Ten standout spring training performances

Next week at this time, Spring Training will be over and the Cardinals will begin a 4-game series against the Milwaukee Brewers. Until then, there’s not a lot whole to talk about, absent a late move by the front office. Earlier this spring, I gave an update on the performances of some of the players. This time, I decided to focus entirely on the positives.

Tommy Edman - Edman is not on the 40 man roster, so he stands no chance of making the team. If he were on the 40 man, the Cardinals may very well be tempted to send him north with the club. Since Edman has 17 career games at AAA, it’s probably for the best that they don’t even have the option, since he’s unlikely to be ready for the MLB proper right away. Still, he got my attention.

Stats: 35 PAs, .300/.371/.533, 2 2Bs, 3B, HR

Dakota Hudson - Okay so I probably didn’t need this post for you to be aware of him this spring. He’s made quite the case for the 5th starter job and unless you are able to completely ignore Cardinals news during spring, he’s been on your radar. If Hudson can be an above average starting pitcher right away, that is a game changer.

Stats: 15.2 IP, 17 Ks, 4 BBs, 12 H, 1.72 ERA

Randy Arozarena - When I look at standout performances, I try to focus on players whose underlying numbers are still good. So if someone goes 8-15 with 7 strikeouts, well I’m going to be looking at that sideways even though that is good. Randy suffers from this to a cetain extent: he has 2 walks to 8 strikeouts and only two extra base hits. But he’s here anyway.

Stats: 29 PAs, .346/.414/.538, 3B, HR

Tyler Webb - I probably would not alert you to Webb if not for the fact that Chasen Shreve has been terrible and Brett Cecil has barely pitched and not been good when he has. Which is to say, if the Cards want two lefties, Webb has provided an alternative route.

Stats: 10 IP, 11 Ks, BB, 10 H, 3.60 ERA

Ramos Urias - There were not a lot of choices for hitters this spring. That’s not to disparage Urias, who had a fine 25 PAs, but I kind of wish the third choice was better than an .820 OPS. Nonetheless, I’m optimistic about this guy.

Stats: 25 PAs, .292/.320/.500, 2 2Bs, HR

Adam Wainwright - Okay so in theory, I was hoping this post would be exclusively for probable minor leaguers, but the vast majority of probably minor league pitchers were awful in spring. Plus, if there’s one guy where spring can maybe tell you something, it’s probably Wainwright. If he was terrible, that would be cause for alarm. This is in the slightly encouraging category.

Stats: 14.1 IP, 11 Ks, 3 BBs, 2 HR, 10 H, 2.51 ERA

Rangel Ravelo - The Cardinals have become weirdly good at developing old 1B prospects, which unfortunately is not all that valuable a trait to have. Nonetheless, Ravelo is certainly interesting in the same way Luke Voit was - I wish he were on the Marlins or something to see what he could do.

Stats: 49 PAs, .333/.367/.467, 3 2Bs, HR

Ryan Meisinger - There were better performances I could have chosen, but I didn’t really want to choose 3/5 of the starting staff - Miles Mikolas is really the only guy who hasn’t been great and we remember what happened last year with that - so a very solid performance from Meisinger wins.

Stats: 7 IP, 7 Ks, BB, 9 H, 2 HR, 2.57 ERA,

Nolan Gorman - He hit a home run in a spring training game at 18-years-old. That’s enough to land on this list.

Alex Reyes - His stats are not that great, but his stats are not why he’s here. The fact that he’s still in camp, throwing, is why he’s here.

Lastly, here are two standout performers in the bad way, who are showing just a little above nothing in spring training.

Jose Adolis Garcia - I don’t mean to pick on the guy, so I’ll just let the stats speak for themselves on this one. He did walk three times, which is good because he wouldn’t have walked three times in 100 PAs the way he hacked in the majors last year

Stats: 25 PAs, .048/.200/.048

Austin Gomber - He was theoretically in competition for the rotation spot, but at no point this spring was he remotely close to winning the job. I can’t really find a bright side in this stats. SIX home runs in 11 innings.

Stats: 11 IP, 3 Ks, 5 BBs, 13 H, 6 HRs, 10.64 ERA