Future Redbirds

Well, I’m staying with a friend tonight after a long drive to Springfield to catch the game. What a game too. (Genius that I am, I forgot my camera). Great weather and great seats made for a wonderful night. I wasn’t as detailed as I was when I was at QC as I just wanted to enjoy some of the best prospects that the Cardinals farm system has to offer and they delivered. So I’ve got some anecdotal remarks on those players below.

Memphis 4, Las Vegas 5

• J-Rod went deep for the second night in a row. I think he’s healthy finally.
• Nick Stavinoha had a 2-for-4 night with a double.
• Blake Hawksworth had one of those outings where baserunners are just clogging up the basepaths. He allowed 10 hits and a walk in 5 innings which translated to 5 earned runs. Just 1 strikeout but 2 double plays were helpful.
• Hugo Castellanos and Chris Lambert each pitched 2 scoreless innings.

Springfield 10, Corpus Christi 6

• Sean Danielson 3-for-5. Danielson also stole 2 bases. I wasn’t enamored with his defense as he wasn’t getting the best read on baseballs but his speed helped to compensate.
• Colby Rasmus 2-for-4 with a BB. Good Lord what an athlete. He’s really showed some range in center coming in during the first for a shallow flyball and doubling a man off first. Even when he wasn’t perfect you can just tell this kid has tools. Late in the game he was going after the ball and was a little off track — he made a really nice catch twisting his body to catch the ball. He also showed off his arm throwing a man out at the plate.
• Juan Richardson was 2-for-4 with a double and a HR muscling the ball over the wall in the first inning to give the Cardinals a 2-0 lead.
• Joe Mather went 1-for-4 with a walk. He really is the favorite down in Springfield with a “Let’s Go Joe” chant breaking out for his at bats. He’s reminds me physically of the Brandon Buckman in that they’re both very tall players with large frames that look like they could still add muscle. They’re just like giants out on the field.
• I’m a Tyler Greene convert. He’s got the tools. He had an error early in the game but I think part of that is because he has some fantastic range. He needs to be more consistent with his throws and not try to do too much but he’s a good defender. At the plate he went 2-for-4 with a double and a homerun.
• Bryan Anderson was 1-for-4 with a HR as he and Greene went back-to-back in the 7th. Defensively, I think he still needs to work on blocking pitches. He did have a nice motion to third to catch Drew Sutton trying to steal a base. What I mean by that is it wasn’t the strongest throw but it was accurate and coming out of the crouch was a nice quick smooth motion.
• Jaime Garcia — prounouced like ‘HI-may’ rather than Jay-me — was an interesting case study. His line from the game looks good: 6IP, 2R, 0ER, 2BB, 1K. He wasn’t really in control of the game early on though. He got lucky in the first when Rasmus doubled Neil Sellers off first (Sellers must have been confused at how many outs there were or something because it was a really lame baserunning mistake). Once Jaime had the 7-2 lead he pitched much better. While I wasn’t keeping tallies, it seemed like he was throwing too many breaking pitches early in the game and they weren’t sharp. As the game progressed he seemed to attack with his fastball and his breaking pitches had a more defined break to them. Not a terrible outing by any means but he needs work on his pitch selection.
• Jason Motte looked good striking out 2 in an inning of work.
• Chris Perez…what to say. He’s got to work on his control. The strike zone seemed to shrink a bit as the 9th inning progressed but he just doesn’t have the control he needs right now. He gets good movement on his pitches and his slider was good enough (but not great) to compliment his fastball. The walks are really troubling though. 1IP, 1ER, 2BB with the tying run at the plate. It wasn’t a dominant performance. (Jeff Luhnow, please stay away from relievers in the upcoming draft for the early round. Too unpredictable, not enough upside.)

Palm Beach 6, Clearwater 4

• Allen Craig 2-for-5 with a HR and SB.
• Mark Hamilton 3-for-5 with a HR.
• Nathan Southard 1-for-3 with a triple and BB.
• Gary Daley didn’t allow a hit in 3 innings of work but he walked an atrocious 5 batters striking out just 1. The opposition scored 3 runs (1 earned) off of him.
• Matthew Trent struck out 2 in an inning of work.
• Kyle McClellan struck out 3 in 2 innings of work allowing 1 hit and 1 walk.
• Luke Gregerson rebounded nicely from his last outing pitching a scoreless inning striking out 1 for his 12 save.

Quad Cities 7, Wisconsin 2

• Jared Schweitzer went 2-for-2 with a HR.
• Luke Gorsett went 2-for-3 with a BB.
• 4 Wisconsin errors help the Swing to score 5 unearned runs.
• The QC pitching was kickass tonight. No other way to put it. Eddie Degerman struck out 8 in 5 innings of work allowing 2 runs on 1 hit and 2 walks. I love the strikeouts but seriously, it’s time to move him up to High-A or Springfield. Low-A batters just aren’t enough of a challenge.
• “Anything you can do, I can do better. I can do anything better than you.” I imagine that’s what Shaun Garceau said to Degerman after he got done striking out 9(!) in 4 innings. He didn’t walk a batter and only had 2 hits. Fantastic — and he’s 19. Garceau required only had 3 outs on balls in play.
• Somebody call TLR and DD!!! These Quad Cities’ kids aren’t pitching to contact. RED ALERT! More strikeouts than balls in play! Does not compute. Emergency!!!