This has been mentioned in passing a few times but with the graduation of Eduardo Sanchez and Fernando Salas to mainstays in the Cardinals’ bullpen and the knee injury to Adam Reifer, suddenly a farm system that looked rich in right handed relief prospects seems lacking. We’ll traverse the system looking for pitchers who could be the next prominent relief prospect.
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In an effort to be timely, I though I’d take a quick glance at the big name relief prospects in the high minors. Before we get into the numbers, I think the major league pen is fine despite two nasty outings in a row. These things happen when you have a closer who lives on his control and a somewhat crazy-ex catcher who throws pitches into the dugout on a bad play.
There is not currently a player in the pen that I can definitively and unquestionably point to and say, “What is he doing in the majors?!?!?”. Generally, that statement is followed by an expletive but we’re a family friendly blog. Part of what brought this post to fruition was a comment from the Cardinals broadcasting pair last night with regards to Kyle McClellan’s future. There seems to be some continued curiosity about his repretoire and converting to starting pitching. It’s understandable considering that he has a full complement of pitches (FB, CH, CU, SL) but I’ve long had trepidation about Kyle McClellan.
In any event, the Cardinals continue to produce some interesting relief options in the minors. What follows is an admittedly incomplete list of players that may be ready in 2011 or 2012 for a shot at the bigs.
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