The system had even fewer games played tonight than anticipated. Triple-A had its All-Star Game, Springfield had a day off, and Johnson City was postponed because of rain. The standout performance of the day belonged to Kyle Barraclough who missed quite a few bats. Details after the jump…
Triple-A All-Star Game: PCL All-Stars 3, INT All-Stars 0
- Brandon Dickson walked 1 batter and recorded 1 out on a fly ball.
Springfield: No game.
- Mike O’Neill was 1-for-4; he struck out for the 2nd time in 10 games.
- James Ramsey lifted his average above .300 by going 2-for-4 with a triple.
- Alan Ahmady was 2-for-4 with a double.
- Chris Edmonson was 2-for-4.
- Chris Corrigan allowed 4 runs on 4 hits, 2 walks, and 3 strikeouts in 5 innings.
- Bradley Watson gave up a run in his inning.
- Despite 3 strikeouts in 1.1 innings, Zach Russell 2 runs on 3 hits and 3 walks.
- Iden Nazario was the only pitcher who avoided damage; he induced a double-play to record 2 outs.
- Quad Cities failed to draw even one free pass tonight.
- Anthony Garcia was 2-for-4 with his 12th HR of the season.
- David Medina was 3-for-4 with a double.
- Roberto De La Cruz also doubled.
- Matt Williams was 2-for-5.
- Luis Mateo, Neal Pritchard, Nick Martini, Stephen Piscotty, Juan Castillo, and Roberto Reyes all singled.
- Sam Gaviglio was rocked for 6 runs. In just 3.1 innings, he allowed 6 hits, walked 6 batters, and only struck out 2.
- Jonathan Cornelius didn’t fare much better, allowing 2 runs in 1.2 innings that featured 4 hits and 1 walk.
- Danny Miranda and Ricky Martinez stopped the bleeding; they combined for 3 scoreless frames.
- Alex Mejia was 2-for-5; he committed his first error (fielding) of the season.
- Breyvic Valera was 2-for-4.
- David Washington hit his 2nd home run.
- Steven Ramos tripled.
- Jesus Montero singled and walked.
- Jacob Wilson singled.
- Matthew Young walked twice. He stole his first bag of the season but was also caught stealing once (for 2nd time this year).
- Kyle Barraclough was fantastic. He struck out 6 in 4 innings and only allowed 2 hits.
- Corey Baker allowed 2 runs on 3 hits in 1 inning.
- Yunier Castillo pitched 2 perfect innings that included 1 strikeout.
- Brandon Creath allowed a hit and walk in 1.2 innings but avoided runs and struck out 2.
- Joseph Scanio recorded one out.
Johnson City: Postponed
Tonight’s game in Bristol has been postponed due to the rain. They will play a double header tomorrow, starting at 6:00 pm
— J.C. Cardinals(@JC_Cardinals) July 11, 2012
Entries (RSS)
Kyle Barraclough is having an impressive season so far through 3 starts and 4 games. Interesting note Barraclough hasn’t walked a batter yet in 18 IP. Pretty good for a kid who has below average control coming into the season.
Nice scouting report by BA on Barraclough:
“Barraclough has a strong build 6-foot-3 220 lbs. Fastball sits 90-93, he throws a plus splitter that he uses as a change-up also throws an average slider. Barraclough smoothed out his delivery this year, but his control is below average, as he walked 47 batters over 79 innings. Profiles best in the bullpen down the road. “
Anthony Garcia must have a nice compact stroke with the numbers he’s putting up a year out of short season. 25 doubles, 12 HR 57 RBI, .373 OBP .540 Slugging .914 OPS. Garcia needs more prospect attention.
He is suffering a bit because he isnt OT. A system can only have so many out of nowhere top-flight hitting outfielders.
I think Garcia gets quite a lot of attention at this site. I wonder if he’ll make any top-100 lists this year if he continues to put up those sort of numbers. Also pretty notable that his once-raw approach looks pretty mature now – although he’s striking out a bit too much for my liking.
As far as I recall, a lot of prospect mavens downgrade him for not being very toolsy, which seems unfair to me. If the guy can hit and play his position solidly (both of which looks good bets so far), so what if he’s not the most athletic?
To expand your point Monk, the hit tool should trump all for position players. See Allen Craig. For a system that has been devoid of corner outfield prospects for a number of draft classes, it’s nice to see the depth we currently have. OT @ AA, Ramsey @ A+, Garcia @ A-.
An issue with Garcia may be that he’s not very “projectable.” He’s not a big guy, with a frame that he’ll grow into as he reaches maturity, the way OT has. That will limit his future potential to hit the ball hard, which in turn will create a risk that more advanced pitchers will simply go right after him. On the other hand, you don’t grow into plate discipline and pitch recognition. I’m not sure I see a potential top-100 guy here, but to do this well at low A and age 20 is still reasonably encouraging.
I would be absolutely shocked if any major ranking org gave a top 100 nod to Anthony Garcia. He has yet to appear even among the best prospects of his league in either of the last 2 years despite being near the league’s best in OPS and being young for his league. He has a label and it will be hard for him to overcome that.
I have some concern about his K:BB ratio which is deteriorating but it is still at least average. It just is no longer a huge plus for him to go along with his power.
Garcia is actually projected at 6-foot-2 195 lbs according to reports. Though his K Rate is up from last season his ISO is impressive .237 so he has certainly hit for more power this season may be due because of his plus bat speed.
Danny Miranda is another prospect that is having a nice quiet season. He’s got a solid K Rate (22.2%) and Walk Rate (6.8%). He’s averaging 8.29 K/9 as well. He’s a crafty southpaw reliever with an interesting repertoire Fastball 85-87, and his put away/plus pitch Change-Up 77-79. Anyone see him as a LOOGY in the future?
Quite like Miranda but I’d be concerned that his main out pitch is a change. LOOGYs almost exclusively throw a slider or curve, usually with a big side-arm action. He looks more like a potential long-man to me. To be honest I think he was a pretty weak draft in round 8, I think it was. You’re probably better going for a college lefty starter with a breaking ball at that spot, and maybe he turns into a LOOGY in future, rather than drafting a guy whose stuff probably doesn’t play in the majors and who is a reliever already.
Trevor Hoffman collected 400 saves with a changeup his best pitch.
Hoffman also had a low to mid 90′s fastball for most of his career. When his fastball started tailing off, he became a lot more hittable.
Comparing guys in the low minors to once-in-a-lifetime hall of famers is always instructive, I find.
Hoffman was not a LOOGY. Additionally, Hoffman was a fastball/slider guy until he hurt his shoulder in 94 of 95, after making the majors. Due to the decrease in his mid-90′s fastball, Hoffman began developing his changeup which did not become a dominant pitch until a couple years later. Hoffman and Miranda are apples and oranges.
Hoffman was also lucky enough to pitch in San Diego, which pushed a good closer into HOF discussions.
According to Joe Strauss of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, the Cardinals “might be willing to include elite prospect Shelby Miller in trade talks” this summer.
Not surprising. Sadly I think he’s the new Colby.
Being the number 1 prospect in our organization is a curse. When is the last time we had one who ended up being a productive cardinal for multiple years?
Well, there was this Pujols guy who was the top-rated prospect going into 2001, if I remember correctly.
Yeah, he’s gone too. ;o[
It would be idiotic to include Shelby in any trade that didn’t bring back an elite player. Shelby is struggling for the first time in his career and is young for his league. I have the same concerns as everyone else but he is still arguably our best pitching prospect – I think it’s fair to question what kind of instruction he’s received in our system when all of a sudden (not on this site, where we pay attention) he doesn’t have the appropriate secondary pitches to succeed.
I’m sure they would only trade him for an elite player, i.e. Hamels.
Does Hamels come with an extension in that scenario?
Is it normal for college seniors to go straight to Palm Beach like Ramsey?
No, not at all. Just the opposite, in fact.
Ramsey is 22 already, so it’s not *crazy* aggressive to place him in high-A…but it IS the most difficult placement for a college hitter (given it’s the FSL, and that it’s also Palm Beach/Jupiter) in ANY organization in the last 8-10 years, I believe.
As for Anthony Garcia, the estimable John Sickels saw Garcia in person a few weeks ago, and described him as roughly 6′ 2″ and 195, so he’s plenty big enough to sustain his borderline elite power. The tremendous assist/error/games played ratio this year is extremely encouraging, as well. Oh, and yesterday’s bomb was crushed off of Justin Nicolino, a *very* promising Blue Jays prospect who doesn’t surrender many taters.
Garcia is already *easily* a top-100 prospect. If others don’t think so, they’re simply mistaken; by the midseason metrics at Baseball America, Garcia is having one of the best 3 or 4 seasons of any corner outfielder in all the minors. After back-to-back excellent 2010/11 seasons. I have him around #50 right now, and fully expect Anthony to skip over Palm Beach next year, and succeed in AA at age 21. Not thrive, perhaps…but definitely succeed.
The players that Strauss mentioned were Greinke and Dempster.
I doubt in-division deals will get done. Especially with 2 teams that have chased the cards for the last decade.