Top prospects Matt Adams, Zack Cox and Oscar Taveras all make big contributions as the farm puts up a 3-1 record on the night.
Hitting:
- Skip Shumaker went 1-for-4 w/ 1 R, he played RF in this rehab start
- Matt Adams went 3-for-4
- Amaury Cazana went 2-for-4
- Zack Cox went 1-for-3 w/ 1 BB and a solo HR
Pitching:
- The Memphis staff was outstanding. They allowed only 5 H and issued no walks in nine innings of shutout ball.
- Brian Broderick got the start and did his part: 6.0 IP, 5 H and 6 K
- Nick Greenwood and Maikel Cleto both pitched perfect innings that included 2 K apiece
- R.J. Swindle (0.1 IP) and Chuckie Fick (0.2 IP) combined to pitch a perfect ninth
Hitting:
- Oscar Taveras went 3-for-5 w/ 1 3B, 1 R and 1 RBI
- Thomas Pham went 2-for-4 w/ 1 2B and 2 R
- Adam Melker went 2-for-4 w/ 2 RBI
- Nick Derba went 3-for-3 w/ 1 BB, 1 R and 1 RBI
Pitching:
- Scott Gorgen pitched well enough to keep his team in the game: 5.0 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 3 BB and 4 K
- Eric Fornataro relieved Gorgen and pitched 2.0 scoreless innings that included 1 H and 1 K
- Sam Freeman allowed 1 H in 1.0 scoreless inning
- Jorge Rondon was called upon in the ninth to close out the game but gave up a walk, a hit and then hit a batter
- Keith Butler was brought on in a bases loaded situation and got the save: 1.0 IP, 1 H and 2 K
Hitting:
- Mike O’Neill went 3-for-4
- Patrick Elkins, Starlin Rodriguez and Luis De La Cruz all went 1-for-4
- Jonathan Rodriguez went 1-for-3 w/ 1 BB
Pitching:
- Drew Benes got the start: 5.0 IP, 5 H, 3 R and 4 K
- Iden Nazario went 2.0 scoreless innings that included 1 H and 3 K
- Ricky Martinez pitched a single inning, he gave up 1 H, 1 BB and recorded 1 K
Hitting:
- Matt Williams is still red hot, he went 2-for-4 w/ 1 2B, 1 3B, 1 R and 3 RBI
- Nick Martini went 1-for-2 w/ 1 BB, 1 R and 1 RBI
- David Medina went 2-for-3 w/ 1 HR, 1 BB, 1 R and 2 RBI
- Tyler Rahmatulla (1 BB) and Roberto Reyes (1 R) each singled in 4 AB
Pitching:
- Dail Villanueva got the win and showed a solid K rate: 6.0 IP, 7 H, 3 R and 6 K
- Brandon Creath went 2.1 innings that included 1 H and 4 K
- Danny Miranda shut the door with 0.2 IP, he recorded 1 K
Entries (RSS)
Since I’m at work and blocked from Youtube, I’m just going to ask here. Does Quad Cites still have their Youtube highlight channel like last year? Also, do any other teams in the organization have youtube channels?
Reading Taveras’ stats each day got me to thinking about this. He seems to be hitting for better power this year (although, he did start out last season crushing the ball for a lot of extra base hits before he got hurt). So, I was just kind of itching to see that triple.
The channel is still there, but there aren’t any game highlights up yet. Just some videos of the front office from a month ago.
Wow. Adams is just going berserk. The only cautionary note is that his BABIP is unsustainably high — but screaming line drives are hard to catch. Knock 50 points off the BABIP and he’s STILL going berserk.
I still wonder about the walk rate. At this stage of the season it isn’t worrisome, but sooner or later, AAA pitchers are going to start avoiding the strike zone altogether if he keeps hitting like that. Has anyone seen any of his games this year? How are people pitching him?
Yeah, when you are hitting like that, you can’t exactly question the walk rate. As you say, it is what he does when they quit pitching to him……I’m as anxious as anyone to know the answer, but until then I guess we enjoy the show!
Excellent pitching effort from Memphis last night. Hopefully, Cox is on the rise after a meager start to the season. Jackson needs to get out of his funk as well. Adams is taking what they are pitching to him. The announcers last night indicated that he is getting nothing over the plate, everything is down away or high inside. The great thing is that Adams doesn’t always look for the HR. He is content with the hit and moving runners up.
Jackson at least had a walk and a RBI last night. Anderson is really the player that has been killing Memphis so far batting .027, and Cox’s 125 isn’t helping much either, although hopefully he is starting to come around.
SS for the future Greene,kozma,jackson do not seem to have the bat to be everyday players. Williams 22 in low A ball. Is there someone in the lower minors or ExSt who might be a dark horse.
As Bob mentioned, Jackson will have time to work on his bat, and given his glove, he just needs to be league-average offensive-wise to be a valuable starter. His improvement at the plate over the past two seasons has been encouraging, even though he went through a funk last season in Springfield before picking up again around the beginning of August.
Beyond Jackson, there’s possibly Greg Garcia at AA and a bunch of middle infielders at the lower levels who seem to project as second basemen. Not much, but you only need one (okay, maybe one-and-a-half).
Ryan Jackson should have this year and next in AAA to work on his hitting, before taking over for Furcal; I’m optimistic he can be a league-average hitter for an MLB shortstop by the start of 2014.
Beyond Jackson, though, I agree completely: the system could *really* use more quality shortstops (and catchers).
On a different note, Oscar T. has played nothing but centerfield so far; has anyone read any quotes from organizational bigwigs (or even mediumwigs) about Taveras playing exclusively CF this year?
I think Mo mentioned it in a Spring Training interview – I don’t think he said it would necessarily be “exclusive”, but they want him to get a lot of reps there…it’s where he will fit best on the big league club if he can do it.
Every system could use quality shortstops and catchers.
Pham’s batting, but he’s not fielding (he’s been DH’ing the past few games). My guess is that Taveras is the best option for CF in Springfield after Pham. It’ll be interesting to see what happens when the organization deems him ready to play in the field again.
For what it’s worth, on twitter last night somebody asked Kevin Goldstein if Taveras could stick in CF, and he responded with a simple, “nope.”
Same guy said Rosenthal has a ceiling as a #4 starter – Goldstein pretty much lost me at that point. So, whether Taveras sticks in CF or not, what Goldstein says or thinks will probably have nothing to do with it. If Taveras continues to rip and Craig doesn’t regress, two years from now you have Holliday in LF, Craig in RF, I’ll let you fill in the blank in CF……
The only thing I would caution is that one of the things that the organization wants Taveras to work on is is his fielding fundamentals. From Goold’s March story: “There was a sense last season that Taveras’ bat was ready for the next level, but his baserunning and fielding lagged behind. He’ll start this season at either high-A Palm Beach or Class AA Springfield, and it will be his all-around performance this spring that determines that. The Cardinals believe he should be at least average on the bases and [b]good enough in the outfield to play center at times.[/b]”
The could be what Goldstein is responding to: that based on Taveras’ current ability in CF, he’s not going to stick there. That’s part of the reason why the organization wants him to see time there–to apply the lessons he’s learning in game time. Taveras is a highly regarded prospect because of his bat; however, he still needs determine his position on the outfield, which will depend on his ongoing development.
Goold’s Story: http://www.stltoday.com/sports/baseball/professional/cards-prospect-taveras-will-sell-tickets-in-future/article_ebdff870-de62-5951-9e9c-6c0720019f26.html
Good to know!
If you are consistant, you can hit their your way to a position.
Is he good enough hitter to be a below average CF?
Not to mention we look deep in pitching for years to come…..so I would say the answer is “yes” he “may” be a good enough hitter to be a below average CF……time will tell on that one.
Anyone know how long Roberto De La Cruz is supposed to be out? Seems like it’s been about a week or so…