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Wow. I was a big Jorge Rodriguez fan and was stunned when he didnt report last year. Didnt know why until now.
It’s early but I really like Mendoza. If only he had more power. Maybe he starts at Springfield. The Cards are pretty short on 3rd base prospects. Young at Springfield also might perk up his bat some. And finally I think Seijas has a good year at Peoria.
I’m not sure just what Matheny is saying here. No other team has two Cs so highly ranked in their organization. Kelly will have to have a very solid season to stay ahead of Knizner.
Matheny mentioned power-hitting catcher Andrew Knizner as one young player who has improved his stock. He will be at either Class AA Springfield or Class AAA Memphis.
“As we all know,” said Matheny, “he’s not making the team.
“But he’s improved so much defensively that I still have him here to catch. His bat plays. And both of those have combined to put him in a different spot than I had anticipated him being in when this spring started.
“A couple of times he’s hit high velocity pitches at the top of the (strike) zone that a lot of guys would have had trouble getting to. And he was smashing them.
“He figures to have a big season. I followed the (Arizona) fall league stats and you don’t hit .340 or .350 every day without knowing what you’re doing. And they were hitting him third, fourth or fifth every day.”
Knizner, 23, hit .358 with three homers and 12 runs batted in for 17 games in the fall league after batting a combined .302 with 12 homers and Class A Peoria and Class AA Springfield last year.
What is the message he’s sending to Kelly? Is it something other than what Kelly has already surmised?
I am sure they told Kelly what they wanted him to work on. Matheny said some of it to the media when I was there. I doubt they told him to look over his shoulder at Knizner, though, but he can probably figure that out, too.
Bryce Denton (LF) – 2-for-4, R, 2B, RBI – His stock has fallen considerably due to inconsistency through three pro seasons. Is this the year he breaks out?
-B.Walton in yesterday’s MiLB recap.
That break out question led me to re-visit Denton’s progress since he has been placed on the back burner by many following the prospect rankings. He dropped down to TCN’s #42 spot due to his early struggles in ’15 at GCL-Cards and mediocre production since. Last season at State College he was getting some traction hitting .268 and then fell back to .157 in 70ABs after a promotion to Peoria. His production wasn’t quite matching his potential.
Denton was a H.S. teenager drafted in 2nd rd. of the ’15 draft as a 3rd baseman. His first two seasons at third were not pretty committing 21 errors at Johnson City in ’16. That led to a move to the OF in ’17, first in LF then finishing the season in RF.
Most likely the organization will continue to challenge him and an ’18 opening day spot at Peoria is next up for him. The MWL is generally not a spot for 20 year olds but Denton has already played on 4 teams in his first 3 pro seasons and he should be up to it.
Likely he’ll be placed with Hurst(#37) and Brandon Benson in the Chiefs OF, which might also include Pinder(#34). Maybe the long-season will push Denton to get his rear in gear and finally achieve that break out year.
Not a big Denton fan but will.point out that he was a year younger than most (17) when drafted.
I am hopeful that Hurst starts the year at PB. Plummer could return to Peoria this year as well.
This time last year I threw out the prediction for guys taking big step forward. I listed Flaherty, Gallen, Hicks, Denton. Denton was the big miss in that list for me. I still think back hearing instructional league and lower minor managers talk about the ball sounding different off his bat. Hopefully in 2018 he can make better contact and start showing some power.
Hurst is 22 today. They may push him up to PB. It sure looks like they could use him there.
ps. the others were bull’s eyes.
Hurst will begin the season on the DL due to an arm injury (not serious). He is a real small guy. Looks like a little leaguer.
Ynfante has spent 4 years in short season leagues. To me, even if the majority of those were DSL seasons, it is time a player move to a full season league.
Dont forget Luna (another veteran of 4 short season leagues) who has apparently been tearing it up in Spring training games.
Is it safe to say poster Dennis Johnson is former poster that went by UncleDenny. Quality of insider information above similar to what UncleDenny has delivered in the past.
All four of the full season affiliates got their games in despite mostly cloudy weather and a short delay for the MEM opener at Round Rock.
There were some last minute roster changes most notably Fernandez to PB’s DL. Connor Jones added to Springfield’s roster instead of Memphis, leaving McKinney left without a seat. Some effects of the Bader to St Louis call up: Arozarena to MEM… Spitz to SPFD and newcomer Mieses added to PB’s roster. You can thank the Gyorko DLing for all of these moves.
Yesterday’s top performers:
HITTER….SPFD’s NOGOWSKI had a great opening day going 3-4 a double and a HR 2RBI, Edman was also 3-4 in a 6-5 loss. The game time temp was 87 in Midland,TX.PITCHER….. (tie) PB’s SHEW (GS 65)* who went 5.0inn in a no decision as PB lost 3-2, and PEO’s WALSH (GS 67)* also going 5.0inn 5K in the Chiefs 4-2 win. The Bullpen K’ed 9 in 4.0inn, divided among 4 relievers.
Some strange attendance #s… Palm Beach drew 1,149, which is high them and the Peoria game at Burlington drew only 505. Very low for classA, especially an opener.
No extra-inning game to apply the new man-on-2nd-base rule to. Maybe in one of the four games tonight.
*GSs per MLB.
From Friday… Too cold for the Chiefs at Burlington game. It was an away game, but to be made up as a home game on May 30th? Peoria has another trip into Burlington at the very beginning of July. Only in the MWL.
The Redbirds pounded Round Rock(TEX) 17-4, putting up a dozen in the 7th. O’Neill 2 HRs -5RBIs, Scrock 4 Hs
Another big story that may be overlooked comes out of Jupiter. Ronnie(don’t-talk-to-me-about-last-season) Williams pitched 2 solid innings in relief for beachbums in a 7-3 win. Very encouraging.
Holland rehabbing in Palm Beach… the best place to get better in the organization at this time of the season. If any prospects are going to play for adv-A PB … right about now is a good time.
I got a gripe with the jet-stream. Move North already.
Wainwright-Nikolas-Gant-Greene are the only rotation pieces not drafted by the Cards. 23 out of 27 were.
Memphis(4-0) stays hot, Springfield (0-4) cold, mostly due to pitching performance. Springfield starters (Woodford-Helsley-Greene-Tewes) have been roughed up on the road by Midland((Oak). Only Helsley lasted 5+inn and Greene didn’y make it out of the 2nd. This is the bad news.
The good news is that the Memphis pitching has been good (only Gomber lasting less than 5 (4.0+)). The Gant and Flaherty starts were very good/great. Yesterday, Flaherty went 7 and put up a GameScore of 80. The MEM outfielders have been clicking… Sunday, O’Neill hit his 4th HR (all 4 off Round Rock starters) Arozarena stole 3 bases (which=doubles) and AGarcia continues to pound the ball.
Most Cards fans knew MEM was going to be very good, but so far, the Springfield Cards haven’t gotten any traction. we’ll see what this week brings. After a 5th game in Round Rock(TEX) today, the Redbirds’ home opener will be Tues v. Omaha(KC) and a second home series v. Iowa(CHC) starts Fri.
Springfield, continues its series with Frisco(TEX) and an off day wed. is followed by another series with Midland but this time at home. Palm Beach (2-2) gets a 7gm home stand going with 4 against Dunedin(TOR) today and next weekend v. Florida(ATL). Peoria (1-1) only got in 2 of the 4 game home and home series with Burlington((LAA). They stay at home for a series starting today with Cedar Rapids(MIN) and a weekend series wit Wisconsin(MIL).
With Grichuk, Piscotty, and Sierra getting traded and the injury to Gyorko allowing Bader to come up, our prized outfield prospect group is now only the 4 remaining members at AAA. Then there is the trio of Carlson, Plummer, and Denton that are still toiling away in Peoria, giving us a sizable gap (also include Machado in that Peoria mix).
With Pinder, Mieses, and Woodman all coming into the org over the last year, they are trying to address the gap. They also added MiLB FAs Goetzman and Roache to backfill Springfield (plus we have Moreno somewhere in there and potentially Hurst and Ynfante moving up soon).
Knizner, Sosa, and Edman are definitely the star players at AA this year.
Pitching-wise, the loss of Gallen and Alcantara didn’t really affect Memphis, but has left Springfield somewhat short. Hicks would’ve been starting there too if not in the majors. Meisner and Greene should help some there too.
We have been talking about the lack of prospective and viable OF candidates after the super group at AAA. The Springfield OF has Lane Thomas who might be a sleeper. Palm Spring has Chase Pinder who is #34 on the TCN prospect list. The next batch at Peoria is the trio of Carlson#20-Machado#25-Denton#42.
After that at Extended Spring Training there’s Ynfante(20)#32-Hurst(22)#37-and a sleeper Luna(20). The rest of the OFers at EST are a couple of MiLB vets, Drake and Fiedler who will be called upon to fill in for any injured OF at full-season levels. The rest are destined to fill the short-season rosters at State College and Johnson City. There’s a sprinkling of potential among them and most had disappointing seasons in ’17.
With the aging OF situation in STL and Ozuna here for only ’18/’19, the organization will be depending on the bunch at MEM + Bader to fill out the MLB roster for a number of years. Having AGarcia-Mercado-O’Neill-Arozarena-Bader as high ranking prospects to filter into big team a stay there should be a very high priority.
The organization should also be looking to add some OF depth in the June draft, as well as, some pitching depth. The cupboard is beginning to empty out.
Darren Seferina has some folks scratching their heads. 0-22 is not Darrenesque.
Sure there are others let’s call it under performing but its too early to draw any conclusions. The reason I brought up Seferina is because generally he is such a consistent hitter. I’m not concerned because he’ll probably breakout today…. ooops, SPFD day off today… tomorrow then.
Palm Beach played a make-up double header yesterday due to Tuesday’s rain out. Pretty ho-hum, only 5 runs scored by both teams in the two games. Anthony Shew (24) pitched a complete game (7.0inn) in the first, a 2-1 win. It was his 2nd start of ’18… GSs 65 and 78. That’s a good start.
The second game was a 2-0 loss, but Ronnie Williams got the start and pitched 3.2inn. I don’t know the exact circumstances of that start, but there may be some thought to getting Williams back into the rotation. I’m looking for Williams (22) to be in the running for “comeback player of the year”. Getting himself back into a starting role is step one.
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