Stlcardinals.com has the lowdown on Jaime Garcia’s much anticipated debut. He wasn’t exactly pitching lights out in Memphis, and I have no clue how he will do, but this is one game I can’t wait to see. It is always exciting to see the top prospects make their debut, and Garcia is arguably the best pitcher the Cardinals’ system has to offer. Wouldn’t it be great if he was able to string together 3 or 4 good starts until Wainwright comes back?
It was a busy night on the farm with high scoring affairs at nearly every level. The system was on both sides of some sizeable beat downs leading to an even 3-3 night. Check out the details after the jump.
- Colby Rasmus 2-5, SB
- Nick Stavinoha 2-4, HR, R, 2 RBI
- Jarrett Hoffpauir 1-4, 2B, R
- P.J. Walters 4.1 IP, 7 H, 6 R, 6 ER, 2 BB, 7 K
Nice to see Rasmus back hitting, and he must feel healthy if he is stealing bases. Stavinoha continues his great year, and Walters continues to get hit around and strike out guys at a very good clip.
- Jon Jay 1-4, 2 BB, 3 R
- Allen Craig 4-5, 2B, 2 R, RBI
- Jose Martinez 2-4, 3B, 2 R, 2 RBI, BB
- Isa Garcia 2-5, HR, R, 4 RBI
- Adam Ottavino 5 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 3 K
- Fernando Salas 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K
The bats broke out, and Springfield got a nice start from Ottavino as he picked up his second win of the season. Its been a rough year for Adam, but he has been rebounding with a strong second half. Craig continued his scorching July adding to what has been a fantastic season.
- Daryl Jones 2-4
- Donovan Solano 1-3, R
- Luke Gorsett 2-3, 2B, BB
- Mark Diapoules 6 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 4 BB, 9 K
- Francisco Samuel 1 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 3 K
Diapoules has really picked up the strikeouts lately and is showing he belongs in the FSL in just his first full pro season. His sinker makes him a candidate to move quickly. It was nice to see the strikeouts and the zero walks for Samuel, but he also allowed a homer. Filthy, filthy stuff for Samuel, just hope he can control it.
- D’Marcus Ingram 2-4, R
- Pete Kozma 2-4, 2B, RBI
- Brett Wallace 1-4
- Aaron Luna 1-3, HR, R, RBI, BB
- Ryan Kulik 2.2 IP, 9 H, 7 R, 6 ER, 1 BB, 1 K
It really is time Kulik heads back to Batavia. He had one great start in Quad Cities, but he has been absolutely shelled in 4 others. Its nice to see Kozma start to pick up some more extra base hits (4 in his last 5 games). He might not have a ton of power, but he has enough to fill up the gaps.
- Colt Sedbrook 2-4, 3B, R
- Shane Peterson 2-4, 2B, R, 2 RBI, BB
- Jermaine Curtis 1-4, 2 R, BB
- Josh Hester 4.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 5 K
- Adam Reifer 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K
Peterson has been an absolute hitting star since signing, but hasn’t shown more than doubles power. If that changes he becomes one of our best hitting prospects. Colt Sedbrook is also quietly putting together a solid season for a rather low round draft pick. If you take out his June 22nd blowup, Adam Reifer has been as dominant as any reliever in the Cardinals’ system. I think its about time to see what he can do in Quad Cities.
- Niko Vasquez 1-5, R, BB
- Curt Smith 2-4, 2 R, 2 BB
- Jack Cawley 3-5, 2 R, BB
- Osvaldo Morales 4-5, 2 2B, HR, 2 R, RBI
- Joey Hage 2-4, 2B, 2 RBI
Niko Vasquez only had one hit tonight, and it wasn’t even for extra bases. Slacker. Don’t worry, there were plenty of other hitting stars for JC tonight. Morales may not have hit much for Quad Cities, but he sure is slugging his way through Johnson City. With the big night he now has 4 homers and 9 doubles in just 24 games. Smith and Cawley also aren’t having any trouble with Appy league pitching.
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For anyone who saw the Memphis game, how close was Rasmus’ flyout to end the 2nd with bases loaded? Gameday showed it pretty close to the wall.
Tyler Teagarden was called up by the Rangers. I wonder if this will open a spot for Bryan Anderson to make the Olympic team?
if teagarden stays up, i would think anderson would be next in line.
Something noteworthy at the GCL game was Blake Hawksworth making his first rehab start: 3 strikeouts in 3 innings, no walks, 6:0 GO/FO, with two hits—one on the ground, one in the air.
Baby steps.
i wonder just how good hawk would have been if he didn’t shread his shoulder.
While on a bit of a XBH binge, I’m still in no way enamored with Mr. Kozma. I guess I had hoped that if the organization was going to pick a MIF with a first round pick, that player would be an exceptional talent. Kozma doesn’t seem to be that.
Hopefully they can rectify this situation by using their international signings. Maybe they can find a guy that will be able to jump Kozma on the organizational chart and get to St. Louis in a hurry. I can’t watch our ‘Quad MIF’ers of Suck’ continue to rotate in and out in hopes of hiding that they are all .250 slap hitters.
i know the stats don’t look great, but what did you expect? the midwest league is the toughest league to hit in all of the minor leagues. sure he hasn’t been great, but he also isn’t struggling. compare him to some of the other high school players taken in the first round that have played in that league this year. he is hitting 25 points higher than #2 overall pick mike moustakas, cubs’ first rounder (and 3rd overall pick) josh vitters couldn’t even hit enough to stay in the league and got demoted, he is hitting 15 points higher and has about 50 points of on base percentage on 15th pick devin mesoraco, and he has one more homer than 16th overall pick kevin ahrens who is a third baseman. only ben revere is seriously out hitting him.
Sunday will be a great day…we get to see Garcia’s first ML start along with Carpenters rehab start. Here’s hoping today will be a good day all around!
If the midwest league is the toughest league for hitting, then I’m even more impressed with Aaron Luna. I know it’s only been a few games already, but his numbers are extremely impressive, other then his 2.33 batting average, which can probably be explained by his .190 BABIP.
A 2.33 BA is nothing to sneeze at.
Hello everyone-
I’m not as sharp as the rest of you on scouting the prospects. But I find it hard to understand that Joe Mather is not considered much more than a 4th outfielder by most(including the organization). The guy is still reasonably young(26), has had tremendous success and numbers at the highest minor league levels the past 2 years, plays solid defense, seems to run the bases OK, hits for power and average, solid OBP and low K rate AND seems to be the right-handed bat we need in the major league lineup to spell Schumacher or Ankiel.
Am I missing something? It scares me that we might trade this guy for a marginal LH reliever, and regret it for years. What say you all?
Casey
i agree. mather just “looks” like a good athlete/ball player. his swing is still a bit long, but, like luddy, that can be addressed. i’d hate to see him go. less worried about losing cd, but i suspect mather is worth more because he hasn’t had a period of failure of consequence at the ml level as cd has had this year.
I don’t get it either. Mather has done nothing but earn at bats, yet no one will give them to him. he’s shown he has a good eye and great power considering what he’s done not only in AA but in Memphis. I’d like for him to get more of an extended look.
Actually, you gave the reason yourself: “reasonably young(26)”. That is NOT young for a guy whose entire major-league experience to date is replacement-level. The odds of him suddenly making a breakthrough at this relatively advanced age (OK, so he doesn’t turn 26 until Wednesday, but still…) and turning into a legitimate starter are not good — even though many of us, myself included, are pulling for him to do it.
If the farm system was as barren as it was five years ago, Mather would qualify as a legitimate hope, and I for one would be wanting to hold onto him with might and main. With Raz on the threshold, Daryl Jones beginning to show signs of growing into his enormous potential (and remember, he’s only 21), and a generally stronger farm system, there’s less urgency to keep him. This is not to say the team SHOULD trade Mather, only that it CAN without damage, if something appealing comes along.
casey, didn’t you just answer your own question? you spend your whole post trying to make a case for him being more than a 4th outfielder, and then you say he is the right-handed bat we need to spell schumaker and ankiel. isn’t that a 4th outfielder?
Mather has a very similar MiLB profile to Chris Duncan, only better. I think there are a lot of people who just want him to get the same chance Duncan got, especially since we really need a RH OF bat. Currently, either Schumaker or Duncan has to play every time we see a LHP start a game. That is not an encouraging option.
“Mather has a very similar MiLB profile to Chris Duncan, only better.” That’s my take as well. CD was promoted after accomplishing less in the minor leagues than Mather. Duncan also is arbitration eligible and defensively challenged. If Rasmus is to start for the Cards next season (which should be inevitable), then one of the current starters goes to the bench or out the door. I just think having Mather and Shu as our 4/5 OFers offers more than Duncan and, in Mather’s case, at a cheaper price.
How does Mather stack up against Alex Rios? Rios was a below average player until Age 25, when he suddenly became a decent corner OF’er. Mather reminds me alot of Rios. Tall, athletic, great swing.
I went to the Quad Cities game Saturday night, and my first impression was that Kulick (an 8th rounder this year) has major arm slot issues. It looked like each pitch came from a different arm angle. He was terribly wild, getting behind almost every hitter, but in the first two innings, Ft. Wayne hit a bunch of bloopers. Then in the 3rd, they started hitting shots left and right. Dylan Gonzalez was awful as well. I think it was 10-0 before QC even had a hit.
Wallace looked awesome at 3rd. He made the play of the game when a pop foul was heading for the stands, and Wallace ran over and dove into the stands to make the catch, actually landed in the first row. And he didn’t even get hurt.
Kozma on the other hand, looked pretty shaky. His first five grounders went like this:
1) grounder up the middle, nice grab, trouble getting it out of his glove, then the throw pulled Pupo off the base for an error.
2) grounder up the middle that he didn’t make too much of an effort for (led to one fan to yell “lay out for it at least!”
3) grounder to his right, bounced off his glove, then threw late to 2nd but was bailed out by a very generous umpire call for a force out.
4) slow bouncer, charged it, and for some reason, stuck out his bare hand but totally whiffed on it.
5) grounder up the middle, nice play, had trouble getting it out of his glove, but just got the runner at first.
At bat, most of the time, he looked exactly like that draft video that was posted on this site, where he dropped his back leg and had no power. He fouled a couple off like that where he looked lucky just to stay alive, then popped a line drive out to RF for a single. Not sure how he did it though. Then his last time up, he just absolutely ripped a line shot down the LF corner for a double on the first pitch. Looked totally different than his other at-bats. Whatever he did that at-bat, he needs to keep doing it.
D’Marcus Ingram made a great throw home in the first inning to nail a runner at the plate, then the rest of his throws all night missed the cut-off man. Like he was just trying to get it in, didn’t care where it went. He also misplayed a couple fly balls, one of which he ended up making a diving catch, and the other which he turned into a double against Eduardo Sanchez.
BTW, I loved Modern Woodmen Park. Too bad Busch III couldn’t have been built on the river.
Oh, I forgot to mention, after seeing him in person, Kozma reminds me of Kevin Elster.
I saw Kozma play a while ago vs. the CR Kernels……
There is nothing really impressive about the guy tool wise in my first viewing. Obviously one game does not mean anything but you generally expect one tool to really stand out with the #18 overall pick in the draft.
1. Not really a blazing fast guy.
2. arm was ok, not great on a deep throw from the hole
3. Hands looked really good, but most SS at the professional level have good hands.
4. No pop, but he appeard to have line drive ability.