Future Redbirds

The organization has had its share of AAA filler in recent years (a trend that seems to be slowly reversing itself). While these guys were never really considered big time prospects, it is easy to get attached to them because they come off as underdogs. So, while guys like John Gall never really “made it” with the Cardinals, I still have a fondness for them. After the jump I’m going to take a look at what a few of these guys are doing now and another “former friend” that doesn’t exactly fit into that category.

John Gall - Gall got 49 at bats for the big club between 2005 and 2006 (I wonder if he picked up a World Series ring?). He was an 11th round pick by the Cardinals in the 2000 draft out of Stanford and made his way to AAA by the end of 2003. He always had solid hitting statistics, with a career minor league batting line of .297/.356/.461. He spent the better parts of four seasons at Memphis before leaving the organization after 2006. He was picked up by the Marlins organization and is still at their AAA affiliate (he did get four at bats for the Marlins last season). Here is his line so far in 2008 (he is now 30 years old):

.303/.369/.553 5hr 16rbi

John Rodriguez - JRod (as he is known on his shoes) also got his big league experience with the Cardinals in 2005 and 2006, including an at bat in the World Series (he struck out), so he certainly got a ring for his efforts. Rodriguez was a useful major league ballplayer, in the 332 at bats he was given with the Cardinals he put up a .298/.378/.434 line, which if actually much better than I expected it to be before I looked. He wasn’t given much of an opportunity against lefties, but he actually hit them just as well in the small sample size when he was given a chance. Rodriguez came up with the Yankees and the story was that he showed prodigous power in batting practice, but never could translate that power into games (his career SLG of .478 in the minors seems to argue otherwise). He came to the Cardinals as a PTBNL in 2005 and scorched Memphis for 17 homers in 34 games before being called up. Last year he spent the whole year in Memphis and put up a typical John Rodriguez line: .263/.375/.500 with eight homers in only 160 at bats. After the season he picked up with the Tampa Bay system and is toiling away in Durham this year. Here is his line to date:

.274/.357/.500 4hr 9rbi

Scott Seabol - Scott was always one of my favorites and I really hoped that he would make it. He did have one at bat with the Yankees in 2001, but most of his major league experience came in 2005 with the Cardinals, when he appeared in 59 games for 105 at bats. He didn’t play particularly well, putting up a .219/.272/.295, but I can remember the one homerun he hit and how happy he looked when he hit it. Scott came up through the Yankees organization and had a brief stop in the Milwaulkee organization before making his way to Memphis. He was never a top prospect, but he maintained respectable numbes that moved him through systems until he reached AAA. His career minor league line is .287/.341/.500. Scott’s power really came on once the Cardinals aquired him, as he hit 31 homeruns in his first full year in Memphis (beating his career high by eleven at that point). Scott left the system after splitting 2005 between AAA and replacing an injuried Scott Rolen and wound up with Albuquerque in the Marlin’s sysem. He only played a partial season in 2006 and does not seem to be playing this season. If he has retired, he went out with a bang - check out his 2007 season line with Albuquerque:

.300/.366/.577 32hr 105rbi (in 503 at bats!)

Tagg Bozied - Tagg was only with the Cardinals minor league system for one year (2007), but I really like him because of his backstory. Bozied had been a decent prospect in the Padres organization and had moved up to their AAA club in 2004. In July of that year, he hit a walk off grand slam, but blew out his knee when he jumped on his way to homeplate as he circled the bases. He has bounced around ever since then, spending a productive season at Memphis last year: .264/.349/.490 with 24 home runs. He has made his way to Albuquerque (notice a trend here?) this year and has put up this line so far:

.279/.397/.508 4hr 8rbi

Chris Lambert - Chris doesn’t quite fall into the same category that the others on this list, but I thought an update was in order. As we all know, the Cardinals took Lambert with the nineteenth pick of the 2004 draft (let’s say it together: when we could have had Phil Hughes). He moved fairly quickly through the Cardinals system, even though his peripheral statistics were fairly disappointing. He was moved to the Tigers organization last season when the big league club needed a warm body to pitch every five days (we received Mike Maroth and the jury is still out regarding his body temperature). At the time he was pitching very poorly for Memphis and had been written off by the organization (and everyone else) as a bust. He has pitched decently this season at Toledo, although his peripherals are still pretty weak. Here are the early returns on Lambert this year:

3-1 (5 starts) 27IP 12K’s (10.1% k/PA) 15BB’s (12.6% BB/PA)