St. Louis Cardinals Daily Farm Report: Tommy Pham is alive!

Memphis beat Oklahoma City 8-1

• Pete Kozma (SS), 0 for 4, SB, R
• Shane Robinson (CF), 1 for 4, BB, K, R
• Oscar Taveras (DH), 1 for 5, 2B, 2 Ks, R, 2 RBI
• Stephen Piscotty (RF), 1 for 5, 2B, 2 Ks, 2 RBI
• Thomas Pham (LF), 2 for 4, HR, SB, K, R, 2 RBI
• Zach Petrick, 6 1/3 IP, 4 Ks, 2 BBs, 3 Hits, ER
• Sam Freeman, 1 batter, 1 K
• Keith Butler, 1 1/3 IP, H, K

Notes:

After spending a year away, it seems Pete Kozma still can't hit AAA pitchers. In 19 games his line is .219/.271/.359.

Thomas Pham has actually played in fewer games than Kozma this year, just 49 PAs. His line isn't much better, but he does have 2 HRs and 4 SBs (0 CS), so he still seems to have some tools to work with. I hope the Cardinals are able to clear that OF AAA logjam so he can get some PAs, here or elsewhere.

In four starts at AAA, Petrick hasn't blown away batters like he has at every other level, but he has been pretty decent. His K% is now 19%, though his BB% has risen a bit to 9%, thanks mostly to a 5-BB outing in his second start. He's not young at 24, 25 at the end of July, but his pro-level experience is very limited so even holding his own at AAA is pretty good, with hopes that he can improve over the year or so.

Springfield had the day off.

Palm Beach beat St. Lucie 6-1

• Charlie Tilson (CF), 3 for 5, 2 RBI
  
• Starlin Rodriguez (RF), 1 for 5, R, K
• Breyvic Valera (2B), 1 for 4, SB
• Anthony Garcia (LF), 1 for 4, R
• Thomas Lee, 6 2/3 IP, 3 Ks, 0 BBs, 7 Hits, ER
• Corey Baker, 2 1/3 IP, K, H

Notes:

You might not have noticed, I didn't, but Anthony Garcia is actually having a pretty good start to the year. His line is just .224/.320/.458, but that's with a .215 BABIP and his K% is 15.3% -- down from 24.6% last year. His BB% and ISO are both up as well: 10.2% and .243 compared to 6.7% and .165 last season. This isn't an otherworldly performance for a 22 year-old repeating at High A, but it's enough to keep his prospect status alive after a poor season last year. Of course, that requires him to maintain it all year.

Peoria lost to Beloit 3-5

• C.J. McElroy (CF), 2 for 4, SB, R, RBI
• Carson Kelly (C), 0 for 4, K, R, RBI, caught 1 of 2 base runners
• Kenneth Peoples-Walls (LF), 1 for 4, SB, 2 Ks
• Steve Bean (DH), 1 for 4, K, RBI
• Jimmy Reed, 5 IP, 6 hits, 3 ER, 2 BBs, 4 Ks, HR

Notes:

On the surface, it has looked like McElroy has started to figure a few things out at Peoria, even if those things don't include drawing walks or hitting for power. However, if you look at his BB and K percentages, they're both worse than they were at Low-A last year. The difference? His BABIP is up almost a hundred points to .384.

If his CS% is any indication, Kelly has taken well to catching; he has caught 41% of base stealers (12 of 29). He has four passed balls so far, while Steve Bean has two. It's hard to find a leaderboard for catcher fielding stats in the low minors, but Peoria's 6 PBs overall is middle of the pack for the Midwest League (the average is 6.4 per team, and 6 is both the median and the mode), so Kelly's 4 PBs is probably adequate if just average at best. As a league, catchers have thrown out 28% of base stealers, so Kelly's 41% is pretty good.

Tonight's Starters:

Memphis: Scott McGregor

Springfield: TBD

Palm Beach: Joe Cuda

Peoria: Silfredo Garcia