Last year, I was sitting in the same chair in front of this same borrowed computer when I learned that the Cardinals had traded Jim Edmonds for David Freese.  At the time, it seemed that the best part of the deal for the Cardinals was that they were shedding some payroll and opening up a spot for Colby Rasmus. 

As it turns out, Rasmus didn’t take that spot, but the trade did arguably provide the ample playing time that Ludwick needed to have his breakout year.  It also turned out that David Freese was no mere throw in.  He has become a legitimate prospect that probably deserves a shot to play 3B in the majors at some point in the next couple of years. 

What started out as a salary dump (at least in my mind) turned into a steal.  Merry Christmas indeed!

I think I can speak for all of the writers at Future Redbirds when I say that we hope you all have a very happy and safe holiday season.  Maybe the Cardinals will come through with another Christmas surprise under the tree this year.

At a high level, comparisons to Brett Wallace do make a lot of sense. Both played in the Pac-10 (although Craig played all over the field during his college career, including LF, 1B, SS and 3B) and both are much more highly regarded for their bat than their glove. The superficial differences between the two are that Wallace bats lefthanded while Craig bats righthanded, Wallace weighs about 45 pounds more than Craig and Wallace is two years younger than Craig.

The consensus is that Brett Wallace is a future major leaguer and probably a well-above average offensive major leaguer. If Allen Craig is Wallace-lite (both literally and figuratively), what kind of value does Craig bring to the Cardinals organization?

Craig played High School ball in California (also like Brett Wallace) and then went to Cal, where he played for four years. In his four years at Cal he improved every season, capping off his college career with a .344/.403/.561 line his senior season which also included eleven home runs in 221 at bats. If you want to be picky, the only negative that you could point out is that he only walked in about 6% of his plate appearances, but it’s tough to quibble with a lack of walks when he was mashing everything thrown to him. Meanwhile he was striking out in about 10% of his plate appearances, which is an acceptable amount for a guy with his power profile.

Still, when it came time for the 2006 draft, Craig was not taken until the eighth round. He was listed as a shortstop when taken and Baseball America said at the time that he had “an injury-riddled career at California” and that he was “an offensive player without a defined position.” According to the Cal baseball website, he was injured in a collision at first base during his Freshman year of college and missed 17 games with an injury to his hand and wrist, but I couldn’t find any other mention of injuries and he seemed to play in almost all of Cal’s games during the rest of his career. Whatever the reason, whether injury concerns or positional concerns, the Cardinals appear to have gotten a steal in the eighth round.

In his professional debut, Craig’s numbers were down from the levels he set in college, but they were respectable nonetheless. In 48 games in the New York-Penn League he put up a line of .257/.325/.400 with four homeruns. The next season, however, he was back to his old self, tearing up pitching while playing for Palm Springs and putting up a line of .312/.370/.530 with 21 homeruns. Craig’s walk rate had improved since college, as well, taking the base on balls in 7.5% of his plate appearances (although he was striking out at a higher clip as well: 16.9% of the time). His performance earned him a seven game call up to Springfield at the end of the season and he made the most of it by hitting three homeruns.

Despite his offensive success in 2007, the Cardinals were unsure about Craig’s future. He had committed 18 errors at third base, which was cause for concern. That offseason, the Cardinals further complicated Craig’s future by trading Jim Edmonds to the Padres for prospect David Freese. Freese promptly jumped over Craig on the depth chart, skipping Springfield and starting 2008 in Memphis while Craig spent the year in Springfield.

Another complication that added to the backlog at the hot corner was that the Cardinals then went and drafted Wallace with their first round pick in June. Wallace was fast-tracked and was playing alongside Craig at Springfield by the end of the season.

But, in the face of seeming lack of faith in him, Craig continued to hit throughout 2008. He put up a .304/.374/.494 line with 22 homeruns in Springfield and increased his walk rate to 8.5%. According to the Baseball Prospectus, Craig’s peak translations (what he is likely to do in his peak years based on statistical extrapolation) is this: .284/.348/.472. The OPS of 820 that would represent would be 10th among third basemen at the major league level last season.

The question, of couse, has never really been about Craig’s bat, though. He followed up his 18 error performance in 2007 with 17 more in 2008. The Cardinals periodically played Craig in leftfield throughout the year and he did not make an error (or record an assist) in his 17 games patrolling the outfield. As an outfielder his OPS isn’t quite as impressive, as he would have been 40th in the league last season (although that still puts him in the top half of starting outfielders).

So, to answer the question posed above, the value Craig adds to the organization is a guy that projects to be a very solid major league bat – I’m thinking that Josh Willingham might be a good comp. Whether Craig becomes trade bait because of the backlog at third base or the Cardinals hold onto him and use him at third or left field, the Cardinals should receive a good return on their eighth round pick.

[Note: for more on Craig in his own words, check out Erik's great interview with him from earlier this year]

Jaime Garcia

Obviously, Garcia is the elephant in the room in this discussion.  There is no silver bullet when it comes to injuries with pitchers – we can’t point to a violation of the Verducci Rule by a young pitcher and say with certainty that he would not have been injured if his innings had been limited.  Some pitchers are destined to get injured no matter how much you baby them.  So don’t jump on me if what I’m about to tell you looks like a causality argument:

• Jaime Garcia, 2005: Unknown high school innings, 8 instructional league innings
• Jaime Garcia, 2006: 155 combined innings between A and A+
• Jaime Garcia, 2007: 103.1 innings in AA – season truncated due to elbow discomfort
• Jaime Garcia, 2008: 122 combined innings in AA, AAA, and MLB – season truncated for TJ Surgery

155 innings seems like an awful lot for a guy coming out of high school and pitching in his first full professional season.  I took a random sampling of eleven pitchers drafted out of high school (CC Sabathia, Josh Beckett, Ryan Anderson, Matt White, Boof Bonser, Adam Eaton, Mike Stodolka, Sean Burnett, Jon Garland, Jake Westbrook and Adam Wainwright – obviously this is somewhat tilted towards guys that ended up in the big leagues and/or guys that were drafted early in the draft) and only three had more innings than Garcia in their first full professional season and all of those three had more substantial partial seasons than Garcia after getting drafted (also, one, Sean Burnett, had TJ surgery when he was in the minors and another, Jake Westbrook, has battled elbow problems his whole career).  Ok, fine – small sample size, I know.  The point is that the 20/20 vision of hindsight makes that 155 innings look bad (lesson learned?  it will be interesting to see how many innings Anthony Ferrara gets next year).

All that being said, having TJ surgery at this point in his career isn’t necessarily the worst thing in the world.  Better now than when he is in the majors earning time towards free agency.  I had hoped that Garcia would be able to compete for a job in the big league rotation next year, but I wouldn’t expect to see Garcia in the majors again until late 2010 (he’ll still only be 24).

Adam Ottavino

Adam was one of my true disappointments on the year (I had picked him to be the organizational pitcher of the year).  He did not take the step forward that I had hoped to see.  Here is his workload history:

• Adam Ottavino, 2004: 63.2 innings at Northeastern University
• Adam Ottavino, 2005: 96 innings at Northeastern University
• Adam Ottavino, 2006: 159.2 combined innings at Northeastern University, A- and A
• Adam Ottavino, 2007: 143.1 innings at A+
• Adam Ottavino, 2008: 115.1 innings at AA

Adam’s innings were limited somewhat by time off during the season due to injury.  He finished the year healthy, but some worried that he continued to struggle as a result of the injury.  The statistics don’t really seem to bear that out, though.  He stuggled mightily in April and the one start he made in May, but when he came back in June he pitched well and his peripheral stats held up for the rest of the season.  It seems to me that if you add back in the twenty or so innings that he missed to injury, Ottavino was probably on pace to throw close to the same number of innings as he had in 2007, which is a conservative pace that I don’t mind.  Let’s hope that the injury was an anomaly and Adam can stay healthy and build on the second half of 2008.

Tyler Herron

Tyler lived up to his standing as one of the Cardinals top prospects during his first stop of the season at Palm Beach, but he struggled once he was moved up to Springfield.  Of course, a lot of 21 year old pitchers struggle in their first exposure to the Texas League.  Here is Tyler’s workload history:

• Tyler Herron, 2005: Unknown high school innings, 49.2 innings in the Rookie League
• Tyler Herron, 2006: 76 combined innings between the Rookie League and A-
• Tyler Herron, 2007: 137.1 innings in A
• Tyler Herron, 2008: 138 combined innings between A+ and AA

Note that Herron was drafted out of high school the same year as Garcia, yet still has not thrown as many innings in a season as Garcia did in his first full season of professional baseball.  Granted, the comparison doesn’t mean a lot, as comparing any two young pitchers is a bit like comparing apples to oranges, but it is interesting to see how differently they have been treated.  Before the season I advocated for a conservative approach to Herron’s workload, hoping for no more than 150 in 2008.  The Cardinals were even more conservative than I had hoped, giving him an almost identical workload to the previous year.  Part of that can probably be attributed to his struggles at Springfield, as he only averaged a little more than 5.1 innings per start.  His workload seems appropriate, given his age and the increase in level.

Clayton Mortensen

No pitcher has moved through the Cardinals system quicker than Mortensen.  Drafted in 2007, he spent more than half of 2008 at triple A, getting promoted to that level with just 120 professional innings under his belt.  He hadn’t exactly dominated at Springfield prior to his promotion, but his solid pitching combined with a need at Memphis and Dave Duncan’s man crush on him during Spring Training resulted in his rise.  He hit a speed bump once he got to Memphis, which is completely expected given his rapid ascent.

• Clayton Mortensen, 2004: 58.1 innings at Treasure Valley JuCo
• Clayton Mortensen, 2005: 88.1 innings at Treasure Valley JuCo
• Clayton Mortensen, 2006: 81 innings at Gonzaga
• Clayton Mortensen, 2007: 180 combined innings between Gonzaga, A- and A
• Clayton Mortensen, 2008: 139.2 combined innings between AA and AAA

I hit this one right on the head, asking for about 140 innings for Mortensen this year.  Prior to the season I expressed concern over the 180 innings he threw in 2007, but he doesn’t appear any worse for the wear.  I appreciate the workload he was given, though, and I would expect better results from him at AAA in 2009 to also include a slow increase in innings.

Mitchell Boggs

Boggs was one of the young pitchers to get his shot starting at the big league level in 2008.  He pitched very well at AAA, but did not find the same success against big league hitters.  Here is his workload history:

• Mitchell Boggs, 2003: 11 innings at Georgia
• Mitchell Boggs, 2004: Did not pitch – tried football
• Mitchell Boggs, 2005: 119 combined innings between Georgia and A-
• Mitchell Boggs, 2006: 145 innings at A+
• Mitchell Boggs, 2007: 152.1 innings at AA
• Mitchell Boggs, 2008: 159.1 combined innings between AAA and MLB

Before the season I thought that the Cardinals had handled Boggs very well in his career, giving him a slow and steady increase in innings as he moved up the ladder.  I wrote that I hoped he received somewhere in the neighborhood of 175-180 innings in 2008, but his shuttling between AAA and MLB probably stopped that from happening.  He was still able to get a small increase in innings while increasing his level, so I’d say that he is still on a good track.  Let’s hope he can build on his 2008 experience and have more success at the next level in 2009.

In other minor league news, the Cardinals signed an extention with Memphis to keep the Cardinals triple A affiliate there for another four years.  This seems like a no-brainer to me: Memphis is a nice city, good sized for a AAA club and in good proximity to St. Louis.  The only surprise for me is that it took this long to put the extention together.

This isn’t prospect related, but I just have to throw this out there: Aaron Miles is starting in left field tonight.

I meant to link to this last night, but when I went to copy the link I couldn’t find the article, even though I’d read it earlier in the day.  Sometimes Baseball America’s site confuses me.  Anyway, DG wrote a quick article about Chris Perez’ positive attitude about his role in the major leagues.  He also has a couple of quick notes about Brett Wallace and Curt Smith.  (Subscription Only)

In this blurb from Matthew Leach this afternoon, he says that TLR says that there is no thought of bringing up Freese or Rasmus or anyone else due to the injuries to Glaus and Ankiel. We already knew that Rasmus wasn’t coming up, but I had kind of hoped that perhaps Freese might get a shot at some playing time in the bigs while Glaus is hurting [note: as I am typing this sentence, Felipe Lopez commits two errors at third base in the second inning of the Cards/Cubs game tonight].

And Batavia keeps the DFR’s coming as they win the best of three series against the Lowell Spinners to advance to the finals against the Jamestown Jammers.

Lowell 2, Batavia 3

• Adam Veres, a late round draft pick this year that I like a lot, had a great outing. He went seven innings and only gave up one run on two hits and a walk while striking out seven.
• Ramon Delgado relieved in the eighth and struck out all three batters he faced.
• Adam Reifer made it interesting in the ninth, giving up a run on a hit and a walk before settling down and closing out the game.
• The offense came from the bottom of the lineup: Chris Swauger was 1-3 with a walk.
• Frederick Parejo was 2-4, Xavier Scruggs was 1-3 and Jose Garcia was 2-3.

Cardinal70: Hello, O King of the Chat! I’d make a tsunami reference but Gustav’s still dumping rain on us here in Arkansas.

What are the odds, in your mind, of TLR packing up at the end of the year? Duncan’s contract is up, the transition is still underway, etc. Or is the fire still there?

Joe Strauss: Read Friday’s Post-Dispatch. I can’t beat myself, so to speak.

• Antonio DeJesus was 1-3 with a pair of walks.
• Steve Hill was 0-2 with a pair of walks.
• Charles Kingrey was 1-2 with a double and a pair of walks.
• Shaun Garceau gave up a pair of runs over 6.2 innings on six hits and four walks. He struck out four.
• Samuel Freeman gave up a pair of runs in two innings pitched on two hits and a walk.
• Pete Parise finished the game off with a strikeout, but not before allowing an inherited runner to score on a base hit.

• Colt Sedbrook and Shane Peterson provided the bright spots in an otherwise ugly game. Sedbrook was 3-4 with a double, a walk and a stolen base. Peterson was 2-3 with a double and a triple.
• Zach Pitts got the start and only gave up one earned run over 4.2 innings, but he also gave up two unearned runs. He allowed two hits and two walks and struck out three.
• The ugliest line of the night goes to Arquimedes Nieto, who lasted only 1.2 innings, but allowed eight earned runs on seven hits and two walks. Blech.

In addition to the Jaime Garcia injury that was discussed in an earlier post, Joe Mather is also out for the season with a hand injury (I know he was in the big leagues and technically not a “Future” Redbird, but I still consider him to be one of ‘our guys’).

Derrick Goold is asking for his readers to weigh in on 2009 prospects in three categories: Top Rookie, Breakout Prospect and Sleeper. Head on over and weigh in, if you are so inclined.

The only two teams left playing were both in action tonight. All the details are… right here (I’m not making you jump for two games):

Daytona 10, Palm Beach 9

• Antonio DeJesus was 2-4 with a triple.
• Pete Kozma and Steve Hill were each 1-4 with a walk. Hill also doubled.
• Matthew Arburr was 1-3 with a homerun and two walks.
• Luke Gorsett was 2-3 with two doubles and two walks.
• Oliver Marmol was 2-4 with two stolen bases and one caught stealing.
• Nick Additon gave up two runs in seven innings on seven hits while striking out two.
• The Casey Mulligan Experience threw 1.2 innings and gave up a run on five (!) hits.
• Samuel Freeman came in and struck out a batter to finish off the seventh inning.
• Pete Parise gave up six unearned runs on four hits over two thirds of an inning. I’m almost too depressed to go on.
• Wayne Daman gave up a run on two hits in 1.1 innings.

Batavia 2, Jamestown 7

• Jermaine Curtis and Shane Peterson were each 2-5. Curtis also doubled.
• Frederick Parejo was 3-4.
• Joshua Hester got the start and gave up four earned runs over 2.1 innings on nine hits. He also was betrayed by his defense, which resulted in an additional three unearned runs during Hester’s time. He did strike out three.
• The bullpen fared much better, starting with Rigoberto Lugo who pitched 1.2 scoreless innings, allowing only one hit.
• Hector Cardenas followed with three scoreless innings, allowing three hits and a walk.
• Daniel Richardson finished the game off with a perfect inning.

The Quad Cities Times had a nice write-up on Curt Smith yesterday. He’s played really well since getting drafted in the 39th round – it will be interesting to see if he is able to continue his success as he moves up the ladder next year.

Five teams were in action today, all the details are after the jump.

Iowa 8, Memphis 3

• It was not a happy day for Clayton Mortensen. He only lasted three innings and gave up eight runs on nine hits and a pair of walks.
• John Wasdin was solid in relief, throwing five scoreless innings and only allowing two hits.
• Matthew Scherer also threw a perfect inning.
• Uncle Rico Washington hit two bombs in going 2-4 on the evening.
• Mark Johnson and Cody Haerther were each 1-3.

Tulsa 11, Springfield 4

• Brandon Dickson‘s struggles at Double A continued. He gave up three runs on six hits and four walks in four innings. He struck out three.
• Jon Mikrut gave up a run in his inning of work and Josh Dew imploded, giving up five runs on four hits and a walk in one inning pitched.
• Luke Gregerson came in and calmed things down by pitching two scoreless innings, but Luis Perdomo gave up a pair of runs in his inning of work, although he did strike out three.
• Daniel Descalso was 2-3 with a double and a walk.
• Allen Craig was 2-3 with a double, a homer and a walk.
• Brett Wallace was 2-4 and is hitting an even .400 since his promotion to Springfield.
• Daryl Jones was 2-4.

St. Lucie 2, Palm Beach 1

• Colby Rasmus‘ rehab took him to Palm Beach. Unfortunately he was 0-3 with a HBP, but he did throw out a runner at third base.
• Antonio DeJesus was 2-4. He’s on a nice little hot streak, going 12 for his last 25.
• Pete Kozma was 1-4 with a double.
• Blake King gave up a pair of runs on four hits and three walks over four innings. He struck out three.
• Samuel Freeman pitched two hitless innings, striking out four.
• The Casey Mulligan Experience bounced back nicely with two scoreless innings. He struck out three.
• Francisco Samuel finished off the game with a scoreless inning, striking out a pair.

Quad Cities 1, Burlington 0

• Richard Castillo had a great start, throwing eight scoreless innings, allowing four hits and a walk and striking out a pair.
• Jared Bradford threw a perfect ninth inning for the save.
• Jon Edwards was 1-3 with a double and a walk.
• Carlos Pupo was 2-4 with a double and a stolen base.

Batavia 11, Williamsport 7

• Charles Cutler had a big night, going 4-5 with a home run.
• Shane Peterson was 3-6 with a double.
• Jose Garcia and Frederick Parejo were each 2-5. Garcia also walked and had a pair of steals.
• George Brown got the start and gave up four runs on seven hits over four innings. He struck out four.
• Thomas Eager followed and gave up one run over four innings on three hits and a walk.
• Daniel Richardson struggled, lasting only two thirds of an inning and giving up two runs on three hits. Adam Reifer came in with two runners on and put out the fire for the save.

Four teams were in action today, all the details are after the jump.

Iowa 4, Memphis 6

• Mitchell Boggs had a rough start, giving up four runs on nine hits and two walks over five innings. He struck out four.
• Ron Flores pitched a pair of scoreless innings and Kelvin Jimenez pitched a scoreless frame.
• Jason Motte got the save by pitching a perfect ninth, striking out two.
• Jarrett Hoffpauir was 2-4 with a homerun.
• David Freese was 1-4 with a double.
• Tyler Greene and Bryan Anderson were each 1-3. Anderson also walked.

Tulsa 3, Springfield 5

• Donovan Solano was 1-4 with a three run homer.
• James Rapoport was 1-3 with a double and a walk.
• Daniel Descalso, Allen Craig and Brett Wallace were each 1-4.
• Justin Fiske was outstanding, allowing only one run on five hits and a walk, while striking out five over six innings.
• Josh Kinney threw a perfect inning in his rehab appearance, striking out a pair.
• Marco Gonzalez gave up a pair of runs on three hits in only a third of an inning, but Fernando Salas came in and shut the door, throwing 1.2 perfect innings for the save.

St. Lucie 1, Palm Beach 9 (Game One)

• Nick Additon pitched great, allowing only an unearned run over six innings on three hits and a walk. He struck out four.
• The Casey Mulligan Experience pitched a scoreless inning, striking out a pair.
• Matthew Arburr was 2-4 with a pair of doubles.
• Antonio DeJesus and Paul Vasquez were each 2-3.
• Mike Folli was 2-3 with a triple and Brian Cartie was 2-3 with a double.
• Steve Hill was 1-4 with a double and Charles Kingrey was 1-3 with a triple.

St. Lucie 2, Palm Beach 1 (Game Two)

• The Cards should have saved some of their hits from the first game, as singles by Antonio DeJesus and Mike Folli were the only hits on the game.
• Brian Cartie was 0-1 with a pair of walks and a stolen base.
• Eddie Degerman and Pete Parise each pitched a pair of scoreless innings.
• Wayne Daman gave up a pair of runs over three innings on one hit and two walks (the one hit was a homer). He struck out two.

Quad Cities 3, Burlington 4

• Francisco Rivera was 2-3 with a walk.
• Adron Chambers was 2-4.
• Curt Smith was 1-3 and Roberto Espinoza was 2-3 with a walk.
• Jameson Maj had a rough night, giving up four runs on seven hits and a walk over 4.2 innings.
• Scott McGregor gave up two hits and a walk over 2.1 scoreless innings.
• Jared Bradford threw a scoreless inning.

Batavia and Mohoning Valley were Postponed

Colby Rasmus was 2-4 with a double and a walk in the Gulf Coast League.

Memphis 5, Omaha 0

• Nick Stavinoha was 1-3 with a pair of walks.
• Cody Haerther was 1-4 with a double and a stolen base.
• Mark Johnson was 2-2 with a double and a walk and a stolen base.
• Mitchell Boggs had a bit of a poor night, results notwithstanding. He pitched 5.2 innings and didn’t allow a run, but he walked five men and allowed four hits.
• John Wasdin, Mark Worrell and Ron Flores combined to complete the shutout.

Springfield 5, NW Arkansas 4 (10 innings)

• Brett Wallace was 2-4 and Casey Rowlett was 2-4 with a double.
• Andrew Brown was 1-4 with a double and a walk.
• Kyle Mura had a nice start, scattering seven hits over seven innings and only allowing one run. He struck out four.
• Luke Gregerson pitched a scoreless inning.
• The normally reliable Fernando Salas blew the save but managed to pick up the W. He went 2.0 innings, allowed three ER on four H (including a HR) with one K.

My apologies, again, but this time it is the fault of WordPress shenanigans.  I was attempting to fix the typo that Mike pointed out with regards to Jon Edwards and there was an error in saving the DFR that cut off 2/3 of the post.  I don’t have time to retype the whole entry, but the links to the games are below.

Palm Beach 2, St. Lucie 6 (Game One)

Erik stepping in here for Roarke. There was some troubles with WP that I’ve since fixed.

• The Beast named Steve Hill went yard.
• Pete Kozma is hitting only .130 for PB so far. He did draw a couple of walks.
• Tyler Herron has taken a pretty big step back this year. He threw five innings, allowed three runs on a walk and five hits. He allowed two HR and fanned two.
• The Casey Mulligan experience has hit something of a bumpy patch lately. He allowed three ER in an inning.

Palm Beach 6, St. Lucie 0 (Game Two)

• Kozma went 0-for-3 with two K’s. Make that a .122 AVG. He did hit walk and drive in a run.
• Brian Cartie went 2-2 with a HR and a walk.
• I know I’m not very high on Nick Additon, but the dude has got some pretty impressive results to the season. He threw a complete game shutout. He allowed just three hits and a walk and fanned six. Maybe he’s Bud Smith light. Tastes great, less filling.

Quad Cities 5, Wisconsin 3

• Nico Vasquez is my homeboy. He went 2-5 with a 2B in his QC debut. I know the season is almost over, but it’s rare to see a high school draftee in full season ball already.
• Francisco Rivera also went 2-5, 2B.
• Jon Edwards went 0-2, but drew two BB and struck out once. 3TO!
• Carlos Marmol went 2-4 with a double.
• Blake Murphy doubled.
• Ryan Kulik continues to allow a lot of baserunners. He fanned nine in seven innings but allowed eleven hits, including a HR. I wonder how many of those hits were the “seeing eye” variety, as fourteen of his balls in play were on the ground, only four in the air.

Mahoning Valley 2, Batavia 4

• Alex Castellanos‘ promotion to Batavia seemed to fly under my radar screen. He went 2-3 with a double. In six at bats he has 3 hits, including two doubles.
• Edwin Gomez and Osvaldo Morales both doubled.
• Chris Swauger went 2-3.
• Coming soon to the blog- I had the chance interview Scott Gorgen, now just needing to get it transcribed. Scott pitched well with seven K’s in five innings with a walk and five hits alllowed.
• Miguel Tapia threw three innings and fanned four. He allowed two ER on four hits and a walk.
• Jason Buursma allowed a hit and struck out two in his one frame of work.

Johnson City 4, Princeton 2

• Jack Cawley went 3-4 with a 2B. The C is hitting .358/.436/.453. Not bad for a pick from a fan.
• DG’s sleeper Yunier Castillo went 2-3.
• Edgar Lara went 2-4 with a HR.
• The struggling Brett Zawacki took a step towards righting the ship. He threw 4.1, allowed one ER on three H and one BB with two K’s. Nifty 9-2 GO/AO ratio.
• Eric Fornataro threw four innings of no hit ball. He struck out three and walked two. Seven ground-ball outs for Fornataro.