photo: Masyn Winn (Brian Walton/The Cardinal Nation)
In early Grapefruit League play, the St. Louis Cardinals are 2-1. Masyn Winn had a strong Sunday debut with his bat, legs and arm. Our weekly history feature looks back at 2014 spring training.
Spring Training game recaps
Saturday, February 24, 2024 – Cardinals 8, Marlins 9 (split squad)
The St. Louis Cardinals were edged by the Miami Marlins by a 9-8 score on Saturday. Matthew Liberatore started on the mound and pitched two innings, gave up two runs on two hits, struck out one and walked one.
Michael McGreevy, Ryan Helsley, JoJo Romero, Wilking Rodriguez, John King, and Ryan Fernandez made up the relief squad. McGreevy surrendered four runs in two innings. Helsley, Romero and Rodriguez each tossed a scoreless inning. King yielded three runs and took the loss. Fernandez tossed a scoreless ninth.
The offense scored eight runs on 12 hits. Nolan Arenado went 2-for-2 with two RBI. NRI Matt Koperniak was 3-for-3 with three RBI. STEP camper Jacob Buchberger was 2-for-3 with two runs scored.
Arenado was picked off first base. Willson Contreras was tagged for catcher interference.
Saturday, February 24, 2024 – Cardinals 10 at Mets 5 (split squad)
In the second split squad game Saturday, the Cardinals blasted the Mets in Port St. Lucie. Zack Thompson got the start. The left hander pitched two scoreless innings, allowed one hit, struck out one and walked one.
The relief corps was Adam Kloffenstein, Riley O’Brien, Andre Pallante, Nick Robertson, Andre Granillo, and Victor Santos. Kloffenstein gave up two runs on three hits in two innings. O’Brien and Pallante each threw a scoreless inning. Robertson surrendered two runs in the in the seventh inning. Granillo yielded one run in the eighth. Santos tossed a scoreless ninth.
Lars Nootbaar went 2-for-2 with an RBI. Arquimedes Gamboa went 2-for-3 with two runs scored. Luken Baker and Thomas Saggese drove in two each.
Gamboa made a throwing error.
Sunday, February 25, 2024 – Cardinals 3 at Astros 0
The Cardinals blanked the Astros in Palm Beach on Sunday. Drew Rom made the start and pitched two scoreless innings on no hits, one strikeout and one walk.
Pitching in relief were Gordon Graceffo, Connor Thomas, Tink Hence, and Kyle Leahy. Graceffo, Thomas, and Hence each pitched two scoreless innings. Hence fanned four hitters but walked three. Leahy tossed a scoreless ninth.
In his spring debut, Masyn Winn went a perfect 3-for-3 with two singles and a double. He also made a nifty play at shortstop.
Masyn Winn throws are back. 🤯 pic.twitter.com/thBLglcCWR
— MLB (@MLB) February 25, 2024
Winn and Victor Scott (two walks) each stole a base.
Victor Scott II steals his first bag of spring pic.twitter.com/iMiDKzwbvk
— VHS (@VanHicklestein) February 25, 2024
News and Notes from Cardinals Spring Training
This section features spring training news items each week that do not require extensive coverage.
- The Spring Training broadcast schedule is available here. Bally Sports Midwest is broadcasting fewer games this spring. Typically, 15 games have been televised, but in 2024, the total is just 12. The total number of Cardinals games broadcast by Bally Sports Midwest plus other tv outlets has also declined.
All games will be available in some medium however, as the remainder of the games not televised by Bally Sports Midwest or the TV outlets of opposing teams will be picked up in audio form by either KMOX or the Cardinals Radio Network. This includes all 30 games in Florida plus the two scheduled games in Arizona against the Cubs.
- Regular season single game tickets are now on sale. Tickets can be purchased online here or on the Ballpark App.
Trade and Acquisition Rumors
- The Cardinals are considering several options for a shortstop to back up rookie Masyn Winn. Tommy Edman is recovering from offseason wrist surgery and is delayed in his return to full baseball activities, necessitating a plan for a backup at the position. Derrick Goold of the Post Dispatch reports that options that the Cardinals are considering include free agents Nick Ahmed, Elvis Andrus and Brandon Crawford. With the Cardinals having a full 40-man roster, any of the three would likely be offered a minor league deal to serve as shortstop depth.
Transactions
There are no transactions to report.
Injury Report
- CF Tommy Edman (arthroscopic wrist surgery) is delayed in his return from surgery. Edman has not been cleared for full baseball activities and therefore is not available at the present time to play in Grapefruit League games. The team and Edman continue to be hopeful he will be ready for Opening Day.
- RHP Tekoah Roby was scratched from his scheduled start on Monday due to back tightness. RHP Sem Robberse will make the start instead.
Looking Ahead
Grapefruit League games are underway. The Cardinals played three games over the weekend, a split squad game with the Marlins and the Mets on Saturday, and a game with the Astros in Palm Beach on Sunday. They won two of three.
The first full week of Grapefruit League play begins on Monday. The Cardinals’ schedule includes games with the Marlins, Red Sox, Mets, Nationals, and Astros during the week. The next televised game is Wednesday.
The Cardinals Spring Training schedule can be found here.
The Spring Training broadcast schedule is out and a link is provided in this report.
The last spring training game in Florida will be against the Astros in Palm Beach on March 24. The Cardinals will then travel to Arizona to play the final two spring games against the Cubs on March 25 and 26.
The regular season begins on March 28 with a four-game series against the Dodgers in Los Angeles. They end the road trip in San Diego for three beginning April 1.
The Cardinals home opener is on April 4 against the Marlins.
Blast from the Past
Grapefruit League play has begun. For the next few weeks, Blast from the Past will look at some past spring trainings.
The website Baseball Cube has spring training stats going back to 2006. Last week we looked at the 2011 season. This week we jump to 2014 spring training.
The 2014 Spring Training roster consisted of 70 players in total, 39 position players and 31 pitchers. The entire roster can be found here.
The primary position players were Matt Adams, Jhonny Peralta, Kolten Wong, Jon Jay, Allen Craig, Matt Carpenter, Matt Holliday, and Yadier Molina. Other notable players were Daniel Descalso, Shane Robinson, Stephen Piscotty, Randal Grichuk, Peter Bourjos, Pete Kozma, Tony Cruz, Mark Ellis, Greg Garcia, Patrick Wisdom, Oscar Taveras, Aledmys Diaz, Tommy Pham, and Carson Kelly.
The starting pitchers were Adam Wainwright, Lance Lynn, Joe Kelly, Michael Wacha, and Shelby Miller. Notable relief pitchers were Kevin Siegrist, Pat Neshek, Tyler Lyons, Randy Choate, Trevor Rosenthal, Carlos Martinez, Seth Maness, Marco Gonzales and Alex Reyes.
The Cardinals’ 2014 Spring Training record was 11-13. The first spring training game was on February 28 and the final contest was on March 27.
The top hitters by OPS were Kolten Wong (1.000) and Stephen Piscotty (1.004).
Top starter ERA: Adam Wainwright (1.59) and Michael Wacha (1.77).
Top reliever ERA with at least 10 IP: Carlos Martinez (2.81).
The Cardinals played the following teams in Spring Training: Miami Marlins, New York Mets, Detroit Tigers, Boston Red Sox, Washington Nationals, Atlanta Braves, Minnesota Twins, and Houston Astros.
The Cardinals opened the 2014 regular season on March 31 in Cincinnati against the Reds. The Cardinals’ home opener was on April 7, also against the Reds.
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