I am a blogger covering the University of Kansas baseball team at the SB site Rock Chalk Talk.  I posted a story today about Cards minor league infielder Jared Schweitzer which might be of interest to those of you who follow prospects and minor leaguers.  Schweitzer was a 30th round selection in 2006 but it looks like he might stick.  He had a good season in Quad Cities last year.

Here is a link to the full story.  My chart did not transfer over to this site but can be seen at the linked story.  Just scroll down a bit, Schweitzer is the sixth player highlighted.

I'll copy below the written part of my take on Jared.  If anyone can supply more information on his status within the organization I'd be glad for the update.  I do try to keep up on the former Hawks as well as I can.

Jared Schweitzer

Much of what I wrote above about Ritchie Price could be equally applied to Jared Schweitzer.  Jared is one of the best natural hitters I have yet to see play college baseball.  He was in complete control of the batters box, looking for pitches to drive and almost never swinging at a mistake.  When he was on his game it seemed like he was smacking tennis balls with a racquet, so controlled and purposeful was his swing.  During his senior season Schweitzer set the KU school record for longest hitting streak and capped his amazing college career by hitting for the cycle against #25 Hawaii in the NCAA tournament.  The Big-12 honored Jared by naming him First Team all conference.  Every bit of 2006 was magic for Schweitzer, who always remained clearly modest about his accomplishments, joking that his hitting streak was as much due to his good luck and his refusal to cut his shaggy hair down to size as it was to hard work and talent.

College stardom behind him, Schweitzer signed with the St. Louis Cardinals and started an even more challenging stage of his career.  While at KU Jared did not display exceptional base running speed and did not stand out in the field at any position to the left of first base.  How many 185 pound players lacking plus speed and/or plus fielding do you see playing in the major leagues?  Like Ritchie Price, Schweitzer seemed to me to fit into that group of players who can be great at the NCAA level, but just not have what it takes to advance into the major leagues through no fault of their own.  So far Jared is doing everything he can to prove my impressions wrong.  After putting up rather pedestrian numbers in his first half season of professional ball Jared put together a very solid campaign last year in A ball.

The Cardinals seemed to warm to Jared as 2007 went on.  His playing time increased each month from April through July.  He played primarily at 2B, a position he fielded at KU when Ryne Price was injured in 2006.  I do not know if Jared has improved his glove work, but while at KU he was fundamentally sound without showing as much range as would be expected from an everyday middle infielder.  I don't know how much weight to place in this award but the St. Louis writer for Scout.com named Jared the Quad City "Position Player of the Year" and wrote this about him:

I'm nominating Jared Schweitzer for the position player of the year. Once again, I'm giving my vote to one of the quieter players on the team. Jared didn't hit a lot of home runs, but he got a lot of hits. He didn't make many brilliant plays on the field, but he made plays game after game.  An injury in mid-August shortened his season which could be part of the reason the team skidded into the playoffs and made an early exit in the post season.

Schweitzer did what he needed to stick with the organization and presumably will be playing next year in Palm Beach.  The Florida State League is a significant jump from the Midwest League and once more Jared will be challenged.  Given his size and relatively advanced age for a player in the low-minors (Jared is 24) he does not have much margin for error but he has been beating the odds for years now and who am I to say he won't do so again next season.  Jared is one of the most popular players to come through KU in recent years so I know he will have a lot of fans pulling for him.  Should things go well for Schweitzer next year he has a chance of playing at the AA level in Springfield, MO.  That would be a road trip I would make to watch him play again.