Photo: Jeremy Rivas (Brian Walton/The Cardinal Nation)
The St. Louis Cardinals minor league system went 2-2 on Wednesday with wins coming from Memphis and Palm Beach. There were a number of strong pitching performances as Peoria was the only team that allowed more than three runs. Memphis and Springfield each allowed one, though Springfield didn’t generate enough offense to get the win.
Four hitters tallied home runs with three of the four coming from the bottom two levels and five players had multi-hit games.
Listed below are stats and results from games on March 30th
Pitcher of the Day – Dalton Roach
Dalton Roach threw the middle innings for Springfield and didn’t allow a single run in his four innings of work from the 4th through the 7th inning. He did allow four base runners but he did well to strand them while fanning four Pensacola batters.
Roach will likely return to Double-A this year as the Cardinals have a group of prospects and veteran minor league signings who will fill up the Memphis pitching staff. The soon-to-be 26-year-old will need to work on being less hittable as he allowed 135 hits in 114 ⅔ innings last year, including 27 home runs at a rate of 2.12 home runs per nine innings.
The honorable mention goes to Austin Love fanned seven and allowed just one run in his four inning start for Palm Beach.
Hitter of the Day – Jeremy Rivas
Jeremy Rivas signed a 2020 contract as an international amateur free agent, so he had to wait until 2021 to make his professional debut because of the lost 2020 season. He was a highly touted amateur prospect who signed with the Cardinals for $600,000 out of Venezuela. He is more of a glove-first shortstop, but he showed an impressive approach at the plate last year as he struck out just 32 times in 200 plate appearances while reaching base at a .345 clip.
He doesn’t have much power to speak of as only 8 of his 48 hits went for extra bases with none clearing the fence. Thus, it’s notable that he hit a home run on Wednesday as one of his three hits. He was the only player of the day to record more than two hits.
The honorable mention goes to catcher Aaron Antonini who went 2-for-2 with a home run and an RBI single in Memphis’ winning effort.
Memphis (6) at Jacksonville (1)
| Memphis Pitching | TCN | IP | H | ER | BB | K | Notes |
| James Naile | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | Nick Wittgren, Kyle Ryan, Zach McAllister, Blake Parker, and Packy Naughton each threw a scoreless inning as well. |
| Memphis Hitting | Pos | TCN | AB | R | H | RBI | 2B | 3B | HR | SB | BB | K | Notes |
| Ben Deluzio | OF | 4 | 2 | 2 | Stole 37 bases in 2018 while in the Diamondbacks organization | ||||||||
| Justin Toerner | OF | 2 | 1 | 2 | TCN’s Palm Beach Cardinals Player of the Year in 2019 reached Triple-A for the first time in 2021 | ||||||||
| Moises Gomez | OF | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1 | Once ranked as high as 10th in the Rays farm system according to Baseball America | |||||||
| Aaron Antonini | C | 2 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 1 | Former 18th round pick bounced between High-A, Double-A, and Triple-A last year despite being a below average hitter at each level |
Springfield (0) at Pensacola (1)
| Springfield Pitching | TCN | IP | H | ER | BB | K | Notes |
| Zack Thompson | 7 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2019 first round pick made the jump to Triple-A in 2021 after previously throwing just 15 ⅓ professional innings |
| Freddy Pacheco | 47 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | Had the most saves and tied for the most games finished in the minor league system last year |
| Dalton Roach | 4 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 4 | Finished fourth in the system in innings pitched last year with 114 ⅔ |
| Springfield Hitting | Pos | TCN | AB | R | H | RBI | 2B | 3B | HR | SB | BB | K | Notes |
| Todd Lott | 1B/OF | 45 | 2 | 1 | 1 | Right-handed slugger has been hot this spring and is likely in contention for a Double-A role to open the year |
Peoria (1) vs Beloit (11)
| Peoria Pitching | TCN | IP | H | ER | BB | K | Notes |
| Wilfredo Pereira | 43 | 2 ⅔ | 2 | 0 (2 R) | 1 | 1 | Started in 13 of his 29 appearances for Peoria last season and compiled a 3.33 ERA in 97 ⅓ innings |
| Peoria Hitting | Pos | TCN | AB | R | H | RBI | 2B | 3B | HR | SB | BB | K | Notes |
| Masyn Winn | SS | 5 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | Will likely open the season in Peoria after posting a 48 wRC+ at the High-A level following his promotion from Single-A |
Palm Beach (5) vs Jupiter (3)
| Palm Beach Pitching | TCN | IP | H | ER | BB | K | Notes |
| Austin Love | 22 | 4 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 7 | 2021 third round pick fanned 13 and waked one in eight innings last year |
| Jose Moreno | 3 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 21-year-old struggled with control in the Single-A rotation but he did have a 26.5% strikeout rate |
| Palm Beach Hitting | Pos | TCN | AB | R | H | RBI | 2B | 3B | HR | SB | BB | K | Notes |
| Jeremy RIvas | SS | 46 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 1 | .345 OBP in FCL but no home runs in 48 games | |||||
| Adanson Cruz | OF | 4 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 1 | The 21-year-old reached full season ball for the first time with a late season promotion in 2021 after posting a .774 OPS with 9 outfield assists at the FCL level | ||||||
| Won-Bin Cho | OF | 4 | 2 | Left-handed hitter and thrower has a solid 6’2”, 200 pound frame despite being just 18 years old |
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