Cardinals pitchers helping pitchers

Sometimes, the little things can make a big deal down the road.

In the past, the members of the St. Louis Cardinals pitching rotation were known for being unusually involved in studying each others’ bullpen sessions as well as mound outings and sharing suggestions – coaching from one veteran peer to another.

In a most logical and encouraging manner, new manager Mike Matheny has extended this concept in spring training 2012 to include pitching prospects invited to big-league camp as well.

As explained by the Post-Dispatch’s Rick Hummel, workouts are being organized in such a way that the staff’s veteran hurlers will be working alongside the organization’s top young pitchers. This is the case both for bullpen sessions and batting practice groups.

Whether information is imparted directly from the teacher to the student through question and answer or just by watching, this new initiative is both simple and brilliant, with no apparent downside whatsoever.

An example of these new-look groups on Sunday, from another P-D article, were as follows:

Chris Carpenter, Lance Lynn, Tyrell Jenkins and Joe Kelly

Adam Wainwright, Shelby Miller, Trevor Rosenthal and Jordan Swagerty

Jaime Garcia, Brandon Dickson, Sam Freeman and John Gast (the latter two, like Garcia, are lefties)

Jake Westbrook, Kyle McClellan and Fernando Salas

Not coincidentally, the above 15 represent exactly half of the 30 hurlers invited to major league camp. Kyle Lohse was the only member of the five-man rotation not scheduled to throw on Sunday.

Update: …and here are the four Monday groups, again from the P-D:

Kyle Lohse, Kevin Siegrist, Adam Reifer, Maikel Cleto

Jason Motte (see photo), Adam Ottavino, Chuckie Fick, R.J. Swindle

Mitchell Boggs, Scott Linebrink, Eduardo Sanchez

Marc Rzepczynski, J.C. Romero, Victor Marte, Nick Greenwood

Kudos to Matheny for suggesting the idea and to the veterans for accepting it. Here’s hoping the youngsters take full advantage.

Follow me on Twitter.
Follow The Cardinal Nation Blog on Facebook.
Follow TCN on Google+.