Archive for the “Niko Vasquez” Category

We continue our way around the infield with a look at the shortstops in the Cardinals system. As with second base, shortstop has been a weak spot in recent years – the last shortstop of any signifigance that came through the system was Jack Wilson, who made his major league debut in 2001 with the Pirates. Brendan Ryan was with the big league club for most of the season and many hoped that he could become the everyday shortstop for the Cardinals, but his performance this season has made that possibility seem remote.

Unlike the keystone, however, the minor league system currently has talent at the position sprinkled throughout the levels. We’ve got a minor league trade acquisition playing at a high level in AAA (and now the Olympics), a first round draftee that has regained some luster in AA (and hopefully will continue to do so at AAA), a recent first round draftee that has been proving that he deserved such a high pick in A ball, and a 2008 high school draftee that has been tearing up rookie ball. We’ll take a look at them all after the jump. Read the rest of this entry »

I know, I know – it’s early.  Small sample sizes and all that – I get it.  But still, I think that we’ve seen enough of some of our draft picks to have a very early idea of what we’ve got in them.  The truth of the matter is that I’ve been dying to write this post since the day Brett Wallace signed his contract, but I wanted him to get a few at bats under his belt.  He now has 68 plate appearances and 54 at bats.  That’s good enough for me.  So, then, after the jump we’ll take a look at how Brett and the rest of the 2008 draft class have been faring.  Read the rest of this entry »