Fall/Winter ball Update

Here’s how current Cardinal players are fairing in their respective leagues:

Mesa Solar Sox (Arizona)

• Mitch Boggs has yet to allow a run over 6 innings. He’s allowed just two hits while walking three, striking out 4.
• Stuart Pomeranz has also not been scored upon. He’s gone 5 innings, struck out 3 to 3 hits and a walk. Behold! The mini-revival of Stu. Hopefully he’s healthy and can keep it up.
• Jason Motte has allowed a run per inning (4) and has given up 4 hits and 3 walks, striking out 2.
• Kyle McClellan also has been hit around, surrendering 2 runs on 5 hits and 2 walks, fanning 4 over 3.2
• Jarret Hoffpauir only has 13 at bats, and has hit .308/.438/.308. In other words, he has 4 singles and 3 walks.
• Mark Hamilton is not getting much PT, either, making these DPR’s not a lot of fun. He’s gone 2 for 12 with three walks, not making much out of what little opportunities that are afforded him.
• Joe Mather is 6 for 21. All of his hits have been singles, and he’s walked three times. Word from the Birdhouse homepage is Mather is hurt, and is being replaced by Amaury Marti. Marti flew in today in the twinkling of an eye. He passed over the Grand Canyon and said, “I remember digging that hole”. 

Caribes de Oriente (Venezuelan Winter League)

• “Uncle” Rico Washington is hitting .313/.389/.406 in 32 at bats.
• Matt Scherer has allowed 3 earned runs on 5 hits and a walk, striking out 4 over 5.1 innings. He has one save.

Tigres de Aragua (Venezuela)

• Jose Martinez is hitting .273/.304/.455 in 22 at bats.
• Juan Lucena is 2 for 13. Both of his have been doubles.

Venados de Mazatlan (Mexican Winter League)

• Fernando Salas has yet to allow a run over three innings, has allowed three hits and a walk while striking out none.

Yaquis de Obregon (Mexico)

• Sidearmer Hugo Castellanoshas appeared in 5 games, struck out 4 and walked 3. He has yet to allowe a hit and a has a 2.33 ground out to fly out ratio.

West Oahu Cane Fires (Hawaii Winter League)

• Michael Cooper has pitched 7.1 innings, allowing 13 hits and allowed 11 runs. He’s given up 4 homers while walking 7 and striking out 11. This really has to be the end of the line for him.
• Marco Gonzalez has only appeared in one game, went 1.2 and allowed a hit while fanning 2.

Venezuelan Instructional League

• Romulo Ruiz has hit 5 homers in 41 at bats.
• Doggnt Bolivar is hitting .370/.455/.815 in 27 ABs.

How would you like your fall league coverage?

The AFL season starts tomorrow and runs through Nov. 15th. Team USA starts on 10/15 and runs through 11/18. AZ and I have yet to get together on how we will be covering it, but I thought I’d like to gather your opinions. What would you like? A brief DPR? Weekly report? Bi-weekly?

Speaking of the fall leagues, I see Michael Cooper is continuing to be crap for the West Oahu CaneFires. In three innings and a third innings of work he’s allowed 3 homers and has a 16.20 ERA. Marco Gonzalez has appeared in one game, he’s struck out 2 and allowed a hit.

UPDATE: DPR’s it is.  AZ and I have chatted, we’ll post here what the Cardinal players are doing for their respective teams. If they don’t play that day, there won’t be a DPR.

Arizona Fall League roster announced

MILB.com has announced the preliminary rosters for the Arizona Fall League. Some pretty big names in the Cardinal system will be headlining, the biggest name amongst them is Colby Rasmus. Other position players are Joe Mather and Jarrett Hoffpauir. Mitch Boggs and Stuart Pomeranz are among the starting pitchers, while Jason Motte and Chris Perez will be available in relief. That’s a rather impressive group representing.

60% of players who play in the AFL go onto to the pros. It’s basically a finishing school for the team’s top AA and AAA prospects, though a team is able to send one A ball player per season. Brendan Ryan, who hit .310 last season in the AFL was helped by his experience there after spending much of the season on the DL. Ryan Braun and Troy Tulowitzki are other notable AFLers in the league last year.

The season starts 10/9 and runs through 11/15.

7/24/07 Daily Prospect Report

The bad news today wasn’t unexpected, Jaime Garcia is hitting the DL. The good news is that P.J. Walters, uber-sleeper, received the call up from Palm Beach to AA. Walters started the season for the Swing where he went 6-1 with a 6.08 K/BB ratio and a 65% ground ball rate. He was promoted to Palm Beach where he continued his dominance, again putting up a near identical high strikeout rates and low walk rates, while getting ground balls by the truck load. It’ll be interesting to see how he handles AA, or perhaps I should say how AA handles him. So far tonight at least, not so good. We’ll get to that later.

Minor league pitching coordinator Mark Riggins was named the pitching coach of the Mesa Solar Sox of the Arizona Fall League. The season starts Oct. 9th. It’s at least a month away before the rosters are announced, but it’s easy to see Cody Haerther and Jon Jay on the team given all the time they’ve missed to the DL, as they did with Brendan Ryan last year. And don’t worry, we’ll have brief DPR’s of the games the Cardinal prospects are participating in.

Yet again I get the easy load tonight, as the GCL team had the day off and the Palm Beach game was postponed. Johnson City’s game was suspended after 5 innings. I had expected to see Kozma debuting tonight, but he wasn’t in JC’s lineup. Maybe things are just getting finalized, I could see him in a few games for the GCL team. In case you were wondering, Kozma signed for a bonus of $1,395,000, which was right at slot. (Hat tip to fewgoodcards for passing along that info)

Quad Cities played a noon game after the 6 hour marathon last night and got their revenge. Rick Ankiel went yard again. And the Springfield Cardinals pretty much got shut down. Let’s get into it…not in any particular order this time.

Arizona Fall League Update

Sorry for the lack of updates here, I haven’t forgot about this blog and I’m sure as winter goes on it’ll be updated more often, at least every week or two.

Just a quick update on the AFL, things aren’t going so hot for Nick Stavinoha. In 52 at bats, Stavvy’s OPS is a paltry .624. He did just homer today, maybe he’ll get going. This is Arizona, where the balls are usually jumping off bats so I’m not sure what’s going on with Nick but he’s obviously struggling right now and will probably be heading back to A ball unless he can get jump started.

On the positive Amaury Marti is hitting .311/.360/.556 in 45 AB’s, and Brendan Ryan is also hitting well, to the tune of .349/.371/.465. Ryan has also made 6 errors in just 18 games, not what you want to see from the possible shortstop of the future but it’s good to see Ryan get some good AB’s after having a rather injury riddled season.

Mike Parisi has been a walking disaster, with a 10.64 ERA in 11 innings of relief work. Stu Pomeranz has been awful as well, giving up 19 hits and 12 runs in 10 innings. Eric Haberer has managed an ERA of 4.50, but he’s walked more guys then he’s struck out (7bb, 6k in 10 IP). Dennis Dove has a 1.93 ERA in 9.1 innings pitched, with a low .86 WHIP.

The thing about the Arizona Fall League is that it seems like you really have to take it all with a grain of salt. Hitters usually go crazy in that hot air, pitchers struggle and the season is only 32 games long. The teams are full of prospects from different teams fighting for playing time so it’s not easy to get reads on these guys. Scouts can watch the happenings and get stuff, but when you’re just looking at scoreboards you know you’re not getting all the story.

AFL update and Apologies

Forgive the lack of posts after just getting started, I guess I’ve gotten a little swallowed up by post season baseball. I’m sure y’all can understand. The Arizona Fall League has recently got things kicked off starting today, and there are some Cardinal players of note involved. On the roster of the Peoria Saguaros are outfielders Nick Stavinoha, Amaury “the Body” Marti, infielder Brendan Ryan, starting pitcher Stu Pomeranz, Eric Haberer, and reliever Dennis Dove.

Not a real exciting list, Nick Stavinoha and a cast of characters. It would be great to see Stavvy have an incredible fall and see him in spring training this upcoming March. Amaury Marti stuggled upon his call up to AA, and he apparently isn’t very good about lying about his age. He’s 30+ as it turns out, and needs to make a splash or learn another trade. He’s got the most to prove out of anyone in the group. Brendan Ryan is another player I’d expect to see in spring training even if he doesn’t hit the cover off the ball in the Fall League. Ryan’s season was marred by injuries in 06, but I could see him as another Hector Luna if he can stay healthy.