Archive for November, 2010

The Cards have added 5 players to their 40-man roster which protects them from the Rule 5 draft this offseason.

They added Eduardo Sanchez, Adam Reifer, David Kopp, Adron Chambers and Mr. Peter Kozma.

Notables left unprotected are Tony Cruz, Blake King and Brian Broderick.

Discuss.

Since it is the offseason and there is plenty of time to look back at all of our young and not so young prospects, this is a great time to look at some prospects individually and in depth.  First on the docket is the hot name in the Cards organization from the Arizona Fall League, Tony Cruz.

Tony Cruz was drafted by the St. Louis Cardinals in the 26^th round of the 2007 MLB draft.  He started his career at short season ball bouncing from the GCL to Johnson City to Batavia with 7 games or less at each spot before playing the bulk of the season at Quad Cities.  He was drafted as a third baseman and did not start playing as a catcher until the next season, even though he had previous amateur experience at catcher.

In 49 games in Quad Cities, Tony Cruz’s wOBA was .364, but he struck out more than he walked and hit a too healthy percentage (50%) of batted balls on the ground.  Never the less, that’s a good year for a partial season right after being drafted and Cruz was moved up to Palm Beach the next year.

The rest of Tony Cruz’s career after the jump!

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Surprise 7, Mesa 2

• Adron Chambers lead off again in LF and went 1 for 2 with a walk, a stolen base and two runs scored.  He also had a fielding error in left.

• Brian Broderick started for the Rafters and went 5 strong shutout innings.  He struck out only 1, allowing 2 walks, but he also only allowed 2 hits.  7 ground ball out and 5 fly outs for Broderick.

Surprise 2 , Peo Javelinas 1

• Adron Chambers lead off and played LF and went 2-3 with a double, a single, a stolen base and 1 of the 2 Surprise runs.
• Zack Cox was at 3B and went 1-2 with a double and 2 walks.
• Pete Kozma was 1-4 from SS.
• Ramon Delgado pitched 1 inning allowed a hit and a walk, but no runs.
• Blake King struck out 2 in his perfect inning.

Minor league relievers are a dime a dozen. They often come out of nowhere (Dennis Dove, anyone?) and disappear into the annuls of MiLB just as quickly. This past year Pete Parise was a name many were touting and that was profiled here as well.  After a 2010 injury, Parise has a more difficult road to trod with statistical doppleganger Chuckie Fick having a productive season and players like Eduardo Sanchez not slowing down at all.  Another example of how tenuous a player’s grasp on the “next guy up” can be in relief.

What follows is a quick guide to minor league relievers whose name you’ll likely hear bandied about during Spring Training.

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Scottsdale 3 @ Surprise 4

The Hitters:

• Tony Cruz went 0-for-4 from the cleanup spot
• Zack Cox went 2-for-4 w/ 1 HR, 1 RBI, and 2 R, his line is up to .246/.302/.386

Surprise 3 @ Peo Javelinas 10

The Hitters:

• Adron Chambers went 0-for-4 w/ 2 K’s while leading off
• Batting cleanup, Tony Cruz went 1-for-3 w/ 1 BB and 1 R
• Peter Kozma went 0-for-4 from the eighth spot though he did turn a double play in the field (I figured with the negative press in regards to errors, I would commend him for his involvment in a positive defensive play.)

The Pitchers:

• None of the good guys pitched but Jeremy Jeffress, who throws real hard, did.  He still has control problems that he pairs with strikeout excellence. He struck out 2, walked 1, and gave up 1 hit in 1.1 innings of work for Surprise.

Surprise 6, Mesa 5

• Adron Chambers went 3-for-4 with a pair of doubles.
• Zach Cox was 0-for-4.
• Blake King picked up the win with a 1 inning, 1K performance.
• Ramon Delgado struck out 1 in a perfect frame.

The Arizona Fall League is not the only league going for our future Redbirds, so let’s take a quick look at the other players in action and how they have fared so far.
Amaury Cazana is in Mexico again.  Jose Garcia and Andrew Brown are in Venezula.  Antonio DeJesus is in Puerto Rico.  Let’s take a look at the batters who have taken more than 5 at bats so far in those three winter leagues.

(Apologies about the tables, I did the best I could with WordPress’s lovely restrictions. Stats on all leagues are after the jump.)

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Suprise 5, Peo Javelinas 8

• Tony Cruz was 1-for-3 with a walk.
• Pete Kozma was 1-for-4 with a double.
• Brian Broderick got the start but was roughed up for 5 runs in 5 innings. He allowed 7 hits including two home runs while striking out 3.