photo: Tink Hence (Brian Walton/The Cardinal Nation)
In his preview of the Springfield Cardinals’ new season, The Cardinal Nation’s local reporter Jayden Pettus reports on Tink Hence’s St. Louis target for 2024, a top prospect moving from the pen to the rotation and much more.
With the 2024 Texas League season slated to start on April 5, the Springfield Cardinals held their Media Day on Wednesday, April 3. Manager Jose Leger and selected St. Louis Cardinals prospects were made available to the media.
Leger kicked it off at the Bill Rowe Indoor Training Facility, just beyond the right field wall of Hammons Field. Entering his fourth year as Springfield’s manager, Leger is happy to be back with the Cardinals organization.
“I’m very excited (to be coming back for a fourth year). It’s great to be a part of a great organization like the St. Louis Cardinals. I’m just looking forward to another year of baseball,” Leger said.
Contrary to the start of 2023, the pitching staff is shaping up to be a force to be reckoned with early on this season. Leger expressed confidence in what he has seen from multiple pitchers in the rotation.
“I think we have a really good pitching staff,” said Leger. “Leading with Tink Hence coming back, Max Rajcic, Tekoah Roby and some other guys that have a really good future … We’re deep. When you have (solid) pitching, you always have a chance.”
Starting pitchers Hence and Roby, ranked nos. 2 and 3 on The Cardinal Nation’s Top Prospect List, are both returning for their second year with Springfield. With the two having a partial year of Double-A ball under their respective belts, their manager believes they should be primed for breakout seasons.
“We’ll try to get (Hence) deep in games to see what he can do out there. He had a really good spring, so I’m excited to see what he can do,” Leger said. “(Roby) is healthy this year and ready to go, as well.”
Hence was next to speak. He echoed the same feelings as Leger on his growth from last season to now.
“Really everything (has changed) … I had some timing things from last year that I cleaned up to help me get more movement on my pitches,” Hence said. “(I’ve) really just (been) figuring it out, trying new things and picking up from the guys at big league camp that I was able to learn from and listen to.”
In the offseason, Hence stayed in Atlanta – around the presence of MLB alumni – to work out and continue to improve his game. The 21-year-old put an emphasis on increasing his stamina and being able to work deeper into games. He believes the work that he put in will show on the field this year.
“A lot of times, people will get caught up in trying to get too big. I just wanted to get my legs and core strong and start stretching way more than I do,” Hence said. “Those little things are going to take me pretty far and then (I) just (need to) develop a consistent routine that I can rely on and trust that it’s working for me.”
Hence has big goals for the 2024 season and has full confidence that his goals will come to fruition thanks to the work that he has put in.
“I definitely believe that I’m going to have an appearance in the show (this year),” Hence said. “My goal this year is to make an appearance up there, show them what I’ve got, and show to myself that I can compete at that level … I feel like this year is the year that I make that appearance, so I’m very excited and I’m ready to work.”
Roby spoke next, again sharing the same sentiment of growth from last season to now, as much of the team seems to feel. He joined Hence this spring in St. Louis’ spring camp and believes the experience was a vital one for his growth.
“I thought spring went really well,” Roby said. “It was a ton of fun. It was my first big league camp, and it was really cool being a fly on the wall around those guys. Just asking questions and seeing what they thought when they were in my spot, or what they did to get ready. It was a very cool opportunity.”
Roby was only able to make one spring start with St. Louis due to back tightness, but says he is fully healthy to start the year.
In contrast to Hence’s offseason, Roby spent his break working on the mental side of his game more than the physical side of it.
“A lot of what I did this offseason was not pitching related,” Roby said. “I came to a point where I had to sit down and be really honest with myself. What I came to was that it wasn’t my stuff … I think it was more the mental side of my game just wasn’t incredibly sharp … so a lot of what I did this offseason was spent working on committing to my process.”
Roby said he found a mental performance coach through his agency and has been able to take big strides in the mental side of his game while also staying in shape to be prepared for the season at hand.
Who else should you look out for this season?
Although Hence, Roby, and the rest of the pitching staff may be on the front burner, other members of the Springfield team are also primed for a good year.
#5 IF Jacob Buchberger
Buchberger will be returning for his second full year at the Double-A level. In 2023 with Springfield, he hit 18 home runs and racked up 101 strikeouts in 117 games while carrying a slash line of .239/.322/.416.
While he displayed some power, he was more effective defensively. Starting in 97 games at third base, Buchberger amassed a .941 fielding percentage and collected 54 putouts along with 184 assists.
“He had a great spring. I’m looking forward to seeing him again and seeing him put up good numbers. Consistency is what we need out of him, he knows it, too. If he can prove that he can hit consistently, then we will go from there,” Leger said of Buchberger.
#22 IF Chandler Redmond
Redmond will be back in Springfield for the fourth year in a row – a bit of a disappointment for him and Springfield’s coaching staff. They believe that he has shown that he has what it takes to be moved up to the next level, but there are simply no at-bats available in Memphis with Luken Baker back at first base.
The numbers speak for themselves. In 258 games at the Double-A level, Redmond has hit 57 home runs and driven in 192 (Springfield’s career record) while scoring 153 times. With a slash line of .255/.352/.494 in that stretch, it’s impossible to ignore the fact that he belongs at a higher level.
Despite this, Redmond is keeping his nose to the grindstone to demonstrate his worth to the Cardinals organization.
“Prove ‘em wrong,” Redmond said on what his mindset is coming into 2024. “(I have to) keep showing up and putting in the work, so that I can prove my worth … It’s the business side of it right? A first rounder has to prove that he can’t do it. I have to prove that I can do it as a 32nd rounder. Having one good year doesn’t mean that the breakthrough is there. I have to do it again and again and again. I know that going into it, so it’s nothing new.”
#27 OF Nathan Church
Church will be making his Double-A debut after a solid 2023 season in High-A ball with Peoria. He was a force on both offense and defense for the Chiefs last year.
In 119 games with Peoria, Church collected 127 hits and carried a .279 batting average. On the defensive side, he started 94 games in left field, 18 in center and one in right, only committing four errors total.
“He’s a very exciting player. He plays the game the right way, plays all three positions in the outfield. He’s a left-handed bat, contact guy, smart player, knows how to bunt and runs well,” Leger said about Church.
Springfield starting rotation
Leger outlined the first five – possibly six – starting pitchers that the team will go with to start the season.
- Tink Hence
- Tekoah Roby
- Edwin Nuñez
- Max Rajcic
- *Alex Cornwell
- *Ian Bedell
*Subject to change
Note the hard-throwing right-hander Nuñez is being given a shot at starting after working primarily out of the bullpen since he was signed almost four years ago for $525,000. As a reliever, the Dominican Republic native is The Cardinal Nation’s 20th-ranked prospect. If Nuñez can excel in this transition, his stock will rise.
You can read much more about Nuñez in this free article.
Other news from Springfield
Caught Sonny Gray heading out from his simulated session at Hammons Field in Springfield as I came in for Springfield Cards Media Day. He says he feels great and hopes to be back soon. #STLCards
— Jayden Pettus (@PettusJayden) April 3, 2024
After his 54-pitch tune up Wednesday, Gray will make a rehab start for Memphis next week and join St. Louis’ rotation mid-month.
What is next?
The Springfield Cardinals will kick off their 2024 campaign on Friday, April 5 at 7:05 p.m. against the Arkansas Travelers in Little Rock, Arkansas.
For more news like this
Jayden Pettus’ Springfield Cardinals Notebook will run exclusively at The Cardinal Nation each Thursday all season long. To not miss a word on all the happenings at Hammons Field and the top prospects aspiring to reach St. Louis, subscribe today.
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