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The #stlcards system was 1-0 on Monday. The Cardinal Nation’s Player of the Day, DSL 1B Michael Cordero, was 2-for-3 with a double, a walk and an RBI. Other standouts include Brayan Amoroso, Misael Sánchez and Sebastian Rojas. https://t.co/DhLZzzR2jX pic.twitter.com/xaNQXW8OL3
— Brian Walton (@B_Walton) August 18, 2026
The #stlcards system was 3-3 on Tuesday. TCN’s Player of the Day, Springfield C Rainiel Rodriguez, went 4-for-5 with two RBI. Other standouts include V Scott, Y Fajardo, Jack Martinez, Caden Ferraro, Branneli Franco, Sebastian Rojas and Diego Conseción. https://t.co/iZzk2uu4fV pic.twitter.com/MG19xLI3A4
— Brian Walton (@B_Walton) August 19, 2026
Good to see former top 30 prospect Franco have a good outing. And Franco is very young.
Rodriguez just keeps improving. Fajardo had a very good start. This is the deepest I can remember our farm system being in 20+ years. Maybe the best in my lifetime. I just don’t remember this many teenagers and low 20 something’s in our top 30.
It was good to see Rojas promoted stateside. We’ll have to see if he continues hitting the ball well. I was unfamiliar with Pérez, who also got promoted, but his numbers were strong in the DSL.
The Rojas promotion is interesting. DSL and FCL are done with their real seasons, but the FCL I think has some bridge games and maybe they wanted to get Rojas to the US and see what he has to potentially be aggressive with him next year.
Good question, ATM. I don’t know that the DSL guys are coming over now or if they will participate in fall instructional camp at the academy.
P.S. I suspect the timing is more about clearing DSL roster space for late year signings.
The #stlcards system was 2-2 on Wed. TCN’s Players of the Day, the Springfield offense, scored 12 runs – Ryan Campos, 3-for-4 with three RBI and three runs scored, and Tai Peete, 3-for-6 with three RBI. Other standouts: Saggese, R Rodriguez, Doyle… https://t.co/0xSsZEymQi pic.twitter.com/laDdy6lweh
— Brian Walton (@B_Walton) August 20, 2026
I haven’t had Campos on my top 50 in the past year or so at least, but he has been steadily chugging along. My main gripe with him was he constantly smashed the ball into the ground, but he has been improving there. I still don’t know if he is a top 50 prospect for me, but that is more about the current depth of the org. But I do look at Campos more as a guy who may not stick in the Cards org, but he will play in the bigs and likely stick around for a while as a backup catcher type of guy bouncing from team to team.
I think Campos would get much more attention if he was in a different organization. FWIW, I ranked him 39th this month. There are some of guys ahead of him that probably don’t have the kind of MLB potential you mention.
He and Rainiel might be the smallest catching tandem anywhere, but they can play.
Looking at Gormans numbers seem to indicate a home run or bust strategy. While has 13 homers, yet only 2 doubles. He has 70 strikeouts in 150 at bats, with 33 walks. What is his future? It seems like he he might need a fresh start with another team.
The #stlcards system was 1-3 on Thursday. The Cardinal Nation’s Player of the Day, Springfield RH Chen-Wei Lin, threw four scoreless relief IP with three Ks. Other standouts: Colton Ledbetter, Nolan Gorman, Tanner Franklin, Rainiel Rodriguez, Jalin Flores. https://t.co/ekzLGVGyJ4 pic.twitter.com/ZS7zMTWNQT
— Brian Walton (@B_Walton) August 21, 2026
Another prospect who has had a great year is Jalen Flores. I believe he was expected to be drafted higher. If you look at his stats this year he is 3rd in our system with 80 rbis. It seems reasonable he will do well next year at Springfield. Perhaps like Jesus Baez, it is unsure what position he will play. And this not a reflection of either Baez or Flores having an iron glove. Baez as of now, could be ticketed for third base because of need while Flores may continues to play several positions.
If Campos was in another system he would rank higher because of the position he plays along with his improved bat this year. It will be interesting to see what happens going forward with the catching position in our minors. It seems that Rodriguez is our number 1 prospect, with Bernal being the next catcher up after Crooks. Although I believe Bernal is better than Crooks. But next year it could be Rodriguez and Bernal at Memphis, with Campos repeating AA. That is, of course if no trade is made. I am not advocating a trade as roster moves usual decide themselves.
The #stlcards system was 4-0 on Friday. TCN’s Player of the Day, Peoria 2B Anyelo Encarnacion, went 4-for-4 including two doubles, a triple and three runs scored. Other standouts: Daniel Eagen, Andrew Williamson, Alexander Frias and Sebastian Dos Santos. https://t.co/vGLqGvWTA3 pic.twitter.com/YzIVWYCaAr
— Brian Walton (@B_Walton) August 22, 2026
I checked out the box scores this morning since the report wasn’t up yet. Looking at Memphis, unless Bernal is playing, there’s very little of interest in the Memphis lineup. You’ve got Gorman, Scott, Saggese, Prieto and their hope to maybe make it back to the big league club, and that’s about it. But they play hard and hopefully can do damage in the playoffs.
As for Brandon Clarke…no hits, 5 walks and 6Ks. He’s the equivalent of the two true outcome hitter, in pitcher version. Strikeout or walk. Yikes.
Similar to Randel Clemente in the Springfield pen. No balls in play is usually a good thing – until you walk the bases loaded, that is.
The first time i ever heard of Carlos Martinez is when he took the mound for the River Bandits when I was in Davenport to take in some games. He was chucking whiffle balls that nobody had a prayer of hitting except by pure luck. It was obvious some batters adopted the strategy of just standing there and hoping to get walked. It was a viable strategy. They would walk or strike out. He got things more under control as he advanced. They have to or at some point it won’t work anymore vs better hitters.
Matching Carolos Martinez would be quite a good career outcome for Brandon Clarke. Martinez was never elite, but he did have some really solid seasons and then just fell off. Although Clarke’s current command is worse than Martinez’s ever was, but also his stuff is better than Martinez as well.
I’m not sure that Clarke’s stuff is better than Martinez’s was. Maybe Clarke has an outlier fastball, but beyond that Martinez had quite the arm (and he had quite a fastball when he came up as well). As Brian said, he never seemed to put in the work required to match his talent level. It’s TBD for Clarke on that front.
The #stlcards system was 1-2 on a rainy Saturday. The Cardinal Nation’s Player of the Day, Memphis catcher Leo Bernal, walked, homered and plated four. Other standouts: Pete Hansen, Cooper Hjerpe, Colton Ledbetter, Ryan Mitchell, Ian Petrutz, Cade McGee. https://t.co/EEXFC2cZr6 pic.twitter.com/ecwU4eSb3S
— Brian Walton (@B_Walton) August 23, 2026
Jack Ralston got called up today for the Marlins. For years, Ralston was always one of my favorite underrated prospects. Unfortunately, injuries sidelined him several times. I always thought he and Granillo could end up as fixtures in our bullpen (note that Granillo has been terrible this season – not sure what’s going on as I haven’t watched him at all).
It means almost nothing but our new position player draftees have really struggled thus far.
Williamson – .122 Avg, .411 OPS
Ferraro – .162 Avg, .481 OPS
Kennedy – .098 Avg, .367 OPS
Camacho – .238 Avg, .652 OPS
Lobliner – .185 Avg, .586 OPS
Henne – .190 Avg, .700 OPS
Condon – .444, 1.000 OPS (only 9ABs)Brian, you brought up Clemente and I noticed from watching box scores as well he has been doing much better control wise. Another good outing today.
Rainiel and Jesus Baez put on a power show in Springfield. Rainiel has been so such a consistent performer after an initial slow start to AA. I would push him to AAA for a couple of weeks to finish the year.
Jnevel, I also noticed that about the draftees. Some really bad debuts but I do understand these guys are probably rusty after a couple of months off of competition.
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