St. Louis Cardinals Prospect Report: Tyler Lyons goes 7 innings with 8 strikeouts; Aledmys Diaz hits his second home run in as many games; Mason Katz continues rehab assignment in the Gulf Coast League with a homer.

Yesterday's Scores

Memphis won 7-3 behind a gem by Tyler Lyons, and Jacob Wilson hit his 10th home run. Springfield scored twice in the bottom of the 8th, courtesy of an Aledmys Diaz home run, to take a 7-6 lead, and Ronnie Shaban came in for the save. David Washington also hit two home runs for the Cardinals. The State College Spikes won handily, 9-1; the DSL Cardinals won 8-4; the GCL Cards won 4-3; and the Johnson City Cardinals won 9-8, holding off a 5-run 8th from the Elizabethton Twins.

Highlights

Tyler Lyons, Memphis, 7 IP, 8 Ks, 0 BBs, 9 Hits, 2 ER

Lyons is a bit too good for AAA at this point. This outing brings his K:BB ratio to 90:12, with rates of 23.8% for Ks, and 3.2% for BBs. At 27, he's a bit ripe as a prospect though. He deserves every chance to pitch regularly in the majors, but he might not get many more in St. Louis. For the record, his career MLB FIP in 118 1/3 IP is 3.88.

David Washington, Springfield, RF, 2-for-3, 2 HRs, BB, SB, 2 Runs, 2 RBI

Who is this? Not on any prospect lists that I know of, Washington, 6'5" and 200 lbs, was a 15th round pick way back in 2009. He's hit pretty well in his minor league career, but didn't see a significant amount of time in a full season league until last season, when he spent 89 games with Palm Beach. The left-hander held his own, with a 109 wRC+ line, based on a TTO% ((BB+K+HR)/PA) of 43%; his ISO was just over .200, his K% just under 30%, and his BB% at 9.4%. He started the year at AA Springfield, and was just so-so before being demoted back to Palm Beach for a month at the beginning of June, and was flat-out bad for 92 PAs with a 46 wRC+ -- a production level of less than half the league average. He was brought back up to Springfield on July 4th, and has been completely different since then. Of his 12 homers this year, 7 have come after his return. He's hitting .286/.383/.615 in that time. His K% has still been high at 27%, but his BB% is 14% during that time, up from 5.6% in the first half. I'll definitely be watching going forward!

Aledmys Diaz, Springfield, SS, 1-for-4, HR, K, R, 2 RBI

Diaz is killing it lately, with his second homer in as many games, and a .324 average in his last ten. He has hit .294/.355/.506 since the break. However, his BB% is about the same as it was in the first half, and K% is actually up. If there's a difference here, it could be his ISO, which is about double at .211 from the first half. It's not clear that this is a boost in real performance, but it would be nice to see Diaz start hitting.

Mason Katz, GCL, 2B, 1-for-3, HR, BB, K, R, 2 RBI

Katz is on a rehab assignment after missing the last month. If you're not familiar with Katz, he was a  senior sign out of LSU where he played 1B. The Cardinals announced him as a 2B, and he has gone on to play C, 1B, 3B, and RF as well (mostly in this season).  Katz struggled in short season ball after the draft, but played well at Low and High A last year, and was continuing that this year before his injury. He strikes out a bit, but has good power and can draw the walk. He'll be 25 in a couple weeks though, so he needs to get healthy and keep hitting to make it to the majors.

Today's Games

All the affiliates have scheduled games today, with Petree on the bump for Palm Beach. After spending some time on the DL with lower back soreness, Petree finds himself back in PB after starting the year in AA Springfield. He'll be looking to take another step toward returning with this start.