Daily Farm Report: Strong Starts From Hudson and Gallen

Triple A: Memphis 6 - Omaha 4

• Tommy Pham (RF): 2-4, 2B, 2 RBI, 2 BB,2 CS, SB, CS
• Chad Huffman (LF): 0-2, RBI, 4 BB
• Luke Voit (DH): 1-6, RBI, 2 K
  
• Patrick Wisdom (3B): 1-5, R, HR, RBI, K
• Harrison Bader (CF): 2-5
• Paul DeJong (2B):1-4, R, 2B, BB, K
  
• Josh Zeid (SP): 6 IP, 6 H, 4 R, 3 BB, 4 K, 2 HR
  
• Rowan Wick (RP): 1 IP, 1 K
  

Time to beat some more on a dead horse, Chad Huffman is doing exactly what you'd expect him to. He's walking a lot, striking out not a lot, and showing gap plus power in AAA. He is a BABIP correction away from his career numbers. He projects to be a little better than a replacement player in the bigs, maybe a one win player, but his availability this offseason makes him essentially a replacement player. He's probably a little better than Jose Martinez, and is probably close to wherever the ceiling is for Anthony Garcia. He's fine, and is perfectly well-suited to be a taxi squad/5th outfielder. Guys like him are available, for free, every winter. Which is why it seems crazy that the Cardinals would waste not one, but two roster spots on Garcia and Martinez. AAAA corner bats are never tough to find. The Cardinals faced a 40 man crunch this offseason, which is OK, it's a feature not a bug when your system churns out fringe big leaguers. But they also made some unforced errors, which is frustrating, because managing the edges of the 40 man becomes important when you are churning out fringe big leaguers...Meanwhile actual big league outfielder, who is on the 40 man and in Memphis hit the game winning double in the top of the 10th. He has a 138 wRC+ through 104 plate appearances.

Double A: Northwest Arkansas 4 - Springfield 1

• Oscar Mercado (CF): 3-5, 2B
• Jose Adolis Garcia (RF): 1-4, 2 K
  
• Bruce Caldwell (3B/2B): 1-2, RBI, 2 BB
• Anthony Garcia (DH): 0-4, K
• Eliezer Alvarez (2B): 0-2
• Jacob Wilson (3B): 0-2, K
  
• Dakota Hudson (SP): 5.2 IP, 8 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 7 K

Oscar Mercado's double to lead off the 5th was his 5th of the season, it also kept an 18 game hitting streak alive. That streak ties him for the Springfield record with Travis Hanson, Tyler Greene, Tony Cruz and Charlie Tilson, a collection of DFR regulars. Let's hope Oscar surpasses those DFR mainstays both in AA hitting streaks and big league success...Rain and shoddy defense conspired to ruin an excellent outing by Dakota Hudson. Two consecutive errors by Elizier Alvarez, a sac fly and a passed ball allowed the go-ahead run to score in the 5th. Hudson then threw two wild pitches in the 6th to set up an insurance run before the umpires called for a weather delay. It was Hudson's first AA start without a walk and he induced 8 groundouts to go along with his 8 strikeouts.

Class A Advanced: Florida 8 - Palm Beach 1 (7 Innings)

• Magneuris Sierra (CF): 0-4, K
  

• Randy Arozarena (LF): 1-4, R, K

• Casey Turgeon (2B): 0-3
  

• Chris Chinea (1B): 1-1, 2B, 2 BB

• Danny Diekroeger (DH): 2-3, 2B, RBI
  

• Edmundo Sosa (SS): 0-3
  

• Jeremy Martinez (C): 0-3, K
  

• Junior Fernandez (SP): 5.1 IP, 5 H, 5 R, 2 BB, 3 K, 1 HR
  

Class A Advanced: Florida 5 - Palm Beach 0 (7 Innings)

• Magneuris Sierra (DH): 0-3, 2 K
  

• Randy Arozarena (LF): 1-3
  

• Chris Chinea (1B): 0-3, K
  

• Edmundo Sosa (SS): 0-3, K
  

• Darren Seferina (2B): 0-3, 2 K
  

• Zac Gallen (SP): 6 IP, 5 H, 4 R, 3 ER, 0 BB, 7 K

For whatever reason the Fire Frogs have had Palm Beach's number this year. Florida is 12-15 this year, but have already delivered some tremendous beatings to the Cardinals, including yesterday's 13-1 cumulative score over 14 innings. Palm Beach only had 11 base runners and two extra base hits during the double-header...It's important not to fall into the trap of scouting stat lines. Results can be important, but without the context of what a player may be working on, and first hand accounts of what a guy's stuff looked like, the box score doesn't really give you a complete picture, especially in the low minors. That is good, because Junior Fernandez' stat line has not been much to look at. On the other hand Zac Gallen is now sporting a 30.8:5.1 K%:BB%. 16 of the 18 outs recorded last night came via groundout or strikeout.

Class A: Lansing 9 - Peoria 7

• Tommy Edman (SS): 1-4, R, BB, K, SB

• Andy Young (3B): 2-3, 2 R, HR, RBI, BB
  

• Brian O'Keefe (C): 0-5, K
  

• J.R. Davis (2B): 2-3, R, HR, 3 RBI
  

• Bryce Denton (RF) 0-4

• Dylan Carlson (CF): 0-4
  

• Ronnie Williams (SP): 2.2, 8 H, 8 R, 1 BB, 7 K, 1 HR

So far so good for Tommy Edman, he's doing exactly what he did last year. Walking a lot, not striking out, creating a ton of XBH with his speed, swiping the occasional base and even putting one over the wall every once in a while. He only has 20 games above rookie ball, which isn't nearly enough to get worked up about unless you're the Padres, and he has Edmundo Sosa parked in front of him in Palm Beach. So he's probably not going anywhere for a while, but hopefully he keeps this up and forces the organizations hand at some point....Denton and Carlson went a combined 0-8, but hey, no strikeouts...Lotta strikouts, not many walks, and a lot of hits and runs. So it goes for the unrefined, high-ceiling A ball pitching prospect.

Pitching Probables

MEM - Daniel Poncedeleon

SPR - Matt Pearce

PB - Derian Gonzalez

PEO - Ian Oxnevad