Cardinals Minor League Spring Training Notebook: 04/01

Highlights from Thursday’s St. Louis Cardinals minor league spring training games in Florida.

On Thursday, the Cardinals’ five squads remained home as the Marlins walked across from their side of the complex. As always, Cardinals director of minor league operations John Vuch shares game highlights. The raw data is his, with the comments mine.

Team summary:  With camp nearing its end, the Cardinals had by far their best day of the spring as all five clubs won, from top to bottom. Prior to Thursday, their best afternoon was 3-1-1 on the 27th, also against the Marlins. Palm Beach pulled over .500, the only one of the five to accomplish that.

Combined records: The Cardinals records on the day were 5-0. Spring totals are now 25-31-8 overall and 18-24-4 versus external competition.

Adron Chambers (Brian Walton photo)My Pitcher of the Day: Matt Frevert of Columbia, MO did not allow a baserunner and fanned three in two scoreless innings of work for Springfield. I bet the family will be traveling to see him this summer.

My Hitter of the Day:  Springfield outfielder Adron Chambers (pictured) hit a home run, tripled, scored twice and collected two RBI. Batted .365, third in the Colombian League this past winter – the country, not the city mentioned just above!

Friday’s schedule: Another camp day in Jupiter is planned during which intersquad games will be held. Saturday will be the final day of formal competition as the three northern clubs get ready to head out. Bus rides are done – for the spring, anyway!

Memphis (4-7-3) defeated New Orleans, 7-5

Memphis Pitching

Trey Hearne – 2.2 IP, 4 H, 2 ER, 1 K
Kevin Thomas – 3.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 K’s – Tossed three scoreless for Palm Beach last time out, but far fewer baserunners this time.
Josh Kinney – perfect inning with 2 K’s – Much better this time out after having a rough spring.
Matt Scherer – perfect inning with 1 K – Improvement here, too.
Tyler Norrick – 1 IP, 2 H, 3 ER, 2 BB, 1 K

Memphis Hitting

Tyler Greene – 3-for-5 with a run scored and RBI – I wonder if he heard about the Lugo trade? (grin)
Jon Jay – doubled twice, walked and scored a run – Needs to create a need for his services in St. Louis.
Amaury Cazana – doubled in his only AB
Daniel Descalso – walked and scored a run in his only PA
Kevin Howard – singled, walked, scored a run and had an RBI – The minor league vet brings his bat every day.
Mark Shorey – double, walked and scored twice – A semi-regular in these highlights.
Charles Cutler – doubled, scored a run and had 2 RBIs – Has always hit regardless of the level. Career .317 batter in two professional seasons.
Shane Robinson – tripled

Springfield (5-6-3) defeated Jacksonville, 8-4

Springfield Pitching

Gary Daley – 2.2 IP, 4 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 1 K – A couple of runs, but just one walk.
Blake King – 2 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 4 K’s – A very strong outing. Maybe this is the year…
Thomas Eager – 2 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 2 K’s
Adam Reifer – 1 IP, 1 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 1 K
Eduardo Sanchez – 1 IP, 1 H, 1 K – Finished them off. Had ten saves for Springfield last season. Yielded three runs in 3 1/3 innings with St. Louis earlier in the spring.

Springfield Hitting

Adron Chambers – tripled, homered, scored twice and had two RBIs – The Player of the Day
Steven Hill – 2-for-4 with a double, homer, 3 RBIs and two runs scored – Has a very strong case, too.
Curt Smith – 3-for-5 with a triple and two runs scored – How many first basemen get triples? Smith had four last season between Palm Beach and Springfield. His .286 average ranked eighth in the Florida State League in 2009. How is that for a pitcher’s league? His 65 RBI last season was fourth-highest total in the Cardinals system.
Andrew Brown – single and triple – Well, no triples for first basemen besides these two, that is! Brown has three triples in the last two seasons combined after collecting seven in his 2007 debut with Batavia.
Pete Kozma – two hits and a walk, scored a run – Greater expectations for the former first-rounder in his expected return to Springfield.
Aaron Luna – two-run double

Palm Beach (7-6-1) defeated Jupiter, 3-2

Palm Beach Pitching

Arquimedes Nieto – 3 IP, 2 H, 2 ER, 3 BB
Ramon Delgado – 2 IP, 1 H, 1 K
Matt Frevert – two perfect innings with 3 K’s – The Pitcher of the Day
Joel Pichardo – 1 IP, 2 H, 2 K’s
David Carpenter – 1 IP, 2 K’s – Same exact line as Tuesday and third consecutive scoreless stint. What more could one ask?

Palm Beach Hitting

Chris Swauger – 2-for-4 with a double and run scored – Was our TCN Player of the Month last August based on his play with Palm Beach. Finished in the top ten in the system last year in many offensive categories (runs, hits doubles, triples, RBI, slugging).
Matt Carpenter – doubled, walked and had an RBI
Rich Racobaldo – double and a run scored – Had an 11-game hitting streak with Johnson City last summer.
Francisco Rivera – game-winning RBI single vs. a lefty
Jose Garcia – single, walk and run scored – Does the little things well as his 14 sacrifice bunts last year lead the system. His 27 stolen bases between Palm Beach and Quad Cities was second-most in the organization in 2009.
Luis DeLaCruz – RBI single

Quad Cities 1 (5-8) defeated Greensboro, 7-3

Quad Cities 1 Pitching

Jorge Rondon – 3 IP, 8 H, 3 ER, 1 BB, 2 K’s – Kept a lot of baserunners from scoring at least.
Mike Blazek – 4 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 3 K’s – A serious contender for Pitcher of the Day.
Jesse Simpson – 1 IP, 1 H, 0 R
Jason Novak – 1 IP, 1 K – By my count, this is Novak’s fifth consecutive scoreless outing. Need to show love to single-inning guys, too!

Quad Cities 1 Hitting

Niko Vasquez – 3-for-4 with a double, 2 RBIs and a run scored – Also doubled Wednesday. Hitting more like a third baseman.
Frederick Parejo – 3-for-4 with a run scored and RBI – Back in the highlights after a big weekend past.
Matt Adams – RBI double – Some readers were worried about you, Matt. Welcome!
Jason Stidham – singled, scored a run and had a sac fly – Like Parejo, had a good weekend.
Devin Shepherd – walked and singled
Luis Mateo – RBI single, good baserunning to advance on throw and scored a run
Ryan Jackson – singled and walked – Shortstop needs to grow offensively this year.
Ivan Castro – walked and scored a run

Extended Spring Training (formerly Quad Cities 2) (3-4-1) defeated Marlins 5th club, 3-2

EST Pitching

Anthony Ferrara – 3 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 2 K’s – A good day at the office for the 2008 seventh rounder.
Cale Johnson – 2 IP, 1 H, 1 K – 5.2 strikeout to walk ratio last year was fourth-best among all Cardinals minor leaguers.
Travis Lawler – 2 IP, 2 H, 1 unearned run, 1 BB, 3 K’s
Kyle Heim – one perfect inning – Was scored on last two times out, so this is good to see.
Andrew Moss – 1 IP, 1 H, 2 K’s
LaCurtis Mayes – 1 IP, 1 H, 2 K’s

EST Hitting

Ross Smith – 2-for-3, double and 2 RBIs – Haven’t seen a lot of Smith this spring. Maybe this is the start.
Yunier Castillo, Jon Edwards and Rainel Rosario – each doubled
Roberto DeLaCruz and Devin Goodwin – singled and scored a run
Michael Swinson – singled in his only AB

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