Future Redbirds

Big news yesterday as erik wrote about earlier. It’s the right decision. Troy Cate could be atrocious as a starter for the rest of the year and this would still be the right decision. The economics at the big league level necessitate homegrown (read: cheap) players. Matt Ginter has zero chance of becoming a successful big league pitcher for the Cardinals. In past years, they would have kept him starting as a 6th man for the big league team in AAA for quite sometime despite his inability to get people out. It looked like they were willing to keep Randy Keisler and Ginter in that role for a while, but that appears to have changed.
Cate is a little old for a prospect; he’s going to be 27 in October. That’s not to say that every pitcher makes it to the bigs at the same time. It’s a good sign that the revamping of the Cardinals minor league system is continuing. Cate may convert back to a reliever but the simple fact that the Cardinals are willing to move the younger, more talented pitcher while booting the quad-A guy after only 3 starts is something I find very encouraging. It just makes sense to see if the improvements Cate flashed in Mexico this winter are for real.

Memphis 6, Iowa 5 (Cubs Affiliate)

The Good

• Troy Cate pitched 5 scoreless innings before allowing a double and a single to start the 6th. Eric Patterson made him pay with a 3 run homerun shortly thereafter. Cate had only thrown 67 pitches so it’s worth wondering if he was gassed because he wasn’t stretched out or if he just lost control of the game at that point. Still a good start for Cate — keep an eye on how deep he goes in future games.
• Ryan “I’m being blocked by So-freaking-Taguchi” Ludwick hit a grand slam in the 3rd.
• Tagg Bozied had 3 doubles.
• Andy Cavazos walked 2 and struck out 2 in 2 scoreless innings.

The Bad

• Nick Stavinoha is 6-for-27 in his last 11 games including another 1-for-4 showing tonight.
• Travis Hanson went 0-for-4 lowering his average to .179.
• Brendan Ryan continues to struggle going 1-for-4 hovering right around .200 batting.

Springfield 2, Tulsa 1 (Rockies Affiliate)
The Good

• The pitching was good for both sides tonight. Chris Perez gets his third save despite walking three batters . . . shall we call him Perez-ringhausen from now on? He still strikes out 2 to eek out that save though.
• Jose Garcia and Brian Stitt each pitch 3 scoreless innings with Garcia picking up the win.

The Bad

• The hitting was pretty anemic: 5 singles, 1 double and 1 walk.
• A mixed bag for Bryan Anderson as he got picked off and caught stealing along with the distinction of being the only player to reach base twice for Springfield.

Palm Beach 3, Vero Beach 11 (Devil Rays Affiliate)

The Good

• Shane Robinson had a good night: 1-for-3, HR, 2 BBs and his 8th stolen base of the season.
• Nathan Southard went 2-for-4 with a pair of doubles.

The Bad

• There was nothing good about the pitching tonight. Tyler Norrick entered the night having allowed 1 ER in 24 IP across 4 starts this season. He had only lasted 3.2 innings allowing 4 ER. He did have a healthy 6:3 K:BB ratio for the night and was partially sabotaged by two errors from Jose Contreras as shortstop
• Donnie Smith, Nick Webber and Zach Zuercher would proceed to strike out 0 batters over the next 4.1 innings. They combined to allow 7 hits and walk 5.

Quad Cities 5, Burlington 3 (Royals Affiliate)

The Good

• It was a team effort on offense with 5 different players collecting RBIs.
• Michael Schellinger goes 4 innings with 2 runs (0 earned) and strikes out 5.
• Shaun Garceau strikes out 4 in his 3 innings of work while allowing 1 run.
• Kenneth Maiques Ks 2 to pick up the save for QC.
  
• (For those keeping track that’s 11 Ks in the game for QC pitchers.)

The Bad

• If I’m gonna point fingers, it would be at Jaime Landin who went 0-for-5 from the two-slot. Outside of that the box score doesn’t really have any heroes or villians.