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Before we get to anything else, the Cardinals picked up a prospect in yesterday's John Lackey trade:
Corey Littrell (LHP)
Age: 22
Drafted: 5th round, 2013 by the Boston Red Sox
Current: 131 IP (A-/A+) 3.16 ERA, 3.43 FIP 8.31 K/9, 3.30 BB/9
Jason Parks has some good things to say about Littrell over in the BP analysis of the trade that went up yesterday:
Corey Littrell is a reasonably polished lefty with a deep arsenal and solid pitchability. Working mostly off an upper-80s/low-90s fastball, the former fifth round pick in the 2013 draft can throw strikes and use his secondary arsenal to keep hitters off balance. Along with the standard fare of curveball and change, Littrell can show a solid mid-80s cutter to slip the ball off the meat of the barrel.
Sounds a lot like Tim Cooney to me, and he's got similar peripherals, without the excellent command that Cooney flashed at the lower levels of the minors. Littrell's got no real platoon split to speak of at this point, so I'm sure he makes a lot of sense as a bullpen candidate in the future, as Parks has suggested. He strikes out a few more lefties, but he also walks more as well. Left handed bats don't drive the ball as well against him either, but that's mostly based on his innings this season rather than his combined line.
Still, not a bad player to get in as a throw in to a trade. The Carolina League can be a tough league to pitch in at times and Littrell has acquitted himself well there. My guess is that he'll report to Palm Beach and remain in Advanced A for the rest of the season.
Memphis 6 Omaha 4
Notables:
- Tommy Pham (CF): 2-4, R, K
- Randal Grichuk (LF): 1-4, R, 2B, RBI, BB, K
- Stephen Piscotty (RF): 0-4, BB, K
- Xavier Scruggs (1B): 0-4, RBI, 2 K
- Greg Garcia (2B): 2-4, 2 K
- Audry Perez (C): 3-4, R, HR, 2 RBI
- John Gast (SP): 4 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, K, HR
- Jorge Rondon (RP): 0.2 IP, H, BB, K
- Eric Fornataro (RP): 2 IP, H, BB, 4 K
Notes:
- Gast continues to struggle with giving up the gopher ball: That's 7 homers in just 48.2 IP this season. For a guy who's specialty is picking runners off of first base, it doesn't do much good when they touch 'em all that often against you.
- The Memphis outfield escaped the trade deadline week intact and both Grichuk and Pham celebrated last night by scoring runs in a Memphis victory.
- Audry Perez hit his 3rd homer of the year, which gives him more home runs this year than walks, of which he has 2 in 184 PA's. If you're looking for a reason why the club decided to go with external options rather than Perez backing up Cruz, there's your answer.
Arkansas 6 Springfield 2
Notables:
- Charlie Tilson (CF): 0-4, K
- Mike O'Neill (LF): 1-4
- Breyvic Valera (2B): 2-4, RBI, K, SB (3), CS (3)
- Jonathan Rodriguez (1B): 1-4, R, SB (6)
- Cody Stanley (C): 1-4, R, 2B, 2 K
- Patrick Wisdom (3B): 0-4
- Rafael Ortega (RF): 0-3
- Jonathan Cornelius (SP): 6 IP, 5 H, 2 ER, 3 BB, 4 K, HR
- Seth Blair (RP): 0.1 IP, H, ER, BB
- Sam Tuivailala (RP): 1.1 IP, 3 H, 3 ER, BB, K
Notes:
- Rough night offensively for the S-Cards, this club is really going to miss James Ramsey's bat, that's for sure.
- Blair and Tuivailala had been pitching very well in the bullpen until last night, when they let a close game get away in the 8th inning. It's going to be worth watching as Tooey gets his second round through the Texas League in August -- his limited arsenal and command issues may make him susceptible to teams seeing him the second time and being locked in on the fastball, even though it is in the 99-101 range on most nights.
Brevard County 7 Palm Beach 4
Notables:
- Bruce Caldwell (2B): 2-3, 2 R, HR, 3 RBI, K
- Luke Voit (1B): 1-3, RBI, BB, K
- David Popkins (RF): 0-4, K
- Anthony Garcia (DH): 1-4, RBI, K
- Joe Cuda (SP): 6 IP, 8 H, ER, 6 K
- Chris Perry (RP): 1 IP, 2 K
Notes:
- So far Chris Perry has 7.1 innings in the Florida State League: One hit, two walks, eight strikeouts, nobody's been past first base. Yeah, he's 24, but it's hard to see how he doesn't get to AA yet this year with how dominant he's been at two levels of A ball so far.
- Bruce Caldwell is having himself a nice little season in the pitcher friendly FSL: .276/.330/.502 is good for a 134 wRC+. The league average slash line for the FSL this year? .257/.323/.369
- Joe Cuda threw 6 solid innings in his bid to become the new "Favorite Cardinal Pitcher Named Joe" after the position was vacated on Thursday afternoon.
Beloit 11 Peoria 4
Notables:
- Vaughn Bryan (LF): 1-4, R, 2B, K
- CJ McElroy (CF):1-4, R, RBI
- Justin Ringo (1B): 2-4, 2B, SB (2)
- Juan Herrera (SS): 1-4, RBI, 2 K
- Ronald Castillo (DH): 0-4, 2 K
- Rowan Wick (RF): 0-4, 3 K
- Carson Kelly (C): 0-4
- Blake McKnight (SP): 3 IP, 7 H, 7 ER, 2 BB, K
Notes:
- Beloit Starter Joey Wagman rang up 7 K's against the Chiefs on Thursday night. The 2012 draftee out of Cal Poly was making his first start in A ball after joining Oakland's organization a week or so back.
- Rowan Wick has 15 K's in his first 34 AB's with Peoria. So I think our question about whether he started in the right league this year probably has been answered. 3 of his 8 hits have been for extra based though, so the power is most definitely real. It just remains to be seen whether he can make enough contact for it to be usable.
Aberdeen 3 State College 2 (7 innings)
State College 8 Aberdeen 2 (7 innings)
Notables:
- Darren Seferina (2B): 2-8, RBI, 3 K, 2 SB (11)
- Danny Diekroeger (3B): 0-1, R, BB
- Alex De Leon (DH): 0-3, K
- Nick Thompson (RF): 3-4, 2 R, K
- Brian O'Keefe (C): 1-3
- Will Anderson (SP, GM1): 6 IP, 9 H, ER, BB, 4 K, HR
- Dewin Perez (SP, GM2): 6 IP, 5 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 8 K
Notes:
- Danny Diekroeger got some nice run in Jeff Moore's Minor league report on Wednesday.
- Darren Seferina is looking like a pretty nice find in the 2014 draft: Good defense at second base, plenty of speed, and makes a lot of good contact. Kolten Wong-lite indeed.
Johnson City 4 Greeneville 1
Notables:
- Casey Turgeon (2B): 2-5, CS (4)
- Casey Grayson (DH): 1-4, R, RBI, BB, K
- Blake Drake (CF): 2-5, R, HR, RBI, 3 K
- Devante Lacy (RF): 1-3, R, BB, K
- Oscar Mercado (SS): 1-5, K
- Chris Rivera (3B): 0-3, R
- Cole Lankford (LF): 2-3, 2B, RBI, BB
- Jose Godoy (C): 1-3, BB
- Matt Pearce (SP): 5 IP, 5 H, ER, 3 K
- Sasha Keubel (RP): 1 IP, 2 H, BB, 2 K
Notes:
- Drake hit his third homer of the year to put Johnson City up for good.
- Casey Turgeon is currently hitting
.368/.177/.568.368/.477/.568 in his first taste of pro ball after coming out as a junior eligible draftee from the University of Florida.
GCL Cardinals 8 GCL Marlins 1 (7 innings)
GCL Cardinals 7 GCL Marlins 0 (7 innings)
Notables:
- Edmundo Sosa (SS): 0-4
- Magneuris Sierra (CF): 5-7, 5 R, RBI, BB
- Malik Collymore (2B): 3-6, 2 R, 2 3B, 5 RBI, BB
- Elier Rodriguez (1B): 2-7, 2B, 3 RBI
- Ramon Santos (SP-GM1): 4 IP, 3 H, ER, 2 BB, 2 K
- Dylan Hawkins (SP-GM2): 3 IP, H, 2 BB, K
Notes:
- I'm wondering if Jason Parks isn't kicking him for making Vaughn Bryan his big bet for the Cardinals system rather than Malik Collymore, who's got 7 triples in the GCL while hitting .337/.418/.548 in 31 games.
- Magneuris Sierra is the other big story for the GCL Cards lately: .397/.450/.543 in his first 30 games stateside, the 18 year old hits from the left side and has the chops to handle CF. He's just 5'11" and 160 right now, so it's hard to tell if the power is real or not, but he's off to one hell of a start.
DSL Nationals 7 DSL Cardinals 3
Notables:
- Allen Cordoba (SS): 2-4, 2B
- Carlos Talavera (CF): 1-5, K, SB (15)
- Hector Linares (DH): 1-4, R, 2B, 2 K
- Sandy Alcantara (SP): 5 IP, 5 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 3 BB, 7 K
Probables:
Memphis: Tim Cooney
Springfield: Kurt Heyer
Palm Beach: TBA
Peoria: Luis Perdomo
State College: Austin Gomber
Johnson City: Dailyn Martinez
GCLCardinals: TBD