Kary Booher has a piece on Rauschenberger’s retirement. It’s really kind of a strange situation. Rauschenberger was pretty awful to start last year before coming on strong in May and then again in August. He probably didn’t have a future in the majors but it’s still kinda sad to watch someone walk away from the game so young. We only wish Cory the best in his future endeavors.
Chris Constancio, the creator of the much-loved FirstInning, notes that Kozma is awfully close to the .17/.17 club.
Standings:
- Memphis - 22-22, .500, W1, first in division
- Springfield - 17-26, .395, L10, tied for last in division (that’s right — they were 17-16 before their current slide.)
- Palm Beach - 26-17, .605, L2, first in division
- Quad Cities - 22-18, .550, W1, third in division (the division leaders are playing .744 ball leaving QC 7.5 games back.)
Mitchell Boggs says hello in a big way as Joe Mather returns to his Springfield nickname “Joey Bombs” (another T-shirt I need to get). Palm Beach gets 2-hit and the organization goes 2-for-4.
- Joe Mather goes deep in the 8th for the only run scored. He spent some time in CF as Rasmus got the night off. He was 2-for-3 on the night and is hitting a sick .316/.425/.663 proving that he’s essentially mastered AAA. I have to question the validity of keeping Schumaker and his .735 OPS on the major league team when Mather is simply destroying AAA. Mather brings a different, perhaps more diverse, skillset but if the Cardinals have faith in either Ludwick or Barton being capable of manning CF from time to time, Schumaker’s primary reason for staying on the team is severely undercut.
- Nick Stavinoha went 2-for-3.
- Mitchell Boggs was the f**king man tonight. He went 7 innings allowing 2 hits, 2 walks and striking out 10 batters. They did let him throw 114 pitches, which I’m not a huge fan of, but that’s simply part of the organization’s philosophy right now. Boggs doesn’t necessarily have glaring strikeout rates but he’s good to great across all the key pitching indicators. Batters are hitting just .226 off him, he’s got a GO:AO ratio over 2 and he has 37 Ks to 15 BBs. I’d rather the major league club either fall out of contention or win the division — languishing in near contention is the worst thing that can happen because it means that players like Lohse and Pineiro will probably stick around the whole year and we won’t get to see any of our AAA pitching prospects.
- Jason Motte picked up his first save of the season allowing a hit and striking out the side.
- 4 games, 4 HRs. Allen Craig goes 3-for-5 with another longball.
- Jess Todd had a nice outing lasting 6.1 innings. He allowed 8 hits and 4 runs (3 earned) but walked just 1 while striking out 7.
- Luke Gregerson pitched a scoreless frame striking out 1. He now has a 3:1 K:BB ratio and hitters are batting under .200 against him. It seems like somewhat of a theme among our relievers that they walk a few more batter than you’d normally like but give up fewer hits.
- Bob Zimmerman allowed 2 runs in his inning of work and now has an ERA over five and a half.
- 2 hits, 3 walks and 9 Ks — the offense stunk.
- It was nice to see Nick Derba back in the lineup — he allowed a passed ball but threw out 2 runners as well.
- Brandon Dickson was rocked for all 4 runs in just 4 innings of work.
- Josh Dew is back to throwing strikes as he Ks 1 in an inning of work allowing a hit.
- Since being demoted, Tommy Pham is hitting .333/.400/.926 with 5 HRs in 7 games. He went 2-for-4 with a double and a HR.
- Pete Kozma was 1-for-4. He’s hitting .256/.360/.356 in May.
- Eduardo Sanchez picked up his 4th win allowing 2 hits , 1 walk and 2Ks over 5 scoreless innings.
- Thomas Eager followed up with 3 scoreless frames allowing 1 hit, 1 walk and 2 Ks.
Filed under: Daily Farm Reports
erik
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fewgoodcards
roarke49
theredbaaron
I was at the Springfield game Sunday afternoon, and I’ll offer my scouting report on a few Cardinals from the stands. (editor’s note: I was holding my 10 month old infant son during most of the game, and between trying to find hot water to warm up his bottle and my wife spraying powdered sugar all over me from her funnel cake, this was the best I could do):
Allen Craig=stud. Craig just has the look of a major league hitter at the plate. He went 3 for 5, and hit 4 balls extremely hard, including an absolute laser over the right-centerfield fence. He has somewhat of a Gary Sheffield-esque bat wiggle/trigger, but whatever works for him. He played left field in this game, however, so I have no scouting report on how he looks at 3B. But his stick is definitely major league material.
Steven Hill - he’s a very unique player. In his 5 plate appearances, he killed the ball twice - once right at the 3B and the other into left field for a single. He played 1B in this game, and seemed unsteady and unsure of himself. He’s not much to look at - physically he resembles a shorter, lighter Ryan Ludwick. He has big feet, skinny legs, and very little muscle tone - but he has tremendous bat speed, and when he squares the ball it just sounds different than the other players. I don’t think he has a true position since he apparently has no defensive instincts whatsoever, but I’d like to see the Cards stick him in left field and forget about it. Reminds me of Conor Jackson at the plate.
Jon Jay - somewhat disappointing, as he doesn’t seem to have much pop and has the look of a fourth or fifth outfielder. Reminds me of Coco Crisp, but probably not as fast or as good.
Mark Hamilton - pinch hit in the 9th inning and hit a laser to right field for a single. He’s a large man who has a strong presence at the plate, and it’s a shame he doesn’t seem able to put it all together.
Isa Garcia - was hoping he’d do more at the plate, but went 0 for 3 and, oddly to me, played 3B.
Jess Todd - I was very impressed by him. He has good velocity and looks filthy from the stands, but for some reason I look at him and see “middle reliever” at the major league level. Not that that’s necessarily a bad thing, but he seemed to get weaker as the game went on. For a 3 or 4-inning stretch, however, he’d be lethal. As a point of reference, I was curious to see how he’d match up with former 1st round pick Chris Nelson (SS). He made Nelson looked foolish in every at bat, and it wasn’t even close.
Jose Martinez - played 2B and made one really great defensive play. Did nothing at the plate.
Shane Robinson - had the day off and was the 1B coach. He’s as tiny as they say. Physically resembles Jeff Spicoli from Fast Times at Ridgemont High, with short hair.
Guys–I guess I could find it if I looked hard enough but I was wondering where the Zawacki kid is the Cardinals drafted last year out of Lasalle-Peru HS. Anyone know? Thanks.
Re: Kozma and the “teenager in A ball” thing — it’s a small point, but he’s not a teenager. He turned 20 in April. He’s just a few weeks younger than Pham.
That said, it’s impressive to see both of them having success in the MWL at that age. It puts them both on track to hit the majors at 23 or 24 and have long, productive careers.
It seems that Tommy Pham is challenging the old baseball adage that the biggest jump in baseball is from High-A to AA. Pham seems to think the jump from Low A to High A is the killer. We can hope that all he needs is to get comfortable at the plate before returning to Florida and destroying the High-A pitching there. What a physical talent that kid is.
I like Brian Barton alot and was really glad that he stuck with the team out of Spring Training, but at this point I would rather see the team bring up Mather and lose Barton back to the Indians. If the choice were between Barton and Schu I would rather have Barton. But Schu is not going anywhere and the big club could really use Mather’s big stick. Furthermore, the organization has considerable outfield depth so Barton is more of a luxury than a necessity.
Wow, I’d hate to lose Barton. Does Schu have options still? If so, it seems like switching he and Mather would make more sense than to lose Barton. I’m sure Barton can at least match Schu’s production at the plate, and that way we lose none of these guys, yet still get Mather up for for a test drive.
I’d think it’d be easy to find a market for a cheap .740 ops good-fielding center-fielder.
Iv read or someone told me that schu is out of options so he would have to clear waivers if we get to keep him.
Everyone-
I am trying to make it up to Kane county and see Kozma play this weekend. I was going to take enough photos of his swing to do a breakdown of his improvements since his draft videos. I was wondering if anyone can breakdown the draft videos into a handfull of stills. If we can I will do a side by side of different points in his swing and make comparisons.
-BJM
I think the analysis of Skip is a little flawed. This is one where the numbers seem to lie. He fills a much larger role than what his numbers may bear out. And he has had some huge hits in clutch situations.
I think in any other organization Duncan would be back at AAA or moved to another team. His last year in the majors, as well as A Reyes’ stint are the reasons why you develop young talent in your minor leagues, but use that talent to get proven players when possible. I agree Mather deserves a shot, but the outfield is crowded. A trade could really help the bullpen and open up room for Ludwick to play everyday and to bring Mather to the bigs.
Joey Bombs and Jason Motte need to get called up soon. They can make the Cards better right now, and the team needs the help. Chris Duncan’s career is going nowhere fast. He needs to be moved ASAP. He’s basically a left handed Kevin Mench that draws a couple extra walk and strikes out way more. Duncan is 27 and Mench is 30. Their careers have taken pretty similar paths to this point and I’d hate to see Duncan back in the minors in a couple years. IMO until he can be on a team as a DH or at 1B and until he can hit LHP, that seems like what will happen. Ditch him and go with Mather. If Mather struggles, then give Stavinoah a shot. If that fails, well, hopefully Rasmus will be hitting at that time and deserve a promotion. Point being, Duncan is easily replaceable with more competant (defensively) ready or near-ready outfielders.