Way to go, Joe Mather. Joe’s career path is pretty fascinating when you look at it. Drafted out of high school in 2001 in the 3rd round, scouts thought Mather was raw but also that he could hit for power down the road. I’m not sure they thought it would be this long down the road, but things really clicked last season–he has a HR in every 14 minor league at bats since 2007. Mather is a perfect example of that drafting physicality and tools doesn’t always yield instantaneous results, you have to be patient. What he becomes in the majors isn’t easy to forecast, but for what it is worth, Mather had a peak EqA of .319 in AAA. If he can post a .850-875ish OPS in the majors, I’d be happy.
- Jess Todd didn’t quite make BA’s Hot Sheet this week, but he’s in the “Team Photo”. After tonight’s performance, they ought to put him in next week’s.
- Keith Law has his mock draft up, and he has the Cardinals taking Shooter Hunt. He has Friedrich and Wallace going off the board with the previous two picks. Given some of Luhnow’s recent comments about pitchers with bad control, I personally do not think Hunt would be the choice if Friedrich is gone. I think they’d sooner gamble on a high school hitter. I like Brett Lawrie, but I could also see Casey Kelly and Zach Collier as feasible options. Aaron Hicks is very interesting, but I’ve heard there are some real concerns about his bat that scare me.
- 6 Palm Beach Cardinals made the FSL All Star team, and they are—Daryl Jones, Tyler Henley, Donovan Solano, Arnoldi Cruz, Jon Mikrut and Jess Todd. Henley is on the DL and Mikrut and Todd of course are both at AA now.
Jess Todd dominates. An 18 year older makes his High A debut. And there’s a few players with multi-HR games. It’s all in your DFR.
- Anthony Reyes allowed 4 earned runs on 9 hits over 6 innings. He struck out 4 and walked 2. Not a great outing by Flat Hat.
- Nick Webber received a rude welcoming to AAA. He gave up 4 runs in one inning, including a 3 run homer against Felix Pie.
- Colby Rasmus went 1 for 4 with a K, BB and was caught stealing.
- Nick Stavinoha went 2 for 4, he’s now batting .358 for the season.
- David Freese hit a 3 run homer.
- Gabe Johnson tripled.
- Jess Todd cannot be stopped. He allowed just one hit over 7 innings, with 1 walk, and 2 HBP. He struck out just two but induced 14 groundball outs. He’s allowed just 14 hits 29.2 innings of AA so far, and has a microscopic 0.91 ERA.
- Mark Hamilton went yard twice and was intentionally walked.
- Shane Robinson went 3 for 4 with a double and a walk.
- Jon Jay went 2 for 3 with a walk.
- Allen Craig went 2 for 4 with a walk.
- Fernando Salas, our Mexican League Mystery Man, struck out 3 of the 4 batters he faced.
- Nick Derba was 3 for 5 on catching basestealers. Unfortunately he went 0 for 4 with 2 K’s and is only hitting .133/.224/.217 in 60 at bats for the season.
- Andrew Brown went 2 for 4 with a double. So did Luke Gorsett. Since being called up to Palm Beach, Brown is hitting .340/.389/.620 in 50 at bats.
- Unfortunately, Shaun Garceau was mostly poo-poo. He gave up 4 ER on 5 hits and 5 walks with no K’s.
- The highlight of the game was Richard Castillo’s debut. The Venezuelan righty struck out 3 batters in 2.1 innings and allowed 2 hits. Castillo is only 18 years old and was in the VSL last season, where posted a 1.72 ERA. He struck out a quarter of the batters he faced and batters hit just .183 against him. For the organization to jump him up so fast must mean something. Keep an eye on this guy.
- Daryl Jones went 0 for 2 with a BB and HBP.
- Pete Kozma went 0 for 4 with 3 K’s. Something is going a little wacky, hopefully he comes out of it soon. The Kozma watch is down for superstitions’ sake, as some of you may have noticed.
- Matt Arburr homered twice, one an inside the park job. That’s pretty amazing to ponder, as Arburr is a very, very big dude.
- Thomas Pham also went yard twice. He has a .347 isolated power for the QC now.
- Charlie Kingrey homered as well.
- Luis De La Cruz went 2 for 4.
- Charles Fick allowed 3 runs on 5 hits over 5 IP, with 3 K’s and no walks.
- Blake King allowed a run on 2 hits and and 2 walks over 3 IP, with 3 K’s.
- Pete Parise recorded the save, allowing a hit and getting 3 groundouts.
VSL Cardinals 10, VSL Phillies 19
- Alberto Rivero went 3 for 4 with a double and a walk.
- Gerardo Mannbel went 2 for 4 w/a double and a walk.
- 11 total errors in the game, 5 by the Cardinals.
Filed under: Daily Farm Reports
erik
azruavatar
fewgoodcards
roarke49
theredbaaron
Does anyone think that Blake King will ever put it all together. He wont survive past A Ball if he walks almost as many as he strikes out. At least it seems that he walks that many.
I agree regarding Mather. He can be the example to a lot of kids in the system that might get frustrated when things aren’t easy for the first time in their lives.
Does Todd get a move to Memphis soon. Would have seemed ridiculous in March. Doesn’t seem so silly now.
Todd….I say give him 2 more AA starts and move him up if continues to do well. See ya, Hawksworth! Thought you’d get to the bigs just because of that cool name didn’t ya? All kidding aside, I’d love to see Todd promoted to AAA by season’s end. If he keeps this up through the season does he leapfrog Boggs, Walters,and Garcia for a promotion? Seems like the last time we had a guy pitching like this, his name was Danny Haren.
Salas needs to be on the next plane to Memphis, he’s like an overaged kid in Little League right now.
I went to the QC game last night…
Pham’s home runs were line drive cannons. They were hit real well. I was impressed with his build and his quick bat. He also looked good in center tracking down a few balls to the track. Obviously his biggest problem right now is making contact, but I was happy with what I saw.
Kozma didn’t look right at the plate. It’s almost like he’s guessing which pitch is coming after it has been thrown, and not actually looking for a certain pitch to hit (make sense?). He was late on fastballs and just looked like he wasn’t comfortable, which is completely different than the 3 times I’ve seen him before. The kid is just in a funk and needs to work a few things out…he’ll be OK.
King still isn’t very good. I watched him last year in QC and wasn’t impressed at all with his delivery or his wildness. After I saw him last year, I removed him from my prospect list and was surprised when BA ranked him in the Cards top 30 this year. I thought maybe he had changed something in Batavia that earned him that ranking, but he appears to be the same pitcher. He has a jerky over the top motion that looks impossible to repeat. His fastball is too wild. He’s still got a great slider, but I don’t see how he will ever get past A ball with his current wildness. Any fastball that did find the strike zone was launched into the air. I just don’t see anything from this kid.
Also, Arburr’s inside-the-park was one of the most exciting baseball plays I’ve seen in a while. It hit the yellow line in center field (which I thought should have been called a home run) before bouncing back into play. Arburr can motor for a big guy.
His first home run of the night was a towering BOMB to left field. No doubt about it as soon as it left the bat.
Hamilton’s home runs were his first rbi’s since April.
Todd is awesome, but he is 22 years old (not 18) and a PITCHER.
Not sure where the multi homers come in?
I meant not 18 don’r know how the happy face got in there.
he wasn’t saying todd is 18. he was talking about castillo from palm beach. the last 2 parts of that sentence weren’t about todd.
He meant the story of the night was Jess Todd, and 18 year old (Richard Castillo), and a night of multi-homer performances (Mark Hamilton, Matt Arburr). They were all separate people and events.
Southeast redbird-
At first I read, “Jess Todd, an 18 year older who makes his debut and a couple of multi-homer performances”, the same way you did, but those are three different stories for the night: Jess Todd’s pitching, Castillo’s debut, and then Pham, Arburr and Hamilton all going yard twice.
So we all agree?
Couldn’t agree more on Salas: last 10 appearances, 23 K’s and ONE walk, in 12 innings pitched. Yowza. If anyone deserves a promotion, it’s Fernando.
Pham has a nice build, yes, but when I saw QC play a couple weeks ago, he was the skinniest guy on either team–plenty of room to add 8-10 pounds of muscle (maybe more) over the next few years.
Richard Castillo bypassing low-A is a shocker. At the tender age of 18(!), he’s gotta be the youngest guy in the FSL, no? I hope the Cards play it very conservative with the kid–perhaps a strict bullpen role until sometime in July, if not early August.
Joe Mather’s catch last night…I lack a proper adjective. Way to go in your debut, Joe. Hope to see you in the Cardinal outfield for a long time. By the by, one minor quibble I have with the way Joe’s career has been portrayed: last year at AA was obviously a big breakthrough, but even as far back as 2005 Mather’s OPS was 100+ points above league average in the Florida State League. So the signs of a percolating talent were already there.
Poor phrasing on my part. It was late. Hopefully it’s better now
That Nick Webber promotion reminds me of the Mike Ferris promotion from last year.
How’s this all playing in Memphis? There had been grumbling about the way the team had been so bad for so long, storage dump for AAAA break-glass-in-case-of-emergency guys, etc. From about a thousand miles away, this does NOT look like a problem with this year’s team! The fans there should be having a fun time looking at all this talent passing through, the more so with so much of it making The Show.
Also, did Dunc play last night? How’d he do and what kind of reception did he get?
The Memphis team is in Iowa. Duncan did not play last night.
i heard yesterday that dunc will start today, saturday for memphis.
Interesting. I was seriously considering going to the Memphis game tonight (I live close to Albuquerque) and am now further incentivized.
Seems like Charlie Kingrey is on DFR everyday. I’ve got to think he is inline for a mid season promotion to the FSL.
Mather’s career is a textbook case of what Luhnow has wanted to change. The Cards do not want a toolsy 3rd rd slugger to be stuck in extended spring training for a 3rd time running. Its better to have him being beaten at low A, like Ingram and Riportella this year, than in EST. Time costs money. Push the premium players up, even if they have a rough introduction. It worked out ok for Darryl Jones, given his progress this season.
Waltdub’s take on Pham was exactly mine a couple of weeks ago in Peoria. Pham’s first at bat in the MWL was a first pitch, line drive home run. He hit two more in the DH two nights later. If Tommy learns to make consistent contact, he’ll be a major leaguer.
Regarding Kingrey, he can stroke it, no doubt, but his defense needs some work. He has a chance.
eric,
It was late for you and early for me!
Got it now!
I’ve been meaning to post this for some time, but let me list the reasons why I go to this site to check up on the DFR:
Rasmus
Freese
Craig
Garcia
Boggs
Todd
Mather (well before yesterday)
Kozma
Jay
Anderson
Motte
Barden
Worrell
Mortensen
Ottavino
Sure is refreshing to have some real talent infused into our farm system.
Thanks again, boys, for all the great info and analysis.
Kingrey and Peoples finished 4 years of college ball at McNeese State and U of Texas-Austin. With such a background, they should hit well at the low A level. Ditto Brown and Buckman, seniors from Univ. of Nebraska. They provide help for some of the young guys, like Kozma, Bolivar, Pham, de la Cruz.