three runs on four hits and three walks in 1.1 innings.
• The ironically named Casey Mulligan, who is listed as a catcher, threw a scoreless inning with a strikeout.

Peoria 3, Quad Cities 7 (Game One)

• Tommy Pham hit another homerun, this one a walk-off grand slam in the eighth inning. He was 1-4 in the game.
• Matthew Aburr was 2-3 with a walk.
• Francisco Rivera was 1-2 with a double and a walk.
• Joshua Wilson was the front half of the piggyback and got touched up for three runs on five hits and a walk in his 4.2 innings.
• Pat Parise came in, though, and was steady. He pitched a scoreless 3.1 innings, allowing only one hit and striking out two.

Peoria 2, Quad Cities 1 (Game Two)

• Blake King struck out seven batter in only four innings of work. Unfortunately he also allowed six hits and two runs (one earned), which was all Peoria needed in this yawner.
• Marco Gonzalez Dylan Gonzalez pitched a scoreless inning, giving up one hit and one walk.
• Wayne Daman pitched two scoreless innings, allowing three hits and a walk.
• Not a lot of offense for QC. Charles Kingery and Mike Folli were each 2-3. Folli doubled. And… that’s it. No other hits for the team and no walks.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 11th, 2008 at 11:01 pm and is filed under Bryan Anderson, Daily Farm Reports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.