Future Redbirds

2B Jose Garcia went down in yesterday’s QC game with a hamstring injury. In the same article, it reads “The Cardinals are looking for versatility from some of their infielders, one reason that Pete Kozma moved from shortstop to third and Domnit Bolivar played shortstop instead of third on Sunday.” I questioned that decision yesterday and several commenters made a remark similar to this one. Take a moment and reflect on this though. How often do you see Adam Everett play 3B? Jack Wilson? JJ Hardy? The Cardinals drafted Kozma to be their SS of the future. You don’t pick utility players first overall. So if they see him as their SS of the future, why, when he’s at low-A, does he need to get acquainted with other positions??? It doesn’t make sense to me. Let’s see if he can get things together offensively before we start making him learn another (explitive) position. If he can’t hit well enough to play SS everyday, then start to convert him to other positions in AA or AAA not his first year as a pro.

That’s exactly what they’re doing with Tyler Greene. Read between the lines here and you’ll see that Greene has fallen behind Martinez on the depth chart. Of course, as soon as this starts infringing on Allen Craig getting at bats, I’ll be grabbing my torch and pitchfork. Otherwise, I think it’s a good move. In fact, I’d like to see them toss Greene into CF and see if he can handle that as well. If he’s not going to hit enough to be a regular, turn him into a poor man’s Ryan Freel who can play anywhere on the diamond. The question will always be, though, whether he can hit enough to make the bigs.

The Springfield Cardinals filled Rauschenberger’s spot with a minor league free agent middle infielder. I have no idea why.

Ottavino’s reason for his poor start:

“I think I got too caught up in my first start, trying to end the losing streak. [...] I was nervous and I couldn’t control it as well as I would’ve liked to.”

Let’s hope it was just nerves.

(Note that has nothing to do with baseball: If you are Chris Douglass-Roberts, how crappy do you feel right now?)

Memphis 9, New Orleans 1

• Brian Barden went 3-for-5 with a pair of doubles and an error.
• Joe Mather hit a bomb for his only hit in 5 at bats.
• Jarrett Hoffpauir went 3-for-4 with a double. The doubles are important. He needs to have at least gap-type power or pitchers in the majors will (most likely) just overpower him. He’s hitting .462 thus far.
• Mitchell Boggs had a good night allowing just an unearned run in 6 innings on 3 hits. The typical complaint we’ve heard continues though as he struck out just 2 against 1 walk. On the otherhand, he recorded 15 of 16 outs on the ground.
• Jason Motte and Chris Perez both had scoreless outings. Motte struck out 3 and walked 1 in 1.1 innings. Perez struck out 1 and walked 1 in his scoreless frame.

Springfield 0, Midland 12

• No extra base hits for Springfield. Bryan Anderson is the only one who can hold his head up going 1-for-2 with a walk (one of two in the game for Springfield). Just an ugly game for Springfield on both sides of the ball.
• The new middle infielder, Pete Maestrales, got the start at 2B going 1-for-3.
• Adam Daniels had a rough start allowing 7 hits in 4 innings. He only allowed 2 earned runs (3 total) but he walked 4 and struck out only 3.
• Middle reliever fodder Jon Mikrut and lefty Zach Zuercher allowed the other 9 runs.

Palm Beach 3, Brevard County 5

• Tyler Henley was 0-for-4.
• Tony Cruz was 2-for-4 with a double and a throwing error.
• Brandon Dickson got rocked for 9 hits and 4 runs in his 4.2 innings.
• Fun Fact: Gary Daley plunked 3 batters in a row to allow all three of his inherited runners score. Then he recorded an out so his line has 0 ER while Dickson has 4. Things like this are reason #562 that ERA is not an effective evaluation statistic.
• Tyler Herron allowed 3 hits and a run while striking out 2 in the last 3 innings.
• Palm Beach had just 2 walks and a single extra base hit in the game.

Quad Cities 12, Cedar Rapids 7

• Pete Kozma playing SS was 2-for-4 with a walk.
• 1B Andrew Brown went 2-for-4 with a walk and a HR. He had 5 RBI.
• Mike Folli was 2-for-4 with a double and a walk.
• Cardoza Tucker, a pitcher I had not heard of previously, threw 4 innings allowing 2 hits (including a solo HR) while striking out 8. I’d be excited by this but Additon desensitized me when he struck out 9!
• Thomas Eager did not fare well allowing 7 hits and 4 runs in 3.2 innings.