Two important pitching debuts tonight.
Memphis vs. Oklahoma City, 7:05pm: Nick Additon
Springfield @ Frisco, 7:00pm: John Gast (AA debut)
Palm Beach @ Bradenton, 7:00pm: Carlos Martinez (A+ debut)
Quad Cities vs. Clinton, 7:00pm: Seth Blair (? – was Martinez’s slot in rotation)
Batavia @ Jamestown, 7:05pm: Jose Almarante
Johnson City vs. Pulaski, 7:00pm: Eduardo Hiraldo
Entries (RSS)
Can’t wait to see how Gast and Martinez do! Gast may pitch his way to a September call-up with a good showing in Springfield the second half.
I did not see that Gast was called up. Kind of surprising considering his ERA was just under 4 at Palm Beach. He was averaging between 6-7 innings a start which was encouraging though.
I like Gast. Miller and Gast now at AA. I expect that Swagerty may join those two soon.
I read at stlcardinals.com they are moving Swagerty to the pin for the rest of the year so they can limit his innings pitched. It said that a move to back to a starter has not been ruled out as he climbs the minor leauge ladder.
Got a link to the article? I am really hoping that is not true.
That just be a completely dumb move. Swagerty has been excelling as a starter. It’s like when the Cards moved Todd to reliever. Not saying Jess Todd was going to be a world beater (certainly proving those who were in his camp at one point wrong) but why would you mess with a guy who is excelling in his role?
You can always move a guy to relief later if starting is not working for him. But when you are doing better than your “long-term starting prospect” counterparts…why would you change them? I would think messing with success would be something that management and the farm directors would freak out about.
From the source himself…
http://twitter.com/#!/JordanSwagerty/status/85883782288257024
ERA is pretty meaningless, especially in the minors.
Brandon Dickson placed on 40 man roster and promoted to STL.
http://twitter.com/#!/CardsInsider/status/86459804381495296
Didn’t know Gast was in AA. Wish him well with the promotion.
Shame I’ve already missed out on the opportunity to see Martinez at Quad Cities. Guess I’ll have to settle for Kolten.
Don’t forget about Oscar Taveras.
Well, I’ve seen Taveras but I too missed out on Martinez (missed his 1st start by one day). Although, I am going on Sunday to see the Bandits. Pretty excited to see Taveras again and, of course, Wong. Not sure who’s pitching Sunday. I’ve kind of lost track of the rotation.
Saw where Kevin Goldstein posted a new article on ESPN. It talks about what the term “ace” means and who are some prospects that could reach that potential. I’m not an insider over at ESPN so I couldn’t read on to see if Shelby Miller and/or Carlos Martinez were mentioned, but I wouldn’t be surprised if they are. Just thought I’d post that here in case anyone is an insider there and would like to read it for themselves.
I guess it would have been helpful for me to post the link, so here it is: http://insider.espn.go.com/mlb/insider/news/story?id=6721036&action=login&appRedirect=http%3a%2f%2finsider.espn.go.com%2fmlb%2finsider%2fnews%2fstory%3fid%3d6721036
Miller and Martinez both made the list with glowing reports!!!!
Anyone want to paraphrase the parts about Miller and Martinez?
One poster kindly posted the article on the STL Today forums. I’ll see if I can find it and post it over here.
I don’t think that’s legal. Maybe best post a link to it or paraphrase/quote selected parts.
Will be fun to see how Carlos Martinez does against Pedro Alvarez even if Pedro’s timing is way off from being hurt and is in his first rehab game.
Shelby Miller, RHP, St. Louis Cardinals
After Miller finished the 2010 season with a flurry at low-A Quad Cities, the Cardinals considered sending their 2009 first-round pick to Double-A at the beginning of the year, but instead he earned it by striking out 81 batters over 53 innings in nine Florida State League starts before moving up. The Texas League has yet to slow him down, as he has a 1.69 ERA in his first five Double-A starts. A classic power arm from Texas, Miller has 94-95 mph heat, a very good curve and an improving changeup, but for now, his 7-6-5 arsenal (plus-plus fastball, plus curve, average changeup) is more reminiscent of San Francisco’s Matt Cain than that of a pure ace.
Carlos Martinez, RHP, Cardinals
Martinez created a stir last summer when he touched 100 mph in the Dominican Summer League while putting up a 0.76 ERA, and he’s been nearly as impressive in his stateside debut with a 2.33 ERA in eight starts for Low-A Quad Cities to go with 50 strikeouts in 38 2/3 innings. In possession of one of the minor league’s fastest arms, there’s no debate as to the quality of his fastball, but his curveball and changeup are still works in progress, and his small, 6-foot, 160-pound frame leaves many to wonder if he’s the type of pitcher that can handle a 220-inning workload.
If you’re interested in the rest of the list, this is a link to the forum on stltoday where a poster very kindly shared his information: http://interact.stltoday.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=806464
Martinez had a couple loud outs to Carlos Paulino and one Pedro Alvarez with each of them hitting a rocket at infielders but as long as they were caught it doesn’t matter how hard they were hit. He escaped big trouble a couple times once in the first after they held runner at 3rd after a single with two outs to load the bases and then he got the next guy and in the 5th with bases jams and one out he got a 1-2-3 DP.
But they finally broke through in the 6th for a couple runs. Carlos Paulino hit the ball hard all 3 of his AB vs Carlos and
things could have got bad at times with Bradenton only going 2-for-11 with RISP and one of those hits the runner was held up at 3rd in the first.
Pedro Alvarez’s 3 PA vs Martinez
#1 BB
#2 Line out hard to 3rd
#3 HBP on the foot