Springfield now leads the Texas League Championship Series 2-0 thanks to a 2-out, 6-run rally in the 8th inning. Every player in Springfield’s lineup reached base safely. Seth Maness answered the bell today by missing bats, avoiding free passes, and keeping the ball on the ground. Click the link for more details…
- Oscar Taveras was 1-for-3 with a double.
- Audry Perez was 1-for-4 with a double and 2 RBIs.
- Xavier Scruggs was 2-for-4 with 2 RBIs.
- Greg Garcia had a single, walk, and RBI.
- Adam Melker had a single and RBI.
- Mike O’Neill singled and walked.
- Kolten Wong singled.
- Jamie Romak and Jermaine Curtis walked.
- Seth Maness pitched very well: 7.0 IP, 2 R (both unearned), 4 H, 0 BB, & 6 K. He also induced 10 groundouts against 5 flyouts.
- Deryk Hooker was credited with the “win” despite being responsible for Springfield’s worst pitching performance of the night: 1 IP, 2 R, 1 H (1 HR), 1 BB, & 2 K.
- Keith Butler struck out the side in a perfect 9th inning for his 4th save of the playoffs.
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Funny how baseball works out sometimes. Hooker’s ineffective inning still gets the win. Oh well, at least the 2 run jack was hit by Napoli. I read that he only gets to play the 1st 2 games. Nice job by Springfield scoring 6 runs in the 8th. Maybe we should trade teams…. ha…
Good job Maness.
One of the best games I ever saw!!! True Cardinal Way of playing baseball. NEVER GIVE UP!!
Starting pitching galore. AAA and AA are going to be just loaded next year. Every day, even more so than this season, will be fun to check the rundown of how the starters did that day. 1 more win Springfield.
Also, coach for AA also won back-to-back Rookie league championships, going for a 3rd championship in a row. Not too shabby.
Not that the group of guys he’s had have helped out much…
OT is also going for his 3rd championship in a row.
OT is a just a winning player advancing through the system plays with a lot of swag to his game.
So is Rosenthal…… :)
Why no Wacha? Pretty sure today was his 5th day.
Good point John, about the AA and AAA rotations for next April.
At Memphis, I’m guessing it’ll be Carlos M., plus Maness, Gast, Lyons, and one from among Rosenthal, Kelly, and Miller.
In AA, I see Wacha, Whiting, Gaviglio, Siegrist, and one from among Swagerty, Castillo, Ferrera, and Ryan Sheriff.
Pretty crowded at both places — and I’m almost certainly forgetting someone, too. Um, Dickson and Additon both on the outside looking in, I suppose.
Oh, and Way To Go, Springfield! Five straight two-out hits, to plate six runs. What a way to send the crowd home happy, from the final home game of the year! Kudos to Butler for coming in and fanning the side, too.(I wonder if he or Fornataro could inherit the Mujica role in a couple of years….)
With Carpenter, Waino, Garcia, Lynn and Westbrook in Stl next season, potential exists for 2 or all 3 of Rosie, Miller and Kelly to return to Memphis. Definite roster issues upcoming for Mo and Cantrovitz. Will be interesting to see what happens w/ the MLB, AAA and AA rotations in regard to trades, promotions, demotions, etc….
i would put kelly in pen before i send him to memphis
rosie would be my first choice to send back there not because he hasnt been good
but i think it would be good for him
shelby i think will make the rotation out of spring training
My prediction is that all of the Big 3 stay up. Kelly has proven himself, Rosenthal is starting to be used in leveraged situations now and Miller has done well so far. I think one will make the rotation, and two will be in the pen. I’m still not convinced that Carp will last. I’m not sure what Salas’s situation is, but I doubt he or Sanchez are around next season. I’m pretty sure 2 will make the big club next season. If they decide to send one down, I think it will be Miller.
After TJ surgery, the fact he has little experience as a starter, and the plethora of starters in our system ahead of him, I think Swaggerty should go to the pen and stay there. Swaggerty could be available to help the big club next year out of the pen. As a starter, he’ll need to go to AA and will be a long way off. I’d put Swaggerty in the AAA pen to start 2013 assuming he is able to get hitters out in ST. Also, I think both Rosenthal and Miller begin 2013 in Memphis as starters (assuming Carp is good to go in 2013). If they need a right handed arm in the pen at STL to start the year, there is Kelly.
Interesting you have Gaviglio bypassing High A and jumping all the way to Double A Springfield.
Additon will be a minor league FA – doubt he’ll be back
Oops, not sure about that as he was a draft and follow – need to check
at this point I must agree with JJray. JJ seems to have the SP rotation well thought out.
Starting Swaggerty in the rotation does not mean that he could not help the big league club in the pen next year. Clubs often put pitchers in the starting rotation because it gives them more of a chance to work on their pitches. I would think the Cardinals would like to somewhat limit Swags innings next year so a Wacha type deal might work for him where he pitches 2-3 innings every 4-5 days.
and that’s the reason Swags was in a starting rotation to help him develop his other secondary stuff alongside his live fastball. Will be interesting to see how Swags pitches in his first season off TJ surgery.
I think we see him start in the pen for AA or AAA for the beginning of the season. Let him get the feel of coming back and limit his innings over the course of the season. After the first month or two I think he moves to a starter role to continue to develop his pitchers. I think he is a reliever all the way though for the big league team, short and long term.
If Swags is a starter in AA, they are not going to jump him from there directly to the big club bullpen. I know it happened this year with Rosenthal but that move spoke to lack of prospects in the Memphis bullpen (other than Sanchez who pretty much sucked this season). You put Swags in AA as a starter and it handicaps his ability to be able to jump up to the big club. Experience at AAA is important for a successful transition to the MLB. I just don’t think there will ever be a need for Swagerty to start in St. Louis. I don’t buy the argument that Swagerty went to the rotation to work on his secondary stuff. What secondary pitches are you working on with him??? He’s got one of the best sliders in the system and a good change up. What reliever needs more than 3 pitches? I think he went to the rotation because the organization realized he has three plus pitches and thought he had the potential to be a starter. That was before Lynn, Kelly and Rosenthal emerged and we drafted Wacha. I just don’t think Swagerty is ever going to sniff the rotation unless a claymore mine goes off in the Cardinals dugout.
2013
————–
Wainwright
Carp **
Garcia
Lynn
Westbrook **
—
Kelly
Rosenthal
Miller
Martinez
Wacha
Maness
** last contract year
That’s a lot of names ahead of Swags. Where did the Cards need help the most this season? Right handed setup out of the bullpen. That said, if we traded away starting pitching off of the above list this winter to get a young stud SS then the analysis would change. SS is the one thing we might give up crown jewels for in trade.
Lyons? Dickson? Gast?
Whiting? Castillo? Siegrist? Gaviglio? Gorgen? as mentioned above, and will Tyrell Jenkins finally break out in a big way? How quickly will Silfredo Garcia advance?
I think there will be a cleaning out of the Memphis pitching staff; Dickson, Additon, Todd, Greenwood, Gaub, Reifer just to mention a few.
I wouldn’t put Lyons or Dickson that list (of pitchers who would be rank ahead of Swags as a starter) but you got me with Gast. Definitely belongs.
Fangraphs chats with 2B prospect Kolten Wong. http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/index.php/fangraphs-audio-cardinals-prospect-kolten-wong/
while most pitchers come back from TJ surgery in 12-14 months now, not all of them do (see our own Scott Gorgen!). I think penciling him in to start the season anywhere is a little iffy.
BA just posted its classification all-stars:
http://www.baseballamerica.com/today/minors/awards/classification-all-stars/2012/2614038.html
OT is a AA all-star and AA player of the year.
The only other Cardinal on the lists is Steve Turco, manager for the GCL Cards, who was named mgr of the year for all rookie leagues.
OT was also named a first-team all-star for all minor leagues:
http://www.baseballamerica.com/today/minors/awards/minor-league-all-stars/2012/2614036.html
They clearly didn’t make their choices at Short A based on stats. Lee Stoppelman’s numbers tower over the RP they selected….not even close. I’m sure the guy got it because he lights up the radar gun.