photo: Palm Beach Cardinals 2024 FSL Champions

The St. Louis Cardinals’ Low-A Palm Beach affiliate had a very successful 2024 season. Even after many roster changes, they finished atop the division in both halves and concluded as Florida State League Champions. The Beach Birds succeeded primarily due to young and talented starting pitching, led by FSL All-Star Chen-Wei Lin.

2024 results

In the East Division of the Low-A Florida State League, the Palm Beach Cardinals play as the St. Louis Cardinals’ representative. The FSL consists of ten teams: six in the West and four in the East. Most teams play home games at the spring training facility of their MLB affiliate. Because spring training ballparks are often larger than minor league facilities, this league is more focused on pitching.

The regular-season schedule began on April 5 and ended on September 8.  There were 130 games scheduled for each team; and the Cardinals played all 130. With an 83-47 record, Palm Beach had the best record in the Florida State League.

The season is divided into two halves, with the two victors moving on as the postseason participants in each division. With a 37-29 record before the break, the Cardinals took the division by a game over neighbor Jupiter (Miami), punching their playoff ticket.

In the second half, the Beach Birds reached new heights and dominated the division. Rookies stepped up and filled the shoes of the players who departed after the first half.  Palm Beach posted a second-half record of 46-18, 12 games ahead of Daytona (Cincinnati).

That momentum continued into the playoffs as they swept the Daytona Tortugas in the division series and went on to win the Championship Series in three games over the Lakeland Flying Tigers (Detroit).

Palm Beach finished the regular season with a home record of 40-26 and road mark of 43-21. What really stood out was the Cardinals record against opponents above .500 with a record of 52-37 in those games.

Their overall winning percentage of .628 was number one among all teams at all levels of Minor League Baseball in 2024.

For the season, the Beach Birds had a +163-run differential, tied for second most across the minors. They were 12-4 in extra inning contests.

Coaching staff

In his third season in the Cardinals organization, veteran manager Gary Kendall oversaw the 2024 Beach Birds. The veteran skipper in the Baltimore Orioles system led the Palm Beach team into the postseason and ultimately to the FSL Championship.  He was named the Florida State League Manager of the Year.

Giovanni Carrara was the Beach Birds’ pitching coach. From 1995 to 2006, Carrara spent 11 MLB seasons largely as a bullpen pitcher with the Dodgers. Since 2015, he has served as a coach in the Cardinals organization.

The offense was coached by Willi Martin in his second year at Palm Beach.

Pitching

As usual, pitching was the strength of the Beach Birds. From the starters to the back of the bullpen, they were very consistent.

In 2024, the Cardinals used a total of 25 pitchers, fewer than the 31 pitchers used the previous season. Only 18, though, pitched at least 20 innings with Palm Beach, and only five threw 70 innings.

The team ERA of 3.10 was first in the FSL, and their batting average against of .224 was second. They allowed 51 home runs, fewest allowed in the league, and they were fourth in strikeouts with 1224.

Cardinals’ pitchers walked the fewest number of batters with a total of 461. This huge advantage in free passes issued made for a strikeout to walk ratio of 2.7 to 1, again best in the FSL.

Starting pitchers logged a collective ERA of 2.89, the lowest in the league. Their batting average against of .220, was also the lowest. They walked the fourth fewest number of batters at 218 and were first in strikeouts at 651. 12 different pitchers started at least one game for the Beach Birds, but just six made more than 10 starts.

The relievers followed right behind the starters as they were successful as well.  Their 3.36 ERA was first in the league as opposing hitters averaged .228 against them, the second best in the league. Another positive was their FSL-low walk total of 243, but their meager strikeout total of 573 was dead last. They earned 38 saves against 19 blown opportunities, with their conversion rate of 66.6%.

Defense

The Cardinals defense turned 262 double plays this season which ranks fourth in the league. Their fielding percentage of .976 was best in the FCL. Also fourth was their catchers’ caught stealing rate of 27% (48 of 176).

Roster considerations

In the Florida State League, each year consists of three seasons combined into one. The roster for opening day is first. Then, additional players from extended spring training joined the team as backfill when injuries required replacements or promotions to Peoria were earned. A fresh group of draft picks joined the Beach Birds as rookie professionals in July, while another group of veterans received promotions.

Just 12 players – nine pitchers and three position players – remained on the roster from opening day until the end of the season. Over the course of the year, there were 103 transactions in between.

Many were players moving up from the Florida State League to Peoria, but an even greater number were young players getting their first taste of full-season baseball. Some stayed with Palm Beach, but others were sent back to rookie ball for additional experience. Naturally, after signing, some of the new draftees were also made active.

Key roster moves

During the season, promotions began with SS Tre Richardson, RHP Angel Cuenca, LHP Quinn Matthews, and RHP Gustavo Rodriquez to Peoria all in the month of May.  Then in June, SS Miguel Villarroel and RHP Darlin Saladin were also promoted to Peoria.

Darlin Saladin

In July, after the draft, Palm Beach lost 3B Trey Paige, RHP Hunter Hayes, OF Kade Kretzschmar, OF Chase Davis, LHP Ixan Henderson, RHP Benjamin Arias, and 3B Johnfrank Salazar, all to Peoria.  After a busy July, in August, C Sammy Hernandez, OF Brayden Jobert, and C Chase Adkison were called up to Peoria as well.

JJ Wetherholt

Palm Beach added 10 new recruits via the draft and free agency. They include JJ Wetherholt (1^st round), Ryan Campos (4), Josh Kross (6), Cade McGee (9), Bryce Madron (10), Jon Jon Gazdar (11), Ian Petrutz (12), Nolan Sparks (13), Christian Martin (18), and Michael Watson (free agent).

Wetherholt was the biggest name to join the Cardinals from this most recent draft, as the seventh overall pick.  He lived up to that hype as he slashed .295/.405/.400/.805 in 29 games and 105 at-bats.

Award winners

Miguel Villarroel

At the end of the season, the Cardinals received three league All-Star nods, two starting pitchers and a utility man.  The pitchers are Chen-Wei Lin and Darlin Saladin. Miguel Villarroel earned his All-Star berth as the utility man.

TCN Top Prospects

Chen-Wei Lin

During the 2024 season, Palm Beach featured four of the Top 40 prospects in the Cardinals organization. They include #1 prospect JJ Wetherholt, #13 Zack Showalter, #15 Chen-Wei Lin and #38 Ryan Campos.

What is next?

Much more detail on the Palm Beach Cardinals’ top hitters, relievers and starting pitchers is coming as we select the best of the best in upcoming articles in this series.

Check out The Cardinal Nation’s annual article series highlighting team results and top hitters and pitchers across the entire St. Louis Cardinals system. The Peoria Chiefs Team Review is next up.

The Cardinal Nation’s Team Recaps and Top Players of 2024

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Ryan Anthony can be reached at ranthony2022@fau.edu.

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