Posts Tagged “Adam Reifer”

Baseball America named him the best pitching prospect in the New York Penn League in 2008. It was hard not to notice Adam Reifer, the then 22-year old right handed relief pitcher, as he struck out over a batter an inning with a fastball that touched the high 90s.  In 2010, he was listed as the Cardinals 16th best prospect by Baseball America who noted his fastball velocity and “a slider that grades as a plus-plus pitch at times”.

The 2007 draftee was poised to have a big season in 2011 for the Memphis Redbirds. In competition for the closer’s role, Reifer would suffer a season ending injury on a cold April night against the Chicago Cubs AAA affiliate in Des Moines, Iowa.  Surgery would follow and the history books of baseball will note a season that totaled five appearances — the last of which was on April 17th, 2011.

A healthy Reifer, just arrived in Florida for Spring Training, took the time to talk with me last week. The weather is beautiful and Reifer is ready to fight for a job; to fight for what that unfortunate moment in 2011 delayed but, hopefully, didn’t take away from him.  He’s “100% go” and eager to be back in competition. Our conversation follows.

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This is the consolidated top 20 list rolled out last week.

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Hooray. We’re moving along to more meaningful stats. Well, sort of. As I mentioned before, Roger Dean is a hitter’s graveyard. Therefore, it makes pitchers look a little better than they actually are. Moving from Palm Beach to Springfield can be one of the toughest transitions for any pitcher; it separates the men from the boys.

Before we dive in, here’s the league averages: The pitcher’s average age is 23. League average ERA is 3.56 (!). Hits per nine is 8.6, HR/9 is .5, BB/9 3.2, K/9 – 7.3, SO/BB 2.31, WHIP is 1.3.

Age ERA IP H R SO HBP BF H/9 HR/9 BB/9 SO/9 SO/BB
Eduardo Sanchez 20 1.44 25.0 12 4 26 3 93 4.3 0.7 1.8 9.4 5.20
Brian Broderick 22 4.61 109.1 136 62 64 6 473 11.2 0.3 1.4 5.3 3.76
Chuckie Fick 23 4.92 56.2 67 33 26 2 239 10.6 1.0 1.3 4.1 3.25
Arquimedes Nieto 20 4.28 33.2 32 20 27 3 146 8.6 0.3 2.4 7.2 3.00
Casey Mulligan 21 1.61 28.0 20 9 34 1 114 6.4 0.3 3.9 10.9 2.83
George Brown 23 4.26 63.1 63 32 47 7 273 9.0 0.3 2.7 6.7 2.47
Samuel Freeman 22 1.64 33.0 18 7 30 0 133 4.9 0.0 3.5 8.2 2.31
Scott Gorgen 22 2.92 74.0 50 28 73 3 302 6.1 0.9 3.9 8.9 2.28
David Kopp 23 3.12 69.1 67 25 58 3 289 8.7 0.4 3.4 7.5 2.23
Adam Reifer 23 4.47 48.1 51 28 50 6 226 9.5 0.4 4.5 9.3 2.08
Nicholas Additon 21 3.06 79.1 69 40 66 5 347 7.8 0.1 4.2 7.5 1.78
Kristhiam Linares 23 4.62 25.1 21 14 26 2 113 7.5 0.4 5.3 9.2 1.73
Yonathan Gonzalez 21 3.79 19.0 26 19 10 3 97 12.3 1.4 2.8 4.7 1.67
Blake King 22 2.84 76.0 41 29 96 2 322 4.9 0.0 6.9 11.4 1.66
Thomas Eager 23 5.25 70.1 66 51 75 6 316 8.4 0.3 5.9 9.6 1.63
Richard Castillo 19 3.87 148.2 155 77 105 8 661 9.4 0.2 4.0 6.4 1.59
Thomas Furnish 24 3.55 33.0 34 13 22 2 145 9.3 0.5 4.4 6.0 1.38
Jason Buursma 23 4.62 37.0 52 22 20 3 179 12.6 0.2 3.6 4.9 1.33
Jorge Rondon 20 7.71 16.1 24 17 11 0 82 13.2 0.6 5.5 6.1 1.10
Mark Diapoules 21 5.72 39.1 41 33 30 4 191 9.4 0.7 6.4 6.9 1.07
Shaun Garceau 21 6.23 30.1 30 22 16 4 141 8.9 0.6 5.6 4.7 0.84
28 Players 21.8 3.92 1194.2 1152 622 988 75 5221 8.7 0.4 3.9 7.4 1.93
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 9/26/2009.

Gorgen, Kopp and Castillo probably would rate as the best starting pitching prospects on this  team. I wouldn’t say any of their performances really stood out this past season.

Blake King put the K in King, but was still way too wild. My personal man-cruch Adam Reifer proved to be more hittable than I thought he would be this past season, but he settled down a bit as the season went on.

Other than Sanchez, who pitched more innings in Springfield, I wouldn’t give any of these prospects better than a C, C+ grade.

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John Vuch has been with the Cardinals ever since he was a teenager, and has has played a vital role in several departments before settling into the role of being the Director of Minor League Operations. Few, if any, know more about the Cardinals and the inner workings the farm system. After settling down in Jupiter for spring training, John was kind enough to answer questions from myself and the other writers at FR. Good stuff, as always. Enjoy.

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Ben Badler is one of the many talented writers at Baseball America, the standard bearer for all things prospects. Recently I asked him if he’d be up for some Q and A and he very graciously agreed to rap with us. I thoroughly enjoyed his answers and I’m sure you will as well. Thanks to Ben for taking the time out of his busy schedule to give us his insights on the Cardinal farm system.

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