The system went 2-and-3. Zack Cox continued surging for Memphis who won behind an impressive John Gast. Batavia’s big offensive night was highlighted by one prospect’s first professional HR. Johnson City was postponed, but looks like they’re scheduled for a double-header on Friday. Details after the jump…
Memphis 6, Nashville 1
- Zack Cox was 3-for-4 with a HR and sits at a suddenly not-so-terrible .262 AVG.
- Adron Chambers was 1-for-3 with a double and 2 walks.
- Bryan Anderson was 2-for-3 with a walk.
- Ryan Jackson doubled.
- Eugenio Velez singled, walked, and stole his 17th base.
- Mark Hamilton, Cedric Hunter, and Lou Montanez walked.
- John Gast had a terrific performance. He struck out 7 in 6 innings and only allowed 1 run on 4 hits (1 HR) and a walk.
- Nick Greenwood pitched a perfect 1.2 innings and struck out 1.
- Jess Todd recorded 1 out but allowed a hit and walk.
- Sam Freeman allowed a hit and walk in the 9th inning.
- Adam Melker hit his 3rd HR.
- Jamie Romak his his 3rd HR and also walked.
- Chris Swauger doubled twice. Oscar Taveras doubled once.
- Xavier Scruggs was 2-for-4 with a double and walk.
- Jake Shaffer doubled and walked.
- Kolten Wong and Greg Garcia singled.
- Audry Perez was 2-for-4.
- Scott McGregor has seen better days. In 4 innings, he allowed 6 runs on 9 hits (1 HR), 2 walks, and only 1 strikeout.
- Jorge Rondon struck out 2 in 2 innings.
- Deryk Hooker allowed 2 runs on 2 hits and a walk in 1 inning.
- Eric Fornataro allowed too many base runners in the 8th inning: 3 runs on 2 hits (1 HR), 2 walks, and 1 strikeout.
- In a quiet night offensively for Palm Beach, Luis De La Cruz reached base 3 times via 2 singles and a walk.
- Mike O’Neill, Chris Edmonson, Nicholas Longmire, and Ronny Gil singled.
- Starlin Rodriguez, Alan Ahmady, and Rainel Rosario walked. Rodriguez stole his 12th base.
- Bradley Watson pitched 5 innings and gave up 3 runs on 6 hits, 1 walk, and 6 strikeouts.
- Todd McInnis gave up another 3 runs (2 earned) on 4 hits and 1 strikeout.
- Anderson Gerdel allowed 1 hit in 2 innings; he struck out 1 batter.
- Matt Williams was 3-for-4 with a double.
- Anthony Garcia was 2-for-4 with a double.
- Stephen Piscotty, Roberto Reyes, Neal Pritchard, and Casey Rasmus singled.
- Nick Martini walked.
- Hector Hernandez allowed 8 runs (7 earned) on 8 hits (2 HR), 4 walks, and 4 strikeouts over 4 innings.
- Ethan Cole pitched 2 innings of relief; he allowed 2 hits and struck out 2.
- Danny Miranda allowed a hit and a walk but no one scored in his inning.
- Heath Wyatt struck out 2 in his inning but allowed a solo HR.
- Patrick Wisdom hit his 1st professional homer.
- Jacob Wilson was 2-for-4 with a triple.
- Breyvic Valera was 3-for-5.
- Jesus Montero was 2-for-4 with a double. Gary Apelian also doubled.
- Steven Ramos and Jonathan Keener singled.
- David Bergin and Matthew Young walked.
- Tim Cooney struck out 4 in 3 innings but allowed 2 runs on 5 hits (1 HR).
- Kyle Helisek pitched 4 scoreless innings that included 2 hits and 3 strikeouts.
- Dyllon Nuernberg allowed 1 hit in a scoreless inning.
- Brandon Creath struck out 2 in a perfect inning.
Johnson City: Postponed
Entries (RSS)
Down in the GCL, I noticed that the Cards moved Luis Perez to second base. He was a catcher his first 3 years in the system.
He turns 21 in a couple of weeks, and this is his 4th year in either the DSL or GCL. He always hit pretty well, and I wondered why he didn’t move up. I guess his catching skills held him back.
Really wish Cox could play 2B. Just sayin’.
Cox doesn’t even play an average 3rd base. He has no range at all.
Wong will take care of 2nd base.
Cox can be a four-corners guy, same as M. Carp is now. (Unless the second base experiment gives him a fifth position.) He has the arm for right field.
For this year and probably next, Carp is clearly the better choice for that utility role. His plate discipline is a real asset. But Cox is 3 1/2 years younger, and he has the rest of this year and all of 2013 to use up his options. By 2014 he may be the more advanced hitter, and the better choice for that spot.
Or not …
So who is the next starter that gets called up if the big league club needs one Gast, Dickson, Maness, Rosenthal?
Is Dickson still at the top because he is on the 40 man?
Gast- Still needs some more refinement and cut down his walks other than that he’s polished up quit bit this season.
Dickson- I would say he’s the first option they would go to since he’s on the 40 man already.
Maness- Not ready for the big leagues yet but he is getting close. 6 total walks (0.46 BB/9 0.6 Walk Rate 1.04 WHIP) in 106 total innings pitch this season. Would like to see him pitch in the hitter friendly league PCL before getting a call facing more advanced hitters. Still reminds me of a Brad Thompson type control pitcher.
Rosenthal- Will likely not see big league hitters but could earn a promotion to Memphis sometime in 2012. Last that I’ve heard that they are limiting his innings. Rosenthal is one of the most polished pitchers in the system because he has the type of stuff that he can strikeout every batter instead he’s maintaining a solid 40.4 Groundball rate and owns a 22.1 K Rate this season.
Maness’ control far exceeds Thompson’s.
Here’s hoping Cox can keep this up and turn himself into a nice trade chip. I don’t really see the point in keeping him around if we can get good value for him, and with his pedigree, that doesn’t seem far-fetched.
Valera continues to stroke the ball now batting .363 with a lucky .403 BABIP. As stole his 5th base off the season last night as well.
I find it really interesting that last year Cox struggled mightily the first month or so then went crazy and hit the ball extremely well. Looks like the same is happening at AAA. He might just be a guy who takes a while to adjust but once he does he shows what kind of talent he has with the bat. He will be interesting to watch the rest of the year.
Reports told me their were mechanical flaws in his swing earlier in the season. I bet they have fixed it now since he’s batting .439 in his past 10 games. His AVG went from .210 a couple weeks ago to .262.
Report here from June 16th. http://stlouis.cardinals.mlb.com/news/print.jsp?ymd=20120616&content_id=33400470¬ebook_id=33403334&vkey=notebook_stl&c_id=stl
Mark, ZCox is interesting to me as well. I suspect he’ll come close to hitting .300 this season as well – now up to .262.
He’s only walked 12 times this season (had a total of 40 last year). On this current torrid streak of his, he has not taken a single base on balls.
If you don’t know the strikezone, it’s a lot more difficult to become an outstanding hitter. I would hope that it is fundamental in teaching these guys to play the “Cardinal way.” I glanced through the stats at Johnson City and noticed Carson Kelly has one walk in 53 at bats. Ugh.
I think we’re going to see a trade take place to bolster the Cardinal pitching staff. I suspect the only untouchable would be Oscar Taveras. Wouldn’t surprise me at all if ZCox was part of a trade.
MAtt Carpenter came through the system. I think they can teach how to take a walk.
ZCox might stay put. Burning throug options and struggling early hurt his trade value. Matt Carpenter might get moved.
Adams, Cox, Kelly and young A player for Cole Hamels (w/ contract extension)
Trade doesn’t make sense to me. Kelly is the one rookie who is actually ready to pitch in the majors.
I live outside Philly, and the local sports media seems convinced the Phils will keep Hamels. They have the money to sign him and build a new team around him.
That’s a bummer, Lou. Hamels is the guy I’d go after.
Miller, Cox, Jenkins. Ouch.
See ya at the Series.
What, please, is “the Cardinal way”? I would be hard pressed to find a unifying theme that describes the hitting approaches of all of David Freese, Daniel Descalso, Skip Schumaker, Jon Jay, Tyler Greene, etc., yet somehow is distinct from other teams that don’t get to draft the mega-power prospects like Stanton and Heyward. I mean, “have good at-bats, don’t give away outs, make contact” isn’t a hitting approach that’s unique to the Cardinals — although even in that very broad sense, it looks like someone forgot to give at least Greene the message.
I think all this business about “the Cardinal way,” or the Yankee way or the Dodger way or even the Oriole way or the Mariner way, probably means a lot more to the fans than it does to the players. There’s a way that works, and lots of ways that don’t.
I wonder if the recent Cox surge had anything to do with the Carpenter play some second.
Made it to the QC games Thursday and Friday….Piscotty looks legit. Also was impressed with Garcia. Slightly old for the league but Juan Castillo looked decent, could potentially make it to the show as a back up catcher.
No Jenkins unfortunately. Hald pitched OK, but there wasn’t any pro talent that I saw. Kinda a weak edition of the QC team.
You mean there wasn’t any MLB pitching talent? Or do you not see Garcia and Piscotty as future MLB players?
He meant that Kyle Hald doesn’t have the talent to make it in the majors.
Sorry no major league pitching talent that I saw. Didnt catch Jenkins.