Following are the highlights from the first full minor league spring games of 2012 against external competition. A pair of intersquad games were held on Wednesday in preparation for Thursday’s contests against the Marlins, which were rained out after three innings.
That made Friday’s action the Cardinals’ initial games against external foes. Their shared opponent was the Miami farmhands once again, with the Cardinals side of the complex the home field.
My Friday Player of the Day: Palm Beach’s David Medina collected a single and two doubles in five at-bats.
My Friday Pitcher of the Day: Quad Cities’ Dail Villanueva started and pitched two perfect innings for the Field 4 club.
As he has been doing the last few seasons, Cardinals farm director John Vuch will be sharing game stats with this site and several others with interest in Cardinals prospects. As always, the raw numbers are his, but the comments mine.
Don’t read too much into which rosters on which players are appearing as early spring assignments are especially fluid.
On Saturday, Memphis and Springfield travel to Port St. Lucie while the Mets’ two Class-A clubs will bus to Jupiter.
The Cardinal Nation subscribers can check out the full minor league schedule and spring training working rosters. The entire system view by level and position is available via the Roster Matrix, right here at The Cardinal Nation Blog.
Memphis 8, New Orleans 6
| Memphis pitching | IP | H | ER | BB | K | Notes |
| Tyler Lyons | 1.2 | 4 | 4 | 1 | 2 | Cards starter in Arizona Fall League |
| Brian Broderick | 1.1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Pete Parise | 1.2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | |
| Nick Greenwood | 1 | 0 | 1 | Down from MLB camp | ||
| Logan Billbrough | 2 | 0 | 2 | |||
| Justin Wright | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | Last pitched in AFL |
| Memphis hitting | AB | R | H | RBI | 2B | 3B | HR | BB | Notes |
| Jose Garcia | 5 | 3 | Has been with Memphis before | ||||||
| Oscar Taveras | 3 | 1 | Long home run to right field | ||||||
| Zack Cox | 3 | 2 | 1 | Will he remain with Memphis? | |||||
| Alan Ahmady | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |||||
| Kolten Wong | 1 | Leap over PB to Springfield? | |||||||
| Amaury Cazana | 1 | Back from Mexico to stay? | |||||||
| Audry Perez | 1 | ||||||||
| Xavier Scruggs | 1 | Catch his Monday blog at TCN | |||||||
| Pete Kozma | 1 | Down from big league camp | |||||||
| Greg Garcia | 1 | 1 | 1 | Unheralded infielder to watch |
Jacksonville 11, Springfield 4
| Springfield pitching | IP | H | ER | BB | K | Notes |
| Scott Gorgen | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | Back from Tommy John |
| Seth Blair | 2 | 5 | 5 | 2 | 1 | Still searching for ASU success |
| Ricky Martinez | 2 | 1 | 0 | PB pitching coach Dennis’ son | ||
| Seth Maness | 2 | 6 | 2 | Plus two unearned runs allowed | ||
| Chase Reid | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | A perfect line |
| Todd McInnis | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | Starred for Batavia last year |
| Springfield hitting | AB | R | H | RBI | 2B | 3B | HR | BB | Notes |
| Jonathan Rodriguez | 5 | 2 | 1 | Has the bat; where to play? | |||||
| Cody Stanley | 1 | Could be next top C prospect | |||||||
| Packy Elkins | 1 | ||||||||
| Travis Tartamella | 1 | ||||||||
| Rainel Rosario | 1 | ||||||||
| Mike O’Neill | 1 |
Jupiter 5, Palm Beach 3
| Palm Beach pitching | IP | H | ER | BB | K | Notes |
| Zack Russell | 0.2 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 3 | Spent ’11 in Quad Cites rotation |
| Pat Daugherty | 1.2 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 2 | |
| Aidan Lucas | 2 | 1 | 0 | Unheralded reliever | ||
| Justin Edwards | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | |
| Kevin Jacob | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | |
| Dyllon Nuernberg | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 |
| Palm Beach hitting | AB | R | H | RBI | 2B | 3B | HR | BB | Notes |
| David Medina | 5 | 3 | 2 | Three of team’s five hits | |||||
| Garrett Wittels | 1 | 1 | |||||||
| Roberto Reyes | 1 | 1 |
Quad Cities (Field 4) 9, Greensboro 5
| Quad Cities Field 4 pitching | IP | H | ER | BB | K | Notes |
| Dail Villanueva | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | Perfect line for ’11 Gulf Coast pitcher |
| Travis Miller | 2 | 3 | 1 | |||
| Danny Miranda | 2 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | Batavia’s 2011 closer |
| Nick Gillung | 2 | 4 | 2 | 1 | ||
| Yunier Castillo | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | Converted from SS during 2011 | |
| Corey Baker | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Quad Cities Field 4 hitting | AB | R | H | RBI | 2B | 3B | HR | BB | Notes |
| Charlie Tilson | 6 | 1 | 3 | 1 | Taken 79th overall in ’11 draft | ||||
| Sam Tuivailala | 2 | 1 | 3 | Good plate discipline | |||||
| Breyvic Valera | 1 | ||||||||
| Luis Perez | 1 | ||||||||
| Gerwuins Velazco | 1 | ||||||||
| David Washington | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | Player to watch |
Marlins (team 5) 11, Quad Cities (Field 6) 3
| Quad Cities Field 6 pitching | IP | H | ER | BB | K | Notes |
| Ryan Sherriff | 2 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 3 | Four unearned runs scored |
| Brandon Creath | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |
| Ethan Cole | 2 | 3 | 1 | |||
| Heath Wyatt | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | Pitcher of the Day runner up |
| Tyler Mills | 2 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 9th rounder in 2011 |
| Adam Bileckyj | 2 | 6 | 3 | 2 | Former free agent signee |
| Quad Cities Field 6 hitting | AB | R | H | RBI | 2B | 3B | HR | BB | Notes |
| Roberto De La Cruz | 5 | 1 | 2 | 1 | Former Dominican big bonus 3B | ||||
| David Bergin | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 | |||||
| Adam Ehrlich | 1 | Catcher was 6th-rounder in ’11 | |||||||
| Anthony Garcia | 1 |
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