The Florida State League all star game was tonight. Joe Kelly and Edgar Lara represented the Cardinals franchise but the South fell to the North by a score of 5-3. Otherwise, the farm system had an undefeated night with a record of 4-0.
Hitting:
- Donovan Solano went 3-for-6 w/ 3 2B, 1 RBI, and 1 R
- Daryl Jones continues his mini-resurgence by going 1-for-3 w/ 1 RBI, 2 BB, and 2 R
- Aaron Luna went 2-for-5 w/ 1 HR, 2 RBI, 1 SB, and 1 R
- Bryan Anderson went 2-for-5 w/ 1 2B and 2 R
- Jose Garcia went 3-for-5 w/ 1 2B
Pitching:
- Adam Ottavino got the start and struck out 7 in 6.0 IP, but he gave up 10 H, 4 R, and 2 BB
- Victor Marte vultured the win in the tenth inning by pitching 1.0 IP that included 1 BB
Hitting:
- Charlie Cutler was slotted into the three spot and went 2-for-3 w/ 1 3B, 2 RBI, and 1 R
- Ryan Jackson went 2-for-4
- Steven Hill provided the other RBI on a sac fly
Pitching:
- Scott Schneider started and went 5.1 innings that included 4 H, 1 R, 1 BB, and 3 K
- Jose Rada came in and pitched 1.2 scoreless
- Jorge Rondon must have been more efficient than usual, he went 2.0 IP and gave up only 1 BB, he also had 1 K
- Edgar Lara went 1-for-2 w/ 1 R
- Joe Kelly pitched 0.2 innings and gave up 1 R on 1 H, he also had 1 K
Hitting:
- Ronny Gil went 1-for-4 w/ 2 RBI and 1 R
- Oscar Taveras went 1-for-4 w/ 1 2B, 1 RBI, and 1 R
- Nick Longmire seams to be heating up, he went 2-for-4 w/ 1 RBI and 1 R
- Cody Stanley doubled in his 4 AB
- Geoffrey Klein went 2-for-4 w/ 1 2B and 1 RBI
Pitching:
- Boone Whiting was solid: 7.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 BB, and 6 K
- Dean Kiekhefer finished the game out with 2.0 scoreless inning, he did have 1 BB
Hitting:
- Jeremy Patton went 3-for-4 w/ 1 2B, 2 RBI, 1 BB, and 1 R
- Roberto Reyes 2-for-4 w/ 1 2B and 1 RBI
- Nicholas Martini went 3-for-5 w/ 1 R
- Kevin Moscatel went 2-for-5 w/ 1 2B and 1 R
- Yunier Castillo went 2-for-4 w/ 1 2B, 1 RBI, and 2 R
Pitching:
- Patrick Daugherty started and went 5.0 inning, included were 2 H, 1 R, 1 BB, and 6 K
- Jonathan Cornelius and Corey Baker did not fair well in relief
- In between Cornelius and Baker, Iden Nazario went 1.1 scoreless innings that included 2 BB and 2 K
Entries (RSS)
Looks like Ottavino was working on his ground ball pitching 7 – 2
Greene is back at AAA and switched with Kozma:
Last time I checked Greene was a .280 plus hitter in his time at AAA. But this may be a good move since absolutely nothing is expected from Kozma’s bat .100 avg. He will only be used as a defensive replacement and take zero if any time away from Schu or RT. Problem with Greene is he is a much better player than Kozma at this point and needs to play everyday. By him being at AAA it gets the public off TLR’s back to remove RT from SS since Kozma is not even close to being capable of playing at the ML level. So all in all good move for Greene(he gets to play everyday) and TLR(he now has the excuse that there is no ML level capable replacement for RT or Schu).
http://www.baseball-reference.com/minors/player.cgi?id=greene005jam
Yeah, I don’t think Tony was looking for an excuse not to play Greene. Greene provided all of that necessary when he did play. I agree that Greene fares better playing everyday in Memphis, but hold little hope that he’ll someday prove he should be a major league player.
If you read the STL Today paper, the paper & people are all over RT on his horrible defense. Greene is a much better fielding SS than RT. That is what people have been complaining about.
On another note regrading Greene’s batting. I you pay attention to all of his AB’s he is continually getting behind in the count 0-2 and 1-2 because he is fouling off the first one or two strikes that he gets which immediately puts him in a hole. After he’s in the hole 0-2 and 1-2 the pitchers are throwing him junk breaking pitches in the dirt etc. and it leads to a strike out the majority of the time. Think how differently his AB’s would be if instead of fouling off the first 1 or 2 pitches he was putting those pitches in play. It would be a totally different out come all together.
Mark Hamilton was basically having the same problem of getting behind 0-2 and 1-2. The only difference is he was taking the first 2 strikes the majoring of his AB’s and not swinging. Same thing after he was in the hole 0-2 and 1-2. The pitchers were throwing nothing but breaking pitches in the dirt etc. which lead to the strikeouts. The main problem is what you do with the first 2 strikes that you get and not on strike three pitch. After you get in the hole the batting avg gets much worse if you can’t hit or lay off the breaking pitches.
Greene was sent down after a stupid decision in the field. Kozma is on the 40 man roster already, so was next in line to be brought up. When Punto returns, Pete can head south.
Greene is a totally different player in the majors. He overthinks everything, and doesn’t have any confidence. You can see it by the way he swings at pitches, its like he decides whether to swing before the guy even enters the windup.
I actually think he is the exact same player he has always been whether at Memphis or in St Louis.
A free swinger who can’t lay off a major league caliber breaking pitch(or any average major league breaking pitch for that matter), and can’t handle the high fastball.
Pretty much what he was when he was drafted. What he always has been.
I feel like I’ve read this before.
Why does Greene “need to play everyday”? Genuinely interested. He’s 28 IIRC and has been in AAA for three years. Just not sure what he’s going to learn at this stage of his career. He’s a backup middle infielder at best, and is surely better than Kozma. If we wanted to bring up an all-glove no-hit type, at least Donovan Solano seems to be hitting competently in AAA at the moment. But FWIW I’d have just rolled with Greene for the time being. Kozma offers nothing and it’s not like we’re hurting TG’s development by having him on the major league bench – that, in all likelihood, is his future as a professional.
Donovan Solano has responded well since he’s been able to play every day. He’s raised his BA about .40 pts. He was key to Memphis’ win tonight scoring a run after his second double in the 9th and driving in the winning run with his 3rd double in the tenth.
Solano could be an interesting prospect. We talk a lot about prospects who play 1 positions exclusively in the minors and then get to the majors and have to learn new positions in the middle of a pennant race. But Solano and Jose Garcia have actually been groomed to play those utility roles.
I’ve only seen Solano play a couple innings during televised ST games. He’s looked overmatched in his plate appearances, and I’ve never seen him get a difficult chance in the field. But reports here and elsewhere have always suggested he could be a plus defender at multiple positions.
He’s 23, and I believe he’s eligible to become a 6-year minor-league free agent after this season. So this is the season for him to establish himself in that role. As HCF pointed out, Greene has played himself out of the role (a real shame, given his speed, range, and arm strength), and I see no reason to think Koz would be better than Solano at this point. He’s only 4 months younger than Solano, but has less experience at higher levels.
Boone definitely needs more adjectives next to his name. Solid just is not cutting it for me anymore. A whip under one and almost a strikeout an inning should be termed sparkling at least. The bandwagon is picking up speed. Hop aboard!
I’ve always had this irrational feeling that Solano is Polanco v2.0. I have nothing to base this on. Just my gut feeling.
He will never be half the hitter Polanco is. There are one or two worse players in the HOF than Placido Polanco (note – not saying Polanco is anything like a hall of famer, but he’s one of the better infielders of the last ten years or so.)
Teams have passed over Solano in the Rule 5 draft. He is not a tool shed. But if he can field SS, he could play in the majors. The Cards might want to trade Solano (or Greene or Bryan Anderson) before any leave to free agency.
Greene has zero value. If the Angels couldn’t trade Brandon Wood, then there’s no chance the Cards can find any interest in Greene.
Ditto Solano and Anderson. If Nick Punto will sign somewhere for 800k, no-one is wanting to trade to pay Solano 500k. Same with Anderson vs guys like Gerald Laird.
I think it’s a little early to be writing Solano off. He’s been young for the league forever. He’ll never be a tools guy but he can field his position and his bat won’t kill ya.
That Kevin Moscatel is interesting the hell out of me right now.
I really like Martini and what I have read on him. Think he can be a leadoff hitter with plus D in left, just hope it turns out to be in the bigs and not AAA.
I don’t see anything that suggests that solano or jose garcia are anything more than permanent minor leaguers.
except luhnow singled out solano back when he was at palm beach as “one to watch”
don’t know if he is still watching him
the head of the minor league development system is not going to say, “oh, ignore that guy. he’s system filler.”
solano has turned in partial season wOBAs of .323, .276, .336, .254, .305 in the high minors. he hasn’t had a walk rate over 8% in the high minors. some of those partial seasons are really terrible. the only above average season i mentioned above was sustained by a .380 babip. he’s 23. he could turn a corner next year, but he doesn’t appear to be a major leaguer.