Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Even though they are not required to report to Florida for more than another week, many of the Cardinals' minor league players have already begun their own personal spring training.
Brian Walton
As is the case with many of their major-league brethren, it seems the minor leaguers are arriving earlier every year.
Having already been in Florida for more than a week himself, Cardinals Director of Minor League Operations John Vuch is well aware of which of his players arrive ahead of schedule. “It seems like every year, more and more guys come in early,” Vuch observed. “It is probably a smart move on their part. That way, when our camp gets underway, they have a running start at it.”
Of course many of the players who will form the nucleus of the Cardinals' top minor league teams are in Jupiter working out with the major-league team. Only 25 of the 57 players currently in the big-league camp will stick on the major league roster, less if any trades are made or free agents signed, with the majority of those not selected returning to the minors.
Some of those players, including pitchers Shelby Miller and Samuel Freeman, added to the camp roster on Monday, know they will be returning to the minors but are enjoying the extra benefit of participating in the major league camp.
The minor league staff will report on March 6 with 147 new arrivals on their heels, 81 pitchers and 66 position players. Pitchers and catchers are scheduled to be in camp on March 8 with the others due two days later. Mike Shildt, manager of Johnson City, will serve as spring training coordinator for the third consecutive year.
The competition for minor league jobs from among a group that may swell to as many as 179 players will be just as fierce as in the major league camp. They will be fighting for slightly fewer than 100 roster spots on the Cardinals’ top four minor league affiliates to start the season.
Minor leaguers will participate in formal workouts from March 11-16 and play intersquad games on the 17th before their first formal spring games on March 18 versus their Florida Marlins counterparts. At least two and as many as five games will be held seven days a week through April 3 on the back diamonds of the Roger Dean Stadium. External opponents are always the nearby Marlins or New York Mets.
Days are long for the staff and players alike. “Our players usually get on the field at about 9:15 every morning and break for lunch at noon and then we have 1 o’clock games,” Vuch said. “The games usually wrap up about 3:30 or 4:00. We are here at about 7 a.m. and our days usually end about 6 or 6:30 at night - unless we have meetings in the evening.”
Not everyone will conclude spring training on a high note. Some players will land on the disabled list to start the season following inevitable injuries while others will be held over for extended spring training camp that begins in early April. The most noncompetitive of the group will be given the bad news that their time with the Cardinals organization is over – released to find their next job, in or out of the game.
The four minor league clubs that begin their 2010 regular seasons on April 8 are the Memphis Redbirds of the Triple-A Pacific Coast League, the Springfield (Mo.) Cardinals of the Double-A Texas League, the Palm Beach (Fla.) Cardinals of the A-Advanced level Florida State League and the Quad Cities (Iowa) River Bandits of the Class A Midwest League. These four are called “full-season” clubs, playing until Labor Day with league playoffs following.
A fresh set of lower-level recruits will arrive in Jupiter in early April, joining the holdovers from minor league spring training for extended spring training camp. That camp will also include a number of players promoted from the Cardinals’ overseas academies in the Dominican Republic and Venezuela, ready for their first taste of baseball in the U.S.
These extended spring training players, along with many of this coming June’s draftees, will eventually make up the rosters of the three other U.S.-based Cardinals affiliates – the Batavia (N.Y.) Muckdogs of the New York-Penn League, the Johnson City (Tenn.) Cardinals of the Appalachian League and the Gulf Coast League Cardinals, the latter based out of the Jupiter complex. They are called “short-season” clubs since their regular seasons only run from mid-June through Labor Day weekend.
Hill’s “Ace” in the Hole
If veteran Rich Hill captures the major league club’s fifth starter position and is a 2010 success for St. Louis, a Boston-area minor league connection should receive a good measure of credit. Earlier this winter, Cardinals minor league pitching coach Arthur “Ace” Adams, a resident of Wellesley, Mass., watched Hill, who resides 20 miles away in Milton, throw as part of the left-hander’s rehab from August shoulder surgery.
Vuch explains. “Our pitching coach for Batavia this year, Ace Adams, works and gives lessons out East. That is where he ran into Rich Hill, in that same complex. Ace is one of the ones that really recommended Rich to our organization. He saw him throw there and said it seemed like Hill’s arm was all the way back.”
A former coach at Brandeis University, Harvard University and Dartmouth College, Adams liked what he saw from the former Chicago Cubs 11-game winner, who was with Baltimore in 2009. Hill was outrighted off the Orioles’ 40-man roster in November and subsequently declared himself a free agent.
On Jan. 26, the 30-year-old signed a minor league contract with the Cardinals that included an invitation to major league spring training camp. Kyle McClellan and Jaime Garcia are among those against whom Hill is competing for the final rotation spot.
Minor league coaching assignments set
This past weekend, the Cardinals announced the completion of hiring of their 2010 US-based minor league staff.
Palm Beach has a new manager for 2010, Luis Aguayo. The former major league third base coach and minor league field coordinator was reportedly let go by New York Mets in late September. Aguayo, 50, becomes the Florida State League club’s fourth field leader in five years, succeeding Tom Spencer, who was not retained following a 61-77, tenth-place finish in 2009. Gaylen Pitts (2007-08) and Ron “Pop” Warner (2005-06) preceded Spencer.
Former St. Louis and Washington hitting coach Mitchell Page has been hired as hitting coach at Quad Cities, returning to the game after almost three years away. The now-59-year-old left Tony La Russa’s staff following the 2004 season and entered an alcohol rehabilitation center.
The Cardinals are pleased about Page's return, rumored for several months. "We're happy to have Mitchell back in the Cardinals organization," Vuch said. "He brings a wealth of teaching experience, having worked with hitters at all levels, and his ability to instruct young hitters makes him an ideal fit for us at Quad Cities."
Roger LaFrancois will be hitting coach at the organization's rookie Gulf Coast League Cardinals club. Earlier reports that LaFrancois is joining Johnson City were in error. Previously, the 53-year-old worked for five different major league organizations over the last 25 years, most recently the San Francisco Giants in 2004-05.
Minors musings
The Cardinals’ fourth-round draft pick last June, former Ole Miss right-hander Scott Bittle, may require shoulder surgery. The 23-year-old did not pitch after signing last summer due to pre-existing problems with the shoulder. Similar concerns scared the Yankees away after they had selected him in the second round of the 2008 draft. … When Palm Beach and Quad Cities open their 2010 seasons, expect the tandem starting pitching system to be used, at least for awhile. The approach allows four pairs of pitchers to rotate between starting and relieving every fourth day, keeping more pitchers prepared as starters. … In its sixth season, Springfield plans a series of promotions during the summer to honor the Cardinals’ most famous number 6, Stan Musial. As a 20-year-old in the summer of 1941, the youngster later given the nickname “Stan the Man” appeared in 87 games for the Missouri club. On his march to his major league debut later that season, Musial batted a cool .379 while wearing a Springfield uniform.
Brian Walton has written about Cardinals minor leaguers since 2003, currently for Scout.com in association with FOXSports.com. He is publisher and editor of TheCardinalNation.com and TheCardinalNationBlog.com, where his work is featured daily.
Comments
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February 24, 2010 at 4:58 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )