Archive for March, 2011

Per John Vuch via Kary Booher. Hard not to cringe a little when you see this but hopefully it is more of a precautionary method than anything else.  I still like Kopp’s stuff better than his results and think he’s got a legitimate if slim chance to contribute to the majors.

Booher also confirms some surgeries on Kopp including an offseason elbow surgery.

Hopefully Kopp and McGregor return to action soon.

Happy Opening Day everyone!  The big club gets started today, but we will have to wait until April 7th for actual box scores for the Future Redbirds.  The Quad Cities River Bandits, Palm Beach Cardinals, Springfield Cardinals and Memphis Redbirds all start on the 7th.

By the time you read this, it will be Opening Day. For those of you out there that actually get to watch it, enjoy it twice as much for those of us stuck at work without access to a TV.

In the Memphis game, Kyle Lohse started. I left him out of the DFR for two reasons: First, this should be about the guys who aren’t breaking camp with the big league club and second, it was a depressing stat line.

On to the DFR!
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… [Ryan] Jackson ditched the unnecessary hand and body movement in his offensive set-up. He made the switch after a midseason promotion last year from low Class A Quad Cities to high Class A Palm Beach…

- Kary Booher – “Jackson Waiting His Turn At Shortstop”

Ryan Jackson had a dreadful year in 2009 by any measuring device including a .216 average and a slugging of .241.  But, with a BABIP of .252, he certainly hit into some bad luck.  Despite the BABIP, no one could have expected the Jackson’s jump in numbers for 2010.

When he moved up to Quad Cities, his BABIP regressed quite a bit to .331 and his numbers improved as well.  His improvement was not fully BABIP-related as his 20% line drive rate and 13.5% walk rate for a slash line of 272/366/348.  These numbers were quite an improvement for the slick fielding Jackson, but the above mentioning swing change had not even happened yet.

After making the changes to his swing, Jackson had 167 at bats in the pitcher friendly Florida State League.  However, his average increased 21 points and his ISO slugging increased 26 points.  He didn’t walk at his usual clip in Palm Beach, but when you are hitting more than 1/4th of your batted balls for line drives – why bother taking a walk.

Ryan Jackson has had one bad year and one good year and after lots of appearances in the Spring Training DFRs, the expectations for Jackson in Springfield (or if he stays at Palm Beach).  His glove has been able to play since he was drafted and the 2010 season will be big for Jackson.  If the Vuch Reports and articles about his swing are to be believed – Jackson is poised to make sure 2010 was not a one hit wonder.

Derrick Goold has some early top prospect assignments in his Bird Land blog today:

No. 1 prospect Shelby Miller, a righthanded pitcher, and No. 2 prospect, third baseman Zack Cox, have been assigned to the High-A Palm Beach club.

The Cardinals are not in a position to confirm the assignment, but it’s expected that Martinez will continue pitching in extended spring training rather than join the full-season rotation in Quad Cities.

All three assignments make sense.  Miller moves up a level.  Cox gets his first full season ball experience in Palm Beach.  Martinez continues his education before moving to Quad Cities this summer.  Smart move by the Cardinals, no reason to push Martinez when he is still new to the country.

As far as Quad Cities, I think their rotation will be fine for the time being:

Assigned to the Quad Cities No. 1 roster as RHP Seth Blair, RHP Jordan Swagerty and RHP Trevor Rosenthal.

The Cardinals played some scrimmage matches today that included a solid outing from Lance Lynn, some more intrigue from John Gast and a Pete Kozmanaut sighting.

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I’m wrapping up a weekend move and returning to a normal schedule. All the minor league games were rained out yesterday so there’s nothing to report in that regard.

With the addition of Miguel Batista and optioning of Fernando Salas over the weekend, I was left wondering two things: 1) Will a position player or a pitcher be the first minor leaguer called up and 2) who will that player be?

I’m going with a pitcher and Lance Lynn which basically amounts to me betting on a starter going down with an injury.  Other likely candidates might be Eduardo Sanchez, Fernando Salas, Matt Carpenter, Tony Cruz or Bryan Anderson. Anyone I’m missing?  Care to make your own first up prediction?

The system went 2-2 on Sunday. As was discussed in the comments yesterday, the teams from the low minors are shaping up to have some really interesting talent.

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Saturday was a day of intra-organizational play.

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The farm goes 3-2 in a late edition of the DFR.

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