St. Louis Cardinals Prospect Report: Aledmys Diaz brings hot streak to Memphis; Carson Kelly continues his surge with a pair of doubles; Darren Seferina has a quartet of hits

Yesterday's Scores

Memphis had a decisive victory behind a solid start from Tyler Lyons, who struck out six against a single walk in five innings, and was supported by Sam Tuivailala and Miguel Socolovich in relief. Socolovich struck out three batsmen in just 1 2/3 IP. Offensively, every player in the lineup had at least one hit, and six of them had two. Both of Dan Johnson's hits were of the round trip variety.

Springfield fell 7-4 thanks largely to some shoddy relief work. Palm Beach however shut out their opponents 5-0 behind a scoreless eight innings from Corey Littrell. The offensive effort was led primarily by Carson Kelly, who had three hits with two doubles. Peoria held on for a 7-4 win, surviving some late rallies from the Cedar Rapids Kernels.

State College lost a 2-1 game, in which all three runs were scored in the first inning. Johnson City endured and 8-4 beating, and the GCL Cardinals edged the GCL Mets 4-3. After tying the game at three apiece in the bottom of the 9th, they scored again in the bottom of the 11th to win it. Nick Plummer did his best Nick Plummer impression, with no hits but three walks.

Highlights

Aledmys Diaz, SS, Memphis, 2-for-4, R

If you missed it, Diaz was covered in depth here, so I'll keep this brief. So far he has been 2-for-4 in his first two games for Memphis. If he continues to hit, the Cardinals might have to put him back on the 40-man roster this offseason.

Corey Littrell, P, Palm Beach, 8 IP, 5 Ks, BB, 4 Hits, 0 Runs

Littrell was a 5th round pick out of the University of Kentucky by the Red Sox, and came to the Cardinals along with John Lackey. His performance coming into 2015 was pretty pedestrian, with a FIP in the 4s last year, his only year in full season ball. However, he has posted a FIP of 2.78 this season, thanks largely to cutting his walk rate in half (down to 3.8% from over 8% last season). His K% is nothing to write home about, but he's suddenly on the radar for deeper Cardinals prospect lists for next season.

Carson Kelly, C, Palm Beach, 3-for-4, 2 2Bs, 2 RBI

Kelly has been hitting much better in the second half of this season, if still not particularly well with an OPS of .701 in the second half, vs. .488 in the first. However, he has been especially hot lately, and is on a 5-game hitting streak, in which this game is the third time he has produced three hits. I've never been very high on Kelly, as he's yet to show much production offensively in any season. But. If you've been riding this bandwagon over every bump the last couple years, now might be a good time to sit up and pay attention.

Darren Seferina, 2B, Peoria, 4-for-5, 3B, RBI, CS

Seferina was a 5th round pick last year by the Cardinals, and he has done nothing but hit since signing. He has flown under the radar a bit, but was highlighted as an unheralded prospect, again by our John Nagel, here. Neither Seferina's K% or BB% is terribly impressive, nor does he mash home runs, and while he has 22 SBs this year, he also has been caught 16 times. What he does do, aside from an up-the-middle position, is hit balls for extra bases. He has hit for a very high BABIP in his minor league career so far, which can be a bit more meaningful and predictive in the minors (anecdotally), and 22 doubles on the season, with 11 triples. That doubles total is tied for 20th best in the Midwest League, and his triples are good for the league lead. He won't be 22 until next season, so he's not old for the level. I won't be surprised if he climbs up prospect lists next year.

Today's Games

Arturo Reyes will make his third start for Memphis. He has struggled a bit so far, with an 8:6 K:BB ratio, after posting a 2.64 ERA in just under 100 IP for Springfield.