Azruavatar: A few years ago, we saw Allen Craig start to make the transition in the minors from third baseman to outfielder. It appears that Matt Carpenter may be on the brink of a similar transition. Skip Schumaker made a positional transition in the majors from the outfield to second base. Without commenting on a specific player, under what circumstances does the club try to broach a conversation like this with a minor leaguer?

John Vuch: We always encourage versatility among our minor league players, simply because we don’t always know where the next opening at the Major League level is going to occur. If there’s an injury at the major league level, if a minor league player has had some experience at that position, he’d certainly get more consideration for a callup than somebody who had never played the position. Obviously, it’s not going to be a daily game of musical chairs at the minor league level, as we still want players to have a primary position, but especially as players get further up the ladder, it makes sense for them to at least get some exposure at other positions they could potentially be asked to play at the major league level. A good example of that is somebody like Ryan Jackson, who played in a utility role in the Arizona Fall League. We certainly still consider him a shortstop, and somebody who will play the bulk of his games at that position. But the experience of playing some 2nd base and 3rd base in Arizona can only help him in the future if a major league utility role opened up before a shortstop opportunity. So that’s how we portray it to the player – it’s usually not that we don’t like him at a given position, just that it opens up more avenues for him to get to the major leagues if he at least has the ability to play multiple positions.

AZ: Similarly, we’ve seen pitchers in both the minors and majors move between the bullpen and the rotation. I want to turn that previous question around a bit though. Are there circumstances or qualities that would lead the organization to be disinclined to try a hypothetically struggling starter as a reliever? Just to show how much a farm geek I am, I’m thinking back to Eric Haberer who was a lefty starter that was released after 2007 despite the system being very light on left handed relievers.

JV: I think for relievers, there is typically less emphasis on the ability to throw a changeup, and more emphasis on velocity and breaking pitch. In other words, repertoire for relievers is less important, but the quality of the few pitches they can throw becomes more important. That’s magnified for lefties – the first thing you look for with turning a lefty starter into a lefty reliever is whether he has a killer breaking pitch to use for those lefty/lefty matchups. While there’s always exceptions, if he’s a fastball/changeup kind of guy, he’s more likely going to sink or swim as a starting pitcher.

AZ: There was a renewed focus, or at least public comments from the front office, in recent seasons to get back to fundamentals at every level of the organization. Do you feel like the organization has been successful in that effort and what is your vision for the farm system in 2012?

JV: After the changes to our Player Development department following the 2010 season, fundamentals became one of the first things that we wanted to improve. It’s not a glamorous aspect of the game, and it may not always be exciting to watch bunt plays, cutoffs and relays, and other fundamentals, but that is something that defined the Cardinals for years when George Kissell was coordinating things for our minor leaguers. In this era, we realize that we’re never going to have the highest payroll club, and there will occasionally be times where other teams have more pure “talent” than we do, so it’s vital that we maximize our talent and avoid making fundamental mistakes.

Part of that goal was to ensure that we were doing things in a consistent fashion from top to bottom throughout the organization, so that as a player went from club to club, he wouldn’t have to relearn fundamentals for any individual manager. Obviously, that starts with the understanding how the major league club does things and then implementing that program throughout the system.

When I moved into this role, Tony LaRussa and his coaching staff were incredibly generous with their time, and spent many hours with me and our coaches as we put together an organizational instructional manual, which documented how everything was to be done from St. Louis, all the way down to our Dominican program. That really set the tone for the 2011 season from the minor league perspective and I think we went a long way towards achieving our goals in that area.

With Mike Matheny coming on board, one of the first things we did was have him review the existing manual and let us know the areas where he’d like to do things differently. He’s been tremendous in terms of communicating his vision for how he sees the majors and minors working together. Since Mike had previously spent many years in the organization and had spent time the last few years working with our minor league catchers, he didn’t have sweeping changes, but we’ve updated our manual to reflect the way he wants things taught, and looking forward to continuing to improve fundamentally as an organization.

Over the years, quality fundamental play has been the Cardinals identity and it’s our job to make sure we uphold that legacy.

AZ: Any prospects in the system that you think the public should be paying more attention to than they are now?

JV: I think with the level of coverage devoted to the minor leagues through websites, blogs, newspapers and magazines, some players who might have gone relatively unnoticed in the past are now more well-known. I’m always reluctant to get too specific about how we view individual players for several reasons – some competitive, some motivational – but we’ve got quite a few guys that I would at least consider “chance” prospects. Some of them are players with “tools” that haven’t yet had their performance match their athletic ability, while others are guys that have had success beyond what would be expected from “limited” tools that we’ll continue to give chances to show us that their success is legitimate. We’re excited to see which guys make big steps forward in 2012, but by this time next year, I’d be surprised if we didn’t have a couple names pop up on people’s lists that aren’t currently there.

AZ: Do you think the increased coverage (be it traditional media outlets or more contemporary ones) is something that is beneficial for the minor league players or is it an added level of scrutiny that makes adjusting to professional baseball more difficult?

JV: If handled properly, I think there’s generally more positive than negative associated with the increased media coverage. It allows the player to familiarize themselves with what is expected of them from reporters, how to handle being interviewed, and the importance of making themselves as available after poor performances as they are after good outings and to gain that experience on a much smaller stage than they will encounter when they reach the major leagues. At our early camp last year, we had several of the reporters that cover our major league team spend time with our minor league players in order to give them the perspective from the media, and I think that session was beneficial for both the players and the media. It’s important for the players (and staff) to realize that the media has a job to do, and that there’s a professional obligation to be cooperative with reporters. Interviews, especially those of the postgame variety, are typically very brief, so if a player doesn’t make himself available for comment (particularly after a bad game), it doesn’t take long for a player to get a reputation for not being a stand-up guy. It’s better for the players to learn those lessons while coming through the minor leagues, than to be completely unfamiliar with media protocol while simultaneously trying to adjust to all of the other differences that come with being in the major leagues.

I suppose one danger from the increased coverage can potentially come from players getting an overly inflated opinion of themselves, or thinking they’re already “big leaguers” based on the amount of media attention they receive or their status in various prospect rankings. But ultimately, that’s up to us to make sure we keep our players grounded and focused, and avoid letting the attention be a distraction.

From a front office perspective, the effect of increased minor league media scrutiny should be negligible, as you can’t effectively run a farm system while being overly concerned with how your organization is being portrayed by publications or websites. Obviously, it’s impossible to be unaware of how various publications rank farm systems or prospects, but it’s important to avoid letting 3rd party opinions affect your decision making. Sometimes you’ll see clubs overhype marginal prospects for media purposes, but in the long run I think you jeopardize your credibility by habitually portraying fringy players as major prospects.

AZ: Thanks for your time, John.

azruavatar: There were obviously a lot of changes to the Cardinals this year not only on the field but in the front office. Notably, Jeff Luhnow, who had been heavily involved in both the amateur draft and the minor league system since 2005, left to become the Astros’ general manager. Last offseason you were promoted to the title of ‘Farm Director’. Can you tell us a little more about what your day-to-day responsibilities entail after the new title and Luhnow’s departure?

John Vuch: From a Player Development perspective, the bigger change actually came at the end of the 2010 season as Jeff focused his efforts on Amateur Scouting and I was given responsibility for our Player Development department. So in that respect, while the Amateur Scouting Department is experiencing major changes with the departure of Jeff (and Sig Mejdal [ed. note: Sig Mejdal left to become the Astros Director of Decision Sciences under Jeff Luhnow]), and the arrival of Dan Kantrovitz as Amateur Scouting director, there will be little effect on how we do things in player development, since we already began implementing a lot of changes when I moved into my new role for the 2011 season. I had good relationships with both Jeff and Sig and always enjoyed discussing players, theories and different ways of making evaluations with them, so I certainly don’t want to minimize the effect of their departure or their role in helping to provide talented players into the organization. But the vast majority of our scouts in the field are still with us and Chris Correa does a phenomenal job from the analytical side of things, so I’m confident that Dan and our amateur scouting department will continue to provide our farm system with the raw materials we need to develop players for our Major League club.

When I shifted into the role of Farm Director, that allowed me to focus more on the actual decisions that we make in terms of building our minor league rosters, making in-season transactions and ensuring that our players are being taught in a manner that is consistent with the expectations of the Major League club. Although I had many years in Player Development, it was a different experience last year being given the autonomy to make those decisions and implement changes to the way we develop our players. Fortunately, John Mozeliak gave me the resources necessary to succeed in the new role, and a big part of it was having Gary LaRocque spend the majority of his time with our minor league clubs. Gary has a wealth of experience as a former Farm Director and Scouting Director, so he was (and continues to be) a huge resource for me. I’m able to bounce ideas off him and get honest feedback, which is vital in helping me in the decision-making process.

Although the role of Farm Director puts me ultimately responsible for the productivity of our farm system and in charge of making the decisions associated with that department, we’ve really made an effort to involve all of our field staff in the decision-making process. Much of my time, especially in-season, is spent on the phone with the managers/coaches/rovers that are seeing our players on a daily basis. It’s vital to get the staff’s input on player decisions, as they should be the ones that know their own players better than anyone. While it’s not a strict “democracy”, and there are times where unpopular decisions have to be made, whenever possible I try to avoid simply making unilateral decisions without getting as much input as possible from people who can provide helpful insight. So the way I look at it is when our farm system is going well it’s absolutely a collective effort involving everyone in our department – conversely if the system isn’t going well that should fall on me, since I’m ultimately the one who put that staff in place. But I’ve got a lot of confidence in the group that we currently have teaching our players, and we’re always looking for ways to make ourselves better.

AZ: You’ve been with the Cardinals’ organization for a long time. Long enough that I feel guilty asking exactly how long that’s been but, if I recall correctly, it’s been since you were a teenager. I doubt that anyone considers the major league baseball business to be one that is a 9-5 work schedule or low stress. What helps to keep you motivated after working in a front office for as long as you have?

JV: That’s correct – I started working for the Cardinals as a 16-year old High school junior in 1979. (No need to do the math – while I don’t feel old, I suppose the calendar doesn’t lie!) After graduating from college, I finally became full-time in 1985 and moved over to the Baseball Operations department prior to the 1988 season. Motivation has never been an issue, as I can honestly say there’s never been a day where I woke up and said “I don’t feel like going to work today”. I know I’ve been extremely fortunate to be given the opportunity to have a career in an industry that I love – being able to attempt to make small contributions to the team that I grew up rooting for makes it even better.

The hours can be long – during spring training it’s 7 days a week, starting every day before 7:00 am and in-season we roll up a lot of 15+ hour days, but when you’re doing a job you enjoy, the hours aren’t an issue. While the advent of email, cell phones, etc make you accessible and “on-call” 24 hours a day, it also makes it much easier to work away from the office. There’s no doubt that there is stress associated with the job, but really the only negative aspect is the demands it makes on the rest of my family and their events that I miss when I’m traveling. They’re incredibly understanding about it since it’s really always been that way, and they have adapted to it – but it still doesn’t make it any easier when I have to leave!

Ultimately though, the motivation simply comes from enjoying what I do for a living.

AZ: You and I have corresponded some in the past about the club’s desire to teach minor leaguers about their off the field “responsibilities” as well as on the field ones. Specifically, I’m curious about the club’s approach to twitter. There are a lot of players with public accounts and, at times, they share some very personal information. What’s the club’s approach to twitter given how accessible and popular of a technology it is becoming with young people?

JV: Social media is something that we’ve already addressed with our players in the past, but we have plans in place to spend more time discussing it with them this spring. If used properly, Twitter and Facebook can be a positive way for players to connect with fans and the media, as well as begin to create a “brand” for themselves. If used improperly, players can embarrass themselves and the organization and cause damage to their public image.

I’m sympathetic with our players at times because I remember being young and doing dumb things at their age and, I’m very grateful that the internet wasn’t around to memorialize some of those things for posterity! But the big difference is that in 2012 everyone has the ability to take pictures/videos of them with their phones and, while I was an anonymous college student at their age, as professional athletes and public figures, they don’t have the luxury of doing some of the things their peers can do without it becoming public.

We have had conversations with a few players about “tweets” that don’t put them in a good light, and once we discuss it with them individually, the vast majority of players we’ve spoken with seem to have gotten the message. However, there are still a few “tweets” that get brought to my attention that, although they may not be atypical from a young man in his late teens/early twenties, aren’t consistent with what the Cardinals stand for.

To me, the key is not banning them from using a technology that is only going to become even more prevalent, but instead to educate them on how to use it properly as a public figure. The best analogy I’ve heard is to equate it to sitting in an auditorium with a microphone in front of 100 people, or 1,000 people or 10,000 people (depending on how many followers). If it’s something you wouldn’t be comfortable saying it out loud in front of a crowd of that size, it doesn’t belong on your Twitter. I anticipate that social media will be an issue that we continue to address and educate our players about in the coming months and years, and hopefully our players will continue to improve on using those forms of communication in ways that benefit their image rather than making them and the club look bad.

AZ: We’re coming up on Spring Training and there will be a lot of minor leaguers who will head to Florida to take part in both the major league and minor league camps. Statistically, it’s not a lot of time to judge a player on the numbers. What are some things, outside of the quantifiable results and performance, that the club wants to see from prospects during this time?

JV: You hit the nail on the head – spring training is an awfully small sample size to simply look at the stats they compile in March and use that as the sole basis for deciding what club they make. We can’t ignore a player’s prior history, especially for those that have been in the organization for years. That said, we’re looking for improvements in comparison to the prior year. For pitchers – is he throwing harder? Is he exhibiting better command? Throwing the breaking pitch more consistently for strikes? Similarly for hitters – Has he gotten stronger, better conditioned? Exhibiting better plate discipline? Has his defense improved? Those types of questions frequently play a role in determining whether a player gets moved up or whether he tops out at his prior level.

AZ: The Cardinals farm system is regarded as a top 10 system right now. While there will likely be prospects who contribute to the Cardinals, there’s a real possibility for the club to use some of these players as trade pieces as well. As the farm director, what is it like to watch players you’ve helped usher through the system switch affiliations via trades?

JV: Our goal in player development is always very simple – to do anything possible to contribute to a championship caliber club. Whether that’s “graduating” players to the major leagues, as we saw last year with Lance Lynn, Eduardo Sanchez, Fernando Salas, Adron Chambers, etc, or it means trading Alex Castellanos in order to acquire Rafael Furcal, both methods are part of accomplishing the larger goal in player development. From a selfish standpoint, it’s always fun and satisfying to watch the young guys come up and make an impact, but especially when it turns out like 2011. I’m just as happy to see a minor league player turn into immediate major league help through trade. Ideally, the key is to know your own players better than anyone else, and perhaps move a guy that the other organization values more highly than we do.

Note: My thanks to John Vuch for his time in answering my questions. Don’t forget to come back tomorrow for the conclusion where we’ll discuss player’s transitioning positions and the implementation of the player development system with a new manager.

First of all, congrats on winning the Harry Mitauer Good Guy Award at the Baseball Writers Dinner. That’s one award I’d say the writers got right.

Thanks Erik. As I mentioned the night I received it, with so many good people working around the stadium, I would have been flattered merely to have my name come up in the discussion, let alone being named the recipient. But it’s easy to be in a good mood when doing something I love on a daily basis.

Baseball America ranked the Cardinals’ system the 8th best in baseball. What is your take the ranking?

We try not to get too wrapped up in what others say about our system, since there are so many variables that can affect a ranking. Even when our rankings were not as high, we were able to have players like Albert and Yadi come through the system, and turned other of our younger prospects into Major League talent through trades. But I think the feeling is universal within our organization that we have much more depth and significantly more players that can be realistically projected to have a Major League future than we had in prior years. I think the rankings are probably a reflection of that. But I don’t want to sound disingenuous by saying that I agree with the rankings when they rate us highly and disagreed when we were ranked lower!

The organization has not been shy about promoting players as of late. What are some of the factors that go into determining whether or not a prospect is ready to be moved up to a different level?

A lot of different things go into making that determination. Obviously, success at a lower level is often a big part of it, since if a player is struggling at a lower level, moving him up likely would just make it even tougher for him. If it’s a player that we consider one of our better prospects, then making sure that there’s an opening where he’ll get ample playing time is another priority, especially if we’ve already got a prospect playing the same position at that level. Almost every time we make a decision about moving a player up (or down), it will involve not only Jeff Luhnow and me, but also the managers for the teams involved as well as our hitting/pitching coordinators. Getting the perspective of our guys in the field is critical, since there’s often something that they’ve picked up on that could affect that player’s chances of success at the next level that isn’t necessarily reflected in the stats or in our game reports.

How long does it take to go about making roster assignments for the minor league teams to start the season?

It’s a lengthy process, and one that involves a lot of people. All of us have our “projected” rosters, and many of us were already projecting 2009 rosters while the 2008 season was going on, but there are so many variables that the actual rosters can often wind up bearing little resemblance to the projected rosters. Ideally, it’s because a player shows up being greatly improved over the prior year – however, other times it may be due to injuries or under performance. But we’ll have two days of meetings with our staff prior to the start of camp to discuss players and rosters, and then we’ll have numerous meetings throughout spring training, making decisions about who makes which club, who remains at Extended Spring Training, and who ultimately gets sent home. Oftentimes, we’re in a holding pattern with our rosters depending on what happens at the Major League level, so occasionally there are times where we have to react quickly to an unexpected player dropping down to our AAA roster, but there are many hours spent making the decisions that go into forming our opening day rosters.

We’ve seen a lot of positional movement with players lately, whether it be a no-hit catcher moving to the bullpen, or a certain scrappy outfielder moving to a spot of real need. Is this a paradigm the Cardinals are going to continue utilizing, heavily moving forward whenever there is a surplus at one position or a deficiency at another?

I think it often makes sense for a player to at least explore anything they can do to give themselves as much versatility as possible, especially since it’s often impossible to project where an opening may suddenly occur at the major league level. If a player has at least shown the ability to adequately handle multiple positions, it allows him to be considered as a candidate for a variety of roles, rather than being locked in exclusively at one spot. Additionally, if a player was drafted at an “offensive” position such as LF or first base, if it turns out that he has the ability to play a more challenging defensive position, that can turn him into a much more valuable commodity. One example of that is Tony Cruz, who is a solid defensive third baseman, but has impressed with his ability behind the plate. It’s much tougher to find catchers with Tony’s offensive capabilities than it is to find similar hitting third baseman, so by having Tony working on his catching he is able to make himself much more valuable, as well as giving him multiple ways to move through the system.

What do the Cardinals hope to improve on in terms of managing the minors in 2009 compared to 2008?

It’s hard to get into too many specifics, but our goal is to always have somebody ready within our farm system when there’s a hole or a need at the Major League level. There’s nothing wrong with signing players from outside the organization at times, but we always want that to be something that is done by choice, and not due to a lack of internal options. Ultimately the goal of the farm system is pretty simple – to continue to increase the quantity and quality of players making their way to St. Louis.

I’m sure you’re going get asked this a few bazillion times this spring, but how is Brett Wallace looking at the hot corner?

Brett may be unlikely to ever look like a prototypical third baseman, but the bottom line is that he makes the plays, has good hands, and despite an unusual throwing motion his arm is ML average at worst. Pop Warner, who was his manager both at Springfield and in the Arizona Fall League, was pleased with the progress that Brett made during his time in Arizona and at this point there’s no reason to believe that Brett couldn’t remain as a third baseman in the future.

Daryl Jones and Jess Todd won the organization’s pitcher and player of the year award, taking two different paths. Jones languished Low A before coming on like a house of fire, while Todd just rocketed through the system in his first full season. Please give me your thoughts on those two, and do you have a prediction as to who could be this year’s Daryl Jones (breakout hitter) or Jess Todd (fast-moving pitcher)?

Daryl really wasn’t a big surprise to me, as he’s always been a very coachable, intelligent kid, who really just needed to continue to get experience playing baseball. He’s always had the tools, but was a bit raw, having played multiple sports in high school. It’s always important to be patient with young players whenever possible, as evidenced by guys like Joe Mather and Chris Duncan, who both had their share of struggles in A-ball.

Jess was much more polished coming into pro ball, having had three years of college experience, but I don’t think anyone expected him to wind up in AAA by year’s end. He’s a good example of what can happen when a pitcher has excellent command of his fastball and breaking pitch, and pitches with poise. While he moved rapidly through the system, he proved at each stop that he had mastered the level, and once a player has accomplished that, we’re not reluctant to give him new challenges.

As far as names for this year, guys like Tommy Pham, Jon Edwards and Beau Riportella have shown flashes of their ability in the past and certainly have ample tools to make big jumps once everything clicks for them. Again, patience is key for those type of guys – even though they’ve been a part of the organization for several years, Pham and Edwards will play all year at age 21, while Riportella doesn’t turn 21 until August.

For candidates for fast-moving pitchers, guys like Lance Lynn, Adam Reifer and Sam Freeman come to mind, but there’s quite a few potential candidates that could fall into that category. We don’t set out with the intention for guys to make huge jumps within one season, but if warranted, we wouldn’t shy away from it either.

Letting Luis Perdomo go unprotected from the Rule 5 draft left a few of us fans scratching our heads. Can you help us understand the rationale behind that decision?

John Mozeliak uses a lot of different sources in making the final determination about who to place on the 40-man roster, including internal scouting reports from our own staff members, as well as weighing areas of organizational depth and weakness. We place more weight on the likelihood of a Rule 5 eligible player actually sticking with the drafting club than we do on the chances of selection alone. While it’s certainly understandable how Perdomo would be attractive to another organization, we faced the same questions a few years back when Tyler Johnson was selected by Oakland from us in the Rule 5 draft after pitching the entire year at AA. We felt that Perdomo was more like Juan Mateo, who we selected a few years back in the Rule 5, in terms of being a future major leaguer, but not quite being ready at this stage of his career.

With right handed relief being one of our biggest areas of organizational depth, placing Perdomo on the 40-man roster would have meant starting the clock on his options this spring. With the RH relievers we have ahead of him in the organization, it likely would be a couple years before he’d be in the majors with us, and saving an option year could turn out to be necessary down the road.

Jon Jay fascinates me. He’s done nothing but hit, and according some of the new  metrics available, he’s also an excellent fielder. What do you feel his upside is?

Jon has somewhat quietly moved through the organization, in part because much of the focus has (deservedly) been on Colby Rasmus, but he’s a very polished hitter, who has always hit for average and has a little more pop than people give him credit for. Defensively, he’s got the range and hands to play CF if needed, however if there’s no opening in CF, he could adequately handle a corner spot. As far as upside, there’s nothing that I’ve seen that indicates he couldn’t be a solid major league outfielder in the future.

Tyler Greene had an excellent showing the AFL. Do you believe has turned the corner?

I think so – the one thing I’ve noticed about Tyler is that he now plays with much more confidence than he did earlier in his career, and that he realizes that he’s capable of competing and succeeding against quality competition. He’s not a finished product yet, but he’s made big strides in the last year and offers an exciting blend of power, speed and defense.

I know it’s extremely early in his career, but how excited should we be about Roberto de la Cruz?

I think he’s a very exciting prospect. I haven’t seen much of him yet personally, but our guys who got to spend a lot of time with him during Instructional League came away very impressed. He’s our highest profile July 2 signee, and by all accounts, he seems to be worthy of that billing.

We try to assume that no news is good news with injuries, but can we get an update on Jaime Garcia’s rehab?

Saw Jaime playing catch the other day, and he’s right on schedule with his rehab. It’ll be awhile before he’s throwing off the mound, but fortunately, he’s had no setbacks at this stage.

What can you tell us about minor league free agents Joe Thurston and Ian Ostlund?

We’re really happy to have both of those guys in the organization, and despite signing as “minor league” free agents, they have the potential to make contributions for our big league club. Thurston is a guy that we were familiar with, and it seems that he’s had the misfortune the last few years of being blocked by MVP caliber 2nd basemen (Utley and Pedroia). He’s performed very well at AAA, and played winter ball in Puerto Rico. Our interest started heating up based on reports from Eduardo Perez and Jose Oquendo, and fortunately I have a good relationship with Joe’s agent and we were able to work out a deal to make him a Cardinal, as there was heavy interest from multiple clubs. Joe’s always been a guy that managers love to have on their clubs, as he plays several positions very well defensively, handles the bat well and plays hard all the time.

Ostlund was a guy that we targeted, literally from Day One. Prior to the first date of minor league free agency, we always put together a target list of players that interest us, and Ian was one of about 3-4 guys that was at the top of our list. We contacted his agent as soon as the bell rang, and Ian was excited about the opportunity for him here with the Cardinals, and we actually were able to wrap up the deal the very first day. The thing that stood out to us about Ian is that he throws strikes and comes after the hitters. While he has success against lefties, he has ample weapons that enable him to get righties out as well, and he’s capable of pitching an inning+ at a time, rather than solely being a LOOGY. He’s got outstanding makeup and we’re excited to have him.

George Kissell, a Cardinal lifer and a mentor to just so many, passed on this last October. Do you have a memory or two of Mr. Kissell that you would like to share with us?

I could go on for hours about the effect that George had on all of us with the Cardinals. For me personally, the first few years I was in player development I would just sit and listen to him talk with our coaches, and try to soak up as much as possible. I was always appreciative that he’d take the time to talk with a young kid like me, as I was beginning to learn how much I didn’t know about the game. The thing to me that stood about George was how he was always learning, and despite probably being as much of an “expert” as anyone could be when it comes to baseball, he was always looking for ways to improve his teaching methods. While he knew there were certain “iron-clad fundamentals”, he was also flexible enough to evolve as the game changed.