Batavia had to win both of the games in their double-header today to have a chance at the playoffs, but they lost both of them. Springfield, however, overcame a disappointing outing from Carlos Martinez to take game 1 of the Texas League’s North Division Series thanks to Chris Swauger‘s power display. Details after the jump…
Springfield 8, Tulsa 6 (Texas League’s North Division Series – Game 1, Final in 10 innings)
- Chris Swauger swatted 3 HRs, accounting for 4 of Springfield’s RBIs. During the regular season, Swauger hit 13 HRs in 352 PAs. His slugging (.474) was 2nd to Oscar Taveras (.572) for players with 250+ PAs at double-A Springfield, but his isolated power (.175) ranked 4th on the team behind Taveras (.251), Xavier Scruggs (.207), and Jamie Romak (.185).
- Greg Garcia also homered, though his was slightly more efficient, bringing in 3 runs.
- Xavier Scruggs was 2-for-4.
- Kolten Wong, Jermaine Curtis, Oscar Taveras, and Jamie Romak singled.
- Carlos Martinez had a poor start: 4 IP, 6 R, 7 H (2 HR), 3 BB, & 2 K. He allowed 2 runs over each of the first 3 frames before pitching a clean 4th inning.
- Justin Wright (2 IP, 1 K) and Deryk Hooker (1 IP, 1 K) combined for 3 perfect innings.
- Eric Fornataro contributed another 2 scoreless innings that included 2 H & 1 K.
- Keith Butler picked up the save: 1 IP, 1 K.
Batavia 0, Jamestown 1 (Game 1)
- Batavia was only able to scrounge up 3 singles in the first game. They belonged to Danny Stienstra, Steven Ramos, and Bruce Caldwell.
- Breyvic Valera, Danny Stienstra, and David Washington drew walks.
- Tyler Melling pitched well: 4 IP, 0 R, 3 H, 0 BB, & 3 K.
- Corey Baker took the loss but wasn’t terrible: 2 IP, 1 R, 2 H, 0 BB, & 1 K.
Batavia 2, Jamestown 3 (Game 2)
- Jacob Wilson hit his 6th HR.
- Matthew Young was 2-for-3.
- Reggie Williams walked.
- Ildemaro Vargas, David Washington, and Kolby Byrd singled.
- Tim Cooney was pulled after 1 inning and 3 runs (2 earned) on 2 H & 1 BB.
- Joseph Scanio had a strong appearance: 3 IP, 0 R, 2 H, & 3 K.
- Kevin Jacob followed suit: 2 IP, 0 R, 2 K.
BONUS COVERAGE: Congrats to Shelby Miller, who debuted at Busch Stadium today and struck out 4 in 2 innings! It’s great to see him experience some success and reassert himself after a trying first half. What a difference a couple of months can make, eh?
Entries (RSS)
Talisman Taveras now 12-0 lifetime in playoff games. Of course, Chris Swauger deserves some of the credit, too.
I didn’t see the Shelby Debut…can some of you good folks provide details? Gracias!
The link above is a video highlight of Miller
Shelby’s velocity was down in the first inning. Even threw a few at 89 mph. It crept up in his second inning, though. Sat at 93-94 mph. His command was terrific, spotted his fastball on the corners with ease. Even dropped in a few nice changeups.
The Cards’ 4 short-season teams all finished w. winning records:
DSL: 37-33 (.529)
GCL: 34-24 (.586), 3rd best of 14 teams
JC: 39-28 (.582), 3rd of 10 teams
Batavia: 44-32 (.579), 4th of 14 teams
It’ll take a couple years to sort out how many of these guys are actual prospects. A few years ago the Cards made a decision to start using more college guys in JC, as the Twins and other orgs do. The result is 3 straight playoff teams, including 2 championships. They got some nice production from 21- and 22-year-old guys (like Jeremy Schaffer), but of course those aren’t the guys we’re following here.
Batavia is similar. Tyler Melling, who pitched what was the de facto elimination game yesterday, just turned 24. But then again, two of the most interesting players — Valera and Wisdom — just turned 20 and 21.
Those guys, along with the teenagers at JC (Kelly, Ehrlich, McElroy, Jeffries), are the ones that make me hope winning records in short-season ball mean we have some genuine prospects moving up through the system.
So do you think that idea here is that winning at the lower levels contributes to a players attitude and over all success when those players reach the major leagues?
I don’t know! I just think it’s an interesting question.
The class of 2005-2006 included Jay, Craig, Garcia, Freese (a 2006 pick of the Padres), Hamilton, Greene, etc. The one time they all played on the same team for an extended period, they won the PCL in 2009.
We all know what they did for the 2011 WS team.
Now we have a new group coming up that’s won at several levels. Somebody noted that Taveras’ teams have now gone 12-0 in playoff games. A lot of the guys at Springfield right now were either on JC in ’10, QC last year, or both: Taveras, Wong, G. Garcia, Martinez, Siegrist …
And then you have Rosenthal, who was on all 3 teams but couldn’t make it to this year’s TL playoffs. (Forget what his excuse is …)
Probably too many variables to figure out if it means anything. Just kind of fun to think about.
I would prefer to have my prospects win games than lose games. However, having prospects is still more important than winning. However, I do not completely dismiss the idea that playing “winning” baseball is valuable, but I do think talent is more important.
I think the Cards try to cultivate a winning culture (not so much this year at Memphis…), and unless there is evidence that it is hinderng prospect development, it seems like a reasonable thing to do. I also think it is better for the businesses of the minor league teams. Of course, this is only as long as it is not materially hindering prospect development. Yet, based on the current system I would presume that the prospects are devloping fine.
I think its about the individual and not the team.
Take Miller. He needs to develop his offspeed stuff. So you are facing a guy hitting .250 in AAA. You have an 0-2 count. I bet Miller can throw a fastball by him up in the zone. I know a situation like that would never call for a weak change up. But the key for miller is to develop that pitch, so he throws it there.
You loose the battle, but you are wanting to win the war.
MiLB has their end-of-the-year Top 20 Cardinals prospects at http://cardinals.mlb.com/mlb/prospects/watch/y2012/#list=stl.
Thanks for posting.
Kind of an odd list. I don’t think many will have Ramsey ranked ahead of Piscotty or Wisdom, given his age, limited ceiling, and the fact the Cards aren’t exactly in need of lefty-hitting outfielders. But that’s Mayo.
That’s a pretty poor list. Cleto @ #10? That’s ridiculous. He couldn’t beat out Marte for a Sept. callup. I wonder whether Cleto will be a Cardinal this time next year. How is Robert Stock the #14 prospect as a pitcher? That’s insane. No Adron Chambers. No Greg Garcia. No Patrick Wisdom. No Jorge Rondon. No Seth Maness.
No Sam Freeman.
Not sure Freeman is in my top 20 either. unless he has more appearances like his last one where he strike out a few batters, he wont be. His inability to miss bat is worrisome to me.
You don’t have Sam Freeman ahead of Cleto and Stock? I was just throwing out names that IMHO should have made any prospect list ahead of Cleto and Stock. Even though this is Cleto’s sixth year as a professional (thus, I think he has peaked and is no longer a prospect) I can at least see the argument for him at the bottom of the top 20 as he had a reasonable FIP in Memphis this season. But he has completely blown major chunks each time he got called up to the MLB. In 13.1 MLB innings, Cleto’s ERA+ is 46. Stock has to prove he is a prospect as a pitcher after two years catching.
I definitely have him above Stock. Cleto has at least shown the potential to be an above average major league pitcher. Between Cleto and Freeman I could probably flip a coin – but neither makes my top 20 I dont think.
i wonder if the writer has some inside info regarding how the club sees Blazek. He has been pretty good in relief. Just not top 20 good (the bar is high for relief pitchers).
Cleto has also flashed a lot of inconsistent through his short MLB tenure still some upside left just very raw.
I think Cleto’s highest and best use is as a back end starter. But that will never happen for him in the Cardinals organization. We are too deep. Also, his command is too poor for him to be useful to the Cardinals as a reliever. I don’t expect him to last in our organization nor to make any more appearances at the MLB level for the Cardinals. Now with Houston … .
Why are you citing Cleto’s ML ERA in 13 innings as meaning anything? Better to look at his K rate in the ML and AAA; not his ERA/FIP, which is inflated by a wholly unsustainable HR/FB rate.
I agree, Pretty poor list In my opinion. Blazek even on the top 20 list ? really ? cleto at #10 ? Gast # 9 ? fontero ramsey gorgen also probaly shouldn’t be on the list. Pretty Poorly done
Apparently Mayo still thinks Blazek has missed bats.
I’ve been high on Fornataro’s stuff in relief this season. This kid has a live arm sits in the low-to-mid 90s on his FB mixed in a big loopy curve-ball that showed some swing and miss ability and uses it effectively to keeps hitters off balance producing a lot of groundballs (55.0% GB Rate). He’s getting some consideration for my list.
Jorge Rondon?
Again, I’ve got him ahead of Cleto and Stock. He is a relief pitcher thus the comp. I have him as a sleeper candidate for 2013 breakout. Just looked at his profile now and didn’t realize he is just one year younger than Cleto. Oops. Anthony Garcia is my other pet sleeper breakout candidate for 2013.
I’m not even sure they will put Rondon on the 40 man roster this Winter which I believe they need to do to keep him from becoming a minor league FA.
I assume Fornataro, and Siegrist will be placed on the 40 man roster this winter to protect them from the Rule 5 draft since they both will be eligible. Also I saw Tommy Pham was a minor league FA is that true?
Pham will be a minor league FA this coming off season is that true?
It also looks like we are going to have to go through an entire off season again with Anthony Garcia getting no respect.
Inconceivable…Mayo should just wait until this site publishes his list before making a fool of himself. I really dont want to be harsh as these guys need to know something about a lot of pitchers, but when neither Shelby or C-Mart make your list of top ten right handers you know to take these rankings with a grain of salt.
I would put Garcia in the 7 range of Cardinals prospects.
“Wacha didn’t use a changeup often, but showed some feel for it and it has a chance to be a good pitch.”
If credibility wasn’t already lost, this put the nail in the coffin. The change was known as an advanced pitch even when he was still with A&M.
Tulsa had Troy Tulowitski starting at SS in that playoff game, no fair!
Seedlings to stars previews the Cardinals 8 prospects going to the AFL.
http://seedlingstostars.com/2012/09/04/2012-arizona-fall-league-delegates-st-louis-cardinals/
Whiting write-up was interesting. He has a cut fastball that gets no respect but is effective. His great skill is that he has a great repertoire of avg pitches that move differently as they approach the plate. He has the change and cut fastball that run arm side, straight fastball, and a slider and curve that run glove side.
Just a deceptive dude. He is my sleeper prospect pick for next year as I think he will excel in AA.
Just became more intrigued in Whiting because of his repertoire and deceptiveness it will be interesting to see how he fares out in TL against more advanced hitters.
Per MLB.com
“St. Louis Cardinals Minor League first baseman Alan Ahmady has been suspended for 50 games without pay following a second violation for a drug of abuse. The suspension of Ahmady, who is currently on the roster of the Single-A Palm Beach Cardinals of the Florida State League, will be effective at the start of next season.”
Since Ahmady is a two-time offender, once for a PED and the second time for a “drug of abuse”, I would be very disappointed if he is a member of the STL organization in 2013. Ahmady has now embarassed the organization and himself twice. Give his playing time to someone else in the organization who is working hard to advance up the minor league ladder.