Sunday was excellent for the Cardinals as they handily defeated the maligned Reds and went undefeated in the minor leagues, with the system’s two top pitching prospects excelling. Even Memphis looked like they knew how to play baseball.
- Adron Chambers continues his quietly strong season, hitting a home run and walking twice.
- Steven Hill had the performance of the night, with two home runs and a double. The Cardinals could do worse for a bench bat/emergency catcber when rosters expand.
- At this point, Memphis is filling out its lineup cards with made-up names, as strong-man Brock Peterson hit his second home run since being salvaged from the independent leagues.
- Eugenio Velez was 2-4 with a double.
- Vince Albitz was 1-3 with a walk.
- Shelby Miller didn’t keep up the insanely low walk rate from his past few starts but was nonetheless quite good, racking up 7 strikeouts in 5.2 innings with 3 walks and 2 hits, one of them a solo shot. Shelby’s GB% has been lackluster this season, sitting at 34%, which makes his 6-2 GO-FO an encouraging figure.
- The relief corps were good as well, with Maikel Cleto allowing only 1 hit in his 2.1 innings and Victor Marte striking out every batter he faced swinging in the ninth
- Oscar Taveras was out of the line up again, with hamstring troubles. According to Mike Shildt, he could have played today but they “don’t think we want to push it”.
- On-base machine Greg Garcia was 3-4 with a walk.
- Kolten Wong and Jermaine Curtis were 1-4 with a walk.
- Jamie Romak and Adam Melker each went 2-4, hitting their 6th home runs of the year, respectively. Melker’s home run was a grand slam.
- Mike O’Neill was 3-4 with a pair of doubles.
- Carlos Martinez has had the inverse problem of Shelby: he doesn’t have quite the strikeout totals but can consistently keep the ball on the ground. Like Shelby, he showed some encouraging progress on his weaker front, striking out 6 in 6 IP. He also walked 1 and gave up a home run.
Palm Beach was cancelled. Quad Cities was postponed.
- Stephen Ramos was 2-4.
- Danny Stienstra was 3-4 with a double.
- Patrick Wisdom hit a two run triple. His plate discipline was a big draw for the 2012 draft pick and has so far been proven true with a 12% BB rate and .384 wOBA. He also might have some power in store with the second most home runs on the team, tied for the most triples and third most doubles. He’s also one of the youngest on the team at age 20.
- Jacob Wilson hit a grand slam.
- David Popkins had a double and a walk.
- Corey Baker cruised through 6 shutout innings, striking out 4 and walking a pair.
- Christopher Thomas pitched a scoreless ninth with a strikeout.
- The J City offense exploded with 20 hits, batting around in a 6 run sixth. Carson Kelly was the only starter without a hit.
- C.J. McElroy was 3-4 with a double.
- Ildemaro Vargas was 4-5 with a double.
- Jeremy Schaffer was 2-4 with a home run.
- Bruce Caldwell was 2-4 with a double and a walk.
- Gerwuins Velazco was 2-5.
- Cesar Valera was 2-5 with a double.
- Ronard Castillo was 3-5 with a double.
- Trevor Martin had a double and a walk.
- Thomas Lee struck out 7 to 1 walk in 6.0 IP but allowed 4 runs on 9 hits.
Entries (RSS)
Players currently in hot streaks: Steven Hill, Mike ONeill, Danny Steinstra, and Bruce Caldwell. Hill is on course for a September callup. ONeill is off to a great start in AA and might be playing his way into starting next year in M emphis. Steinstra is 23 and in his 2nd season in Batavia. I would send him to Palm Beach to start next year. Caldwell jumps to QC next year with Mejia injured. Shaffer and Vargas also to QC with B. Valera to PB.
That was quick! The GCL Cards lost a one-game semifinal playoff yesterday to end their season:
http://www.milb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20120826&content_id=37387936&fext=.jsp&vkey=news_milb
One bright spot: Steve Bean threw out both guys who tried to steal against him. It wasn’t much of a season for Bean offensively, but if he can be an impact player with his arm, it’s worth waiting for his bat to catch up.
KPW may be similar. He hasn’t done much with the bat in 2 seasons in the GCL (he’s just 1 month older than Bean, despite being in last year’s draft class), but the team seems to get a lot of DPs when he’s at SS. I have yet to read a review of his defense as a pro, but it would sure be nice to develop a pure shortstop.
Both guys should play at JC next year at 19. Plenty of time for both guys to develop as hitters.
Don’t run on Mr. Bean!
Okay so you got me to look at the GCL. Now I want to know who lefty Josh Renfro is? 31 K’s in 26 innings and gave up only 1 earned run.
Good luck figuring out what any GCL stats mean.
Michael Wacha gave up more home runs (1) than Max Foody (0).
Wacha was able to succeed once he escaped from the pitching hell that is the Gulf Coast League, but Foody wasn’t so lucky: In 16.1 innings he gave up 26 hits and 16 walks, and hit 3 guys for good measure. That left him with an astounding WHIP of 2.57. Two and a half baserunners per inning!
Then you have a ton of guys like Renfro, who made it look easy.
Luis Perez and Brett Wiley finished 2nd and 3rd in the GCL in wOBA (.412 and .397).
Is that meaningful? Don’t know. Both are 20, but Perez is in his 4th season of short-season ball (2 in the DSL, 2 in the GCL), and Wiley in his first.
On the other-other hand, Perez is playing 2B for the first time since 2009. (He was primarily a catcher.) And on whatever hand is left over, he’s hit about the same all 4 years as a pro. I can only guess that his defense held him back.
Actually Bean had a good 50 AB’s in the GCL. He hit .320, with a .424 OBP, .400 slugging and .824 OPS. Obviously an extremely small sample, but not bad. It was at Johnson City that he struggled coming out of high school in June.
Bean didn’t struggle in Johnson City he was over matched 10-for-80 .125 AVG in JC.
In 15 GCL games he had 12 singles and 4 doubles, for 20 total bases. He also had 8 BB and 11 strikeouts.
Without seeing him play, it looks like he held his own. Still a bit young for that level, and playing against a lot of guys who may be his age but who already have a year or two of pro ball in the DSL or VSL.
Cleto has also been pitching well lately. With five scoreless outings in a row and 8 out of nine. It would be nice to see him finally come around.
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch’s Joe Strauss is tweeting that the Cardinals are thinking about promoting Shelby Miller in September. Power arm in the pen or just interested observer? We will see.
If true, then what would be the corresponding roster move? At this point, the only way I see them doing that is if they feel pretty good about Miller making the Club in 2013 since his Rule 5 eligibility won’t occur until after the 2013 season. They will also have to feel pretty comfortable about whoever they release.
I guess we actually have several drop options: Gaub, Anderson, Kozma
They have 39 on the 40 man roster, so, IN SEPTEMBER, they could add Miller without having to cut anyone.
True, but I think Berkman coming off the DL takes it back to 40. I’m not a knowledgeable roster guru, but I believe we have 39 active and 3 on the DL for a total of 42.
Only guys on the 60 day DL don’t count against the 40 man (and Fuentes, who is on the restricted list). Berkman’s status doesn’t change the 40 man numbers.
It is highly likely Miller would be added to the 40 man sometime during the 2013 season so the opportunity cost of adding him now is one less spot on the 40 man roster this winter before the Rule V draft. I haven’t seen the matrix of the players who need to be added this winter but we currently have have players on the 40 man who are unlikely to be there this winter. I personally wouldn’t add Shelby just to up and be a spectator. They may be looking for another long reliever. Miller is an upgrade over Dickson but won’t they bump up Rosenthal in a few days? So I wonder if it makes sense to promote both Rosenthal and Miller.
This needs to happen. He could really help the team out of the pen in September, especially with Lynn’s struggles and uncertainty about how long Kelly’s going to be able to last. We could sort of piggy-back those guys to reduce their innings and avoid having them go through the order more than once or twice.
You have to be impressed with Carlos Martinez season. The GB/FB ratio has to make you think he can start even considering his frame and frankly with his stuff I bet he can reach into the tool box and pull a wipe out curve or a high 90′s ball when he needs the K. I need to see him in person again.
I was able to watch Martinez pitch once again in person last night for Springfield. Martinez has recoiled his delivery again still is less violent but it is much smoother in the finish looks easy and repeated his delivery consistently. Martinez doesn’t throw a wipe away curve-ball that pitch is actually a developing pitch currently but in the starts that i’ve seen him pitch he’s used his mid-to-high 90s fastball and change-up as his put away pitches.
When I saw him last year he had that curveball. It is a very nasty pitch, I assume he was having issues with consistency on it – true plus pitch.
Not farm related, but happen to notice Colby is slumping. last 10 games BA .059. SO 12 of last 15 plate appearances. WOW
Should keep an eye on Mike O’Neil 5-foot-9 170 lbs. O’Neil is 11-for-22 .500 AVG 4 doubles 6 walks 3 SB in 8 games so far in Springfield. O’Neil is a very scrappy hitter not a lot of pop but is a very smart hitter that knows the strike zone well also flashed some decent speed/hustle kid plays hard.
Also another thing to note. O’Neil has a black belt in karate. He is tough little rascal.
O’neil sure is looking impressive so far. I assume his defense is adequate at least and he can at east fill in in CF. Probably not a starter with that power but if he can play some late inning defense and pinch hit he can be a valuable player off the bench.
Didn’t notice much about his defense but yes he is versatile play multiple positions. Could be a solid utility player.
Shelby Miller last 5 starts owns a 3.29 ERA 3.20 FIP 4 walks 44 K in his last 5 starts. Miller plus plus fastball is certainly back.
It will be interesting to see how Illdemaro Vargas fares out against more advanced pitchers in higher levels next season because he is currently leading the Appy League in hits at 73. Vargas .328/.394/.453/.847 makes consistent contact with a line drive swing one of the better defender on the JC team excellent range at 2B definitely a positional prospect to watch next season.
Curious, are they allowed to have players with the major league team but not in official uniform? Kind of a job shadow with no promotion?