The S-Cards made some moves today, sending my talisman Arqiumedes Nieto and his bag of inventions back to Palm Beach giving the open rotation spot to Ryan Kulik.
An old friend returns as Jose Martinez returns to active baseball for the first time in 2 years. He appeared for the GCL Cardinals on August 22nd and tonight and so far has gone 2-7. Welcome back Jose!
Batavia had the ol’ doubleheader rained out. Let’s play 3 tomorrow?
- Brandon Dickson went almost the whole way for the Redbirds going 8.2 innings. He allowed a bunch of hits (9) but struck out 8 and walked only 1 giving up 2 runs. I’ve liked the results this year, but at this point Dickson is who he is. He’s a heavy ground-ball pitcher that has continued to have around 8 K/9 in the upper minor leagues. Consider me intrigued to see him against MLB hitters in Spring Training or otherwise.
- Chuckie Fick picked up the last out.
- Mark Hamilton had a double, a HR and two walks.
- Nick Stav was 4-5 with a HR.
- Amaury Cazana didn’t need a bat to hit a HR, but he used one anyway, just to try to fit in.
- Dan Descalso had two hits, one a double.
- David Kopp had a chaotic line to say the least giving up 11 hits and 4 runs in 4.1 innings.
- Tom Eager, Ramon Delgado pitched the next 3.2 innings.
- Blake King continued to pile up the Ks with another 2 in 1 inning.
- Matt Carpenter had another 2 hits. Yawn. Good yawn.
- X-man went 1-2 with 2 walks.
- Scott Schneider’s early season blockbuster success has given way to a serious fall back to earth. He only went 3 innings, giving up 4 runs on 6 hits and striking only 2.
- Joel Pichardo picked up the pieces over the next 3.2.
- The only offense for the PB-Cards was CJ Beatty’s first PB HR. He also walked.
- Ryde Rodriguez and Richard Racobaldo both doubled.
- Eric Fornataro allowed 3 runs in 5.2 innings and took the loss.
- Daniel Calhoun pitched 2.1 shutout innings after coming in with 2 on. He struck out 2.
- 21-year old Raniel Rosario had a HR and a walk. He is on his second league this year after graduating leagues this offseason. He’s OPSing over 1.000 in QC. Name to keep an eye on. He was all of QC’s offense tonight.
- Cale Johnson and Trevor Rosenthal combined on the shutout. Johnson struck out 3 and allowed 2 hits in 7 innings. Rosenthal struck out 2 and allowed 2 hits in 2 innings.
- Reggie Williams, the Cardinals 10th round draft pick had the game’s only run with a solo HR.
- That’s it. That’s the list.
Entries (RSS)
Anybody know when Cox is supposed to make his debut in the GCL?
I don’t think he will, I think he’s just there for paperwork so the Cardinals don’t burn up an option on him this year. The Nationals are doing that with Bryce Harper and have said he won’t play a game there.
According to Baseball America’s Minor League Transactions, the Cardinals already optioned Cox to the GCL
Cox is playing today and is he is 3 for 3 so far
Finished 4-5 with a 2B and RBI. Not a bad debut :)
so, this means the Cardinals decided to “burn an option” on him this year?
why would they do that?
Nope, he will be recalled within 20 days nullifying the option. The downside is that he will get about 45 days major league service time and be that much closer to arbitration and free agency.
So if I go to Memphis this weekend, I’ll see the following pitchers: Friday – MacLane, Saturday – Walters, Sunday – Dickson. Lynn is scheduled to pitch Thursday . . . just my luck.
I only count 6 players (Dickson, Chambers, Descalso, Hill, Sanchez and Samuel) that I’m interested in seeing and could potentially see. I’d like to see Lynn but my timing is off. Of those 6, I’ve already seen 4.
Ahhh Memphis, I love that ballpark but that is a barren team this year. That trip is looking less and less likely.
Check out Gotay and see if you can un-earth anything into the mystery as to why he is 1) a complete afterthought and 2) why he was even acquired in the first place.
fwiw, I’m not pining for Gotay to see action with the big club, i just find it a little intriguing.
Also, Memphis won 8-2.
Tyler Greene is worth seeing in person
I’d be curious to see what Steve Hill looks like behind the plate, assuming uber-prospect Matt Pagnozzi can be rested one game this weekend allowing Mr. Hill a chance to catch.
I went to Memphis and got to see Lynn pitch a couple Sundays ago against Colorado Springs. Had a perfect game through 3, then gave up a leadoff double in the 4th on a ball I thought Amaury could’ve caught, which led to a two-run inning. Then he gave up a leadoff double in the 7th on a play that Descalso got ejected for arguing, and I think it was Rundles got two outs in a row before giving up a single that scored the inherited runner. So 3 ER wasn’t bad, his fastball looked good at about 91 but it looked like he didn’t know where his curve ball was going, Pagnozzi must’ve blocked about 10 curves in the dirt.
Gotay runs out grounders and pop-ups like Pujols/Molina. I wasn’t impressed.
Jeff, for what it is worth, I initially thought Dickson had a bad outing. You have the score reversed in your heading of the game. Not meant as a criticism.
Also 3 or the 9 hits that Dickson gave up came in the 9th. He had a 6 hit shutout through 8 innnings. Very encouraging.
Matt Carpenter has “Scott Cooper” written all over him. Lefty stick, decent glove, will probably hit for some average, 10-15 HR power.
Just read an interesting tidbit on BA. Here is a quote from AA Pitching Coach Dennis Martinez:
“A shuffle at the major league level freed up a spot at Triple-A for righthander Francisco Samuel, just as Double-A coach Dennis Martinez had hoped. Martinez had been lobbying for a promotion for Samuel, one of the top power arms in the system. Martinez recalibrated Samuel’s mechanics, allowing him to throw with enhanced command in the high 90s instead of sacrificing velocity for control.”
If anyone has seen him since his mechanics tweaks give us an update. If Samuel can hone in his control then he has a chance to be very good. I still have doubts but this seems to be a positive step forward.
The name that comes to me when I read on Carpenter is John Mabry. Add on the flesh to wood hitting style—Mabes
FYI, QC Times has a nice article about 13th rd pick Colin Walsh who recently moved up from Batavia.
http://qctimes.com/sports/baseball/professional/minor/midwest-league/article_dd6b34d8-affa-11df-9ee5-001cc4c03286.html
I understand the Cox situation, but why haven’t Jenkins, Blair, or Swagerty played yet.
Jenkins is scheduled to pitch Thursday.
Blair may not pitch this season but if not, I’d expect him to go to the AFL also.
I will guess that Swagerty will make a few appearances this year.
Jenkins wasn’t quite keeping his arm in shape from what I’ve heard. (This is not intended as a judgment, just a statement.) They want to get the pitchers game ready under Cardinal coaching before they actually put them in a game.
On Monday, there was a story about the Springfield hitters and talk about a similar story about the pitchers…..is that still a possibility?
Cooper and Mabry aren’t bad comparisons for Carpenter but they didn’t have what appears to be his primary asset which is potentially very high obp. I can’t think of a third baseman who compares off hand. Morgan Ensberg walked a lot but had way more power. He’s not going to be Wade Boggs. Maybe a poor man’s Kevin Youkilis?
At first I thought of Dave Magadan, but I’m not sure if that works. Carpenter sounds like a third base version of Mark Grace – Excellent contact, high OBP, gap power, 12-15 HR, and decent (not great) RBI production.
I’d hope for more power from Carpenter than Magadan had but the Mark Grace comp is really interesting. Carpenter and Grace are both guys who don’t fit the power expectations for their positions but could make up for that in other ways. Grace, however, was a terrific first baseman and, from what we’ve heard, Carpenter needs to improve at third. If he doesn’t he won’t get the chance to prove he can hit like Grace.
The guy who covers Johnson City had tweet that Rosenthal hit 98 on the radar gun last night.
I watched him last week and he was throwing up to 94, but it was straight. He also had a two seem fastball in the upper eighties with quite a bit of movement. Could be a guy who sticks around as a pullpen arm for a while.
Looks like Cox is having himself a little ball game today. 4-5 with a double out of the DH role.
Zach Cox played today went had 4 hits and a double