It’s about time we take a look around the different fall and winter ball leagues and check up on how some of the Cardinal farmhands are doing. You don’t have to wait for me to update you semi-regularly as I have, the links to all the winter ball leagues with Cardinal players are on the right hand sidebar near the bottom.
Update: Over at the Birdhouse, Brian Walton has some neat pics from the AFL of the Mesa and the Team USA squad.
Also, I’ve heard there are others playing in Colombia and Nicaragua, but I can’t find their stats. Let me know what you know.
Mesa Solar Sox
- Mitch Boggs is doing very well for the Sox, allowing 2 runs on 5 hits and 6 walks over 13 innings, striking out 10. In all seriousness, what are the odds he makes the team out of spring training? I wouldn’t be totally shocked. Shocked, but not totally.
- Over three appearances, Stuart Pomeranz has not been scored upon. He’s allowed 4 hits and 2 walks over 7 IP, while striking out 3. You like to see him do well after being down for so long with injury problems.
- Jason Motte has appeared in 8 games and has thrown 9 innings, surrendering 3 earned runs and has allowed 7 hits and 4 walks while fanning 6. Not outstanding, but not bad by any means.
- Kyle McClellan has left the team to get married. Before he left for his big day, he pitched 7.1 innings, allowed 4 runs on 12 hits and 2 walks while striking out 9. Congrats to Kyle on his wedding, best o’ luck to him and his new missus.
- Luke Gregerson took McClellan’s place, and has got knocked around a bit. In just 2 innings, he’s given up 5 runs on 6 hits and a walk while striking out 3.
- In 21 at bats, Amaury Marti has hit .286/.348/.476, including 1 homer. He also recently beat the sun in staring contest while standing in the outfield. Club officials are thinking of renaming the team the Mesa Cazana Sox of Greater North America.
- Jarrett Hoffpauir is hitting .273, but has a .400 OBP. No extra base hits so far.
- Mark Hamilton has gone just 6 for 28, but 2 of his hits have been doubles and he has 9 walks to 5 strikeouts.
Team USA
- Colby Rasmus is 6 for 21, 4 of his hits have been doubles. He has 4 strikeouts to 4 walks. Colby thinks singles are for nerds.
- Bryan Anderson has gone 3 for 10.
- Chris Perez has allowed 5 runs on 2 hits and 5 walks and a hit batter, while striking out 2. He has a bloated 22.50 ERA and may not be trusted with the closer’s job in tournament play.
West Oahu (Hawaii Winter League)
- Michael Cooper has appeared in 6 games and has pitched 15 innings. He’s allowed 16 (!) earned runs on 27 (!) hits and 8 walks, while striking out 19. I like the strikeouts, but it’s all been overshadowed by the amount of hits, and the fact he’s given up 6 home runs. This guy is probably going to get released.
- Marco Gonzalez has actually been worse. He’s surrendered 9 runs (6 earned) on 12 hits and 2 walks, while striking out 3.
Aragua (Venezuelan Winter League)
- Jose Martinez actually played some LF last night. He’s carrying over his success from AA to this point, hitting .314/.368/.600 in 35 at bats. He’s hit 2 homers, 2 doubles and a triple while striking out just 3 times. He’s also just walked 3 times. That’s Jose for ya, gotta love him.
Caribes (VWL)
- In 10 IP, Matt Scherer given up 9 earned runs on 14 hits and 2 walks, but has struck out a better per inning. He’s given up 3 homers.
Liga Paralela Cardinals (Venezuela)
- Jose Garcia (2B for QC much of the year) is hitting .422/.519/.566 in 45 at bats.
- Rom Ruiz has 5 homers in 53 at bats, and a total .316/.391/.711 line.
Filed under: Winter ball
erik
azruavatar
fewgoodcards
roarke49
theredbaaron
All our guys in the Columbian league are on the Toros.
Here are their batting stats
http://www.teamrenteria.com/lcbp_Stats_Bateo.php
Here are the pitching stats
http://www.teamrenteria.com/lcbp_Stats_Pitcheo.php
You may have to log in to get to them.
Encouraging to see Hamilton taking some walks. I hope this is something he is consciously working on.
In addition to RUiz, Bolivar also has 5 HR’s and a .750 SLG (stats from the 10/31 game aren’t in the totals yet). During the year Ruiz hit 0 HR’s in 137 AB’s in the GCL and Bolivar hit 1 in 212 AB’s across 3 short season leagues. Seems strange. In fairness, Bolivar did hit 8 the year before in the VSL. ( a lot for that league).
The thing that really annoys me about Jed Lowrie is that we picked Tyler Greene ahead of him. The scouting reports at the time speculated that he might need to shift to 2B. From what I understand, the Red Sox are looking forward to years of a Lowrie-Pedroia MI, so it would take a Josh Beckett for Hanley Ramirez sized package to pry him loose.
Oh, and I’ll never tire of the Marti jokes.
Looking to the pictures at Birdhouse, it seems to me that Perez has a “too much effort” delivery, perhaps just trying to do a little less would help with his control, without losing efficiency. Maybe someone who saw him live could add some comment.
GO CARDS!!!
I agree w/Liam, the Marti jokes are the best, keep them coming.
CC. Neither of those work for me, even after trying to log in. argh. is is working for you?
erik, I assume you are getting the boxes on the left hand side. At the top is one labeled “ingresso de usurios” (users ticket) that is basically a sign in. At the bottom of the box is a link “Si no estas registrado haz click aqui” (if your not yet registered, click here). That will take you to a registration page - fill in the boxes and it should let you enter the site. From there, you can navigate to the Toros statistics. If you still can’t get in or find it, let me know and I’ll pull out the stats and post them.
There is a link down at the bottom of the page that you are logging in on for statistics but I can’t get it to open. I was able to get in by going all the way to the bottom of the page and clicking on the liga columbiana. At the top of the page that opens will be a Toros emblam,click on that. At the top of the Toros page all the way to the right you should see “statisticas”, click on that and those links are working.
the report on lowrie wasn’t that he needed to move over to 2nd base, he was already there. he played 2nd all 3 years in college and didn’t try shortstop until he entered pro ball. he’s not a great defensive shortstop, but he can get the job done. another thing to remember on lowrie was that he had a down year his junior season, and he had never done anything with a wood bat while greene was coming off an all-american season and was rated the top position prospect the previous summer in the cape cod league. greene also has better tools. you can argue that everyone knew greene’s strikeout numbers meant he wouldn’t hit for average in pro ball, but lowrie was no sure bet either and no one thought he could play short. i think the bigger mistake was not taking yunel escobar instead of greene, not lowrie.
yeah, pretty much i hope amaury marti doesn’t make the big club but instead remains in the minors so the jokes continue. (unless of course he causes the opposition to collapse into a state of quantum uncertainty due to the fact that his body emits so many photons it makes it impossible to measure the location or speed of any other particles in his vicinity, in which case, we need him in left field. and yes, i know that didn’t make sense.)