Major League Baseball teams typically generate significant interest in which minor-league player they are about to bring up to the big leagues, but the St. Louis Cardinals had similar intrigue related to which player they sent down to the minor leagues Friday.

So goes life as the best team in the game.

Right-handed starter Jake Westbrook returned from the disabled list Friday to go five innings while allowing three earned runs to the Miami Marlins in a 5-4 loss, but his return forced the Cardinals to send one of their rookie starters back to the Triple-A Memphis Redbirds.

Left-handed starter Tyler Lyons and right-handed starter Michael Wacha were the two pitchers on the bubble, along with right-handed reliever Keith Butler, and the Cardinals decided to send the Wacha back to Memphis while the Lyons remained with the team and will start Sunday against the Marlins.

The move was somewhat surprising since Cardinals management had previously said the 21-year-old phenom would not be a player they wanted to shuffle between Memphis and St. Louis and that he would be in the big leagues for good once he first came up.

Wacha even proclaimed, “I’m here to stay,” when he first arrived at Busch Stadium after the Cardinals called him up to start May 30 against the Kansas City Royals.

But reality intersected everybody’s dreams. The Cardinals brought Wacha to the majors before they really wanted to after starters Westbrook, Jaime Garcia and John Gast all suffered injuries in May, and he then didn’t excel as much as people expected/hoped.

Wacha pitched great in his first start, striking out six while allowing one run on two hits in seven innings against the Royals, but in every other start he looked more similar to a 21-year-old rookie who was barely a full year removed from college.

He gave up six runs on 10 hits in 4.2 innings June 4 to the Arizona Diamondbacks and allowed two runs in the first inning Wednesday against the New York Mets before settling in for six innings to get his first career victory as the Cardinals won 9-2.

Lyons, meanwhile, won his first two career starts, giving up one run in each, and then lost his next two as he allowed four runs each to two 2012 playoff teams, the San Francisco Giants and Cincinnati Reds.

However, Lyons doesn’t career the immense Wacha-type expectations with him. Lyons throws in the low-90s rather than Wacha’s 97 mph fastball, and he doesn’t have Wacha’s devastating change-up. Lyons was drafted in the ninth round of the 2010 MLB draft while the Cardinals took Wacha 19^th overall in the 2012 draft.

All of that means Wacha is a prized prospect, and Lyons is just another pitcher the team hopes will contribute solid innings for years, rather than a top-of-the-rotation ace.

So the top-rated prospect went back to the minors to continue to develop. The Cardinals have a lot of pitching depth, but no team can afford to mess up the development of its first-round picks, and Wacha ran into some obstacles in two of his three starts.

Perhaps those experiences will benefit him in the long run. He now knows what to expect at the big-league level, but the Cardinals have also seen the ugly side of rushing prospects to the majors as much as any team when Rick Ankiel exploded with five wild pitches against the Atlanta Braves in the 2000 playoffs as a 20-year-old.

Ankiel, of course, ran into numerous other issues that ultimately derailed his pitching career, but he remains the prime example of what can happen when rushing a player to the big leagues goes bad.

The Cardinals also have plenty of cushion right now. They have the best record in baseball and plenty of other lesser prospects that can fill temporary voids.

Lyons could certainly develop into a solid pitcher who has a long career with the Cardinals, but the team has pinned its long-term hopes to Wacha.

Although Wacha wasn’t “here to stay,” he will be soon enough.

The restraint the Cardinals show in pushing Wacha now will pay off in the future, and that’s why he was the correct choice to send to the minors to open a spot for Westbrook.

The St. Louis Cardinals have established the best record in Major League Baseball through nearly one-third of the regular season and have thrived despite a series of injury obstacles that forced the team to mix and match its pitching staff together.

But the steady stream of players headed back and forth to the Triple-A Memphis Redbirds should soon subside when right-handed starter Jake Westbrook makes his return to the team Friday against the Miami Marlins.

Westbrook was one of the players who helped start a wild month of roster movement when he went on the disabled list May 12 with right elbow inflammation. He was 2-1 with a 1.62 earned-run average at the time and part of the best starting rotation in the game.

His injury created an opening for rookie left-handed pitcher John Gast to make his big-league debut, and the left-handed starter Jaime Garcia suffered a shoulder injury later that week, which created a spot for another left-handed rookie, Tyler Lyons.

Gast and Lyons were part of a large group of minor-league pitchers the Cardinals called up in May and early June as the team tried to fill in a bunch of spots just to have a full set of pitchers on its roster.

The Cardinals sent Mitchell Boggs and Marc Rzepczynski to the minors at the end of April because they pitched terribly, and Fernando Salas went down with an injury May 22. Those moves created opportunities for Seth Maness and Carlos Martinez to work out of the bullpen.

After various other issues, including an injury to Gast and another failed outing from Boggs, Keith Butler, Michael Wacha, Victor Marte, Mikael Cleto and Kevin Siegrist all found themselves on the Cardinals’ active roster. Michael Blazek even spent a few days in the bullpen but never entered a game before the team sent him back to Memphis.

That’s quite a bit of movement. The Cardinals have already had 21 different pitchers make an appearance this season, including nine rookies. Both numbers are the most in baseball.

The Cardinals have gotten great production from the young pitchers they’ve called up this season, but the team has still been at least one good pitcher short the whole time.

Marte and Cleto combined for a 12.65 ERA in their five appearances, but they had to fill innings because the team didn’t have any other options. Joe Kelly, who has spent the season in the bullpen, also had to make a start June 5 against the Arizona Diamondbacks because the team was out of starters after rain created a doubleheader June 1 against the San Francisco Giants.

So now Westbrook, the man who helped start all of that movement, will return, and that should slow the incredible turnover the pitcher staff has experienced in the first two-and-a-half months of the season.

Westbrook pitched well Sunday for the Single-A Peoria Chiefs. He allowed one run on four hits while inducing 14 groundballs through seven innings.

Now, although there is pressure involved in returning to his spot in the rotation, Westbrook doesn’t have to worry about coming back and trying to lift a team that faltered in his absence. More than anything, he just needs to pitch as he had to begin the season and in Sunday’s rehab start. The other parts of the team will likely take care of the rest.

With the best-hitting lineup in the National League and a defense that has committed the fewest errors in the game, a more complete starting rotation should keep the Cardinals on the incredible pace they’ve set while dealing with all of the pitching issues.

The best team in baseball might soon be even better.

November 30^th, 2012

Springfield, MO – The Springfield Cardinals have been named by Baseball America as the Minor League Team of the Year in 2012.

Springfield captured their first Texas League Crown by defeating the Tulsa Drillers in the North Division Finals in five games before besting the Frisco RoughRiders in four games.

The St. Louis Cardinals Double-A Affiliate was littered with talent including seven of the Top 30 prospects according Baseball America and Texas League Player of the Year, Oscar Taveras. The 20-year-old outfielder was the first Springfield player to lead the league in batting average (.321), doubles (37), extra-base hits (67) and total bases (273) while finishing in the top five in home runs (23), RBI (93), runs scored (83), triples (7) and slugging percentage (.572).

The Cardinals boasted five Post-Season All-Stars including Taveras, second baseman Kolten Wong, and pitchers Trevor Rosenthal, Keith Butler and Seth Maness.

“We are honored to be named the 2012 Team of the Year by Baseball America,” Vice President and General Manager Matt Gifford said. “This is a tremendous honor for arguably one of the best teams in Springfield Cardinals history. It’s a tribute to player development and the coaching staff for putting together a great club and to the players for their hard work throughout a long season.”

First year Double-A Manager Mike Shildt guided the Cardinals to a 35-35 record in the first half before the team hit their stride in the second half, winning the North Division Second Half crown with a 42-26 record. Overall, Springfield finished a franchise best 77-61, the best record in the North and third best record in the league. For Shildt, the 2012 title was his third straight after capturing back to back Appalachian League titles in 2010 and 2011 with Johnson City.

Springfield will open up the 2013 season on the road in Corpus Christi April 4^th before returning home to Hammons Field April 11^th for a six-game homestand against the Hooks and San Antonio Missions.  Season Ticket Packages are on sale now. Please call (417) 863-0395 or visit www.springfieldcardinals.com for more details on how you can become a season ticket holder.

Springfield, MO - The St. Louis Cardinals have announced the Springfield Cardinals roster for the upcoming season.

New Manager Mike Shildt and returning Hitting Coach Phillip Wellman and Pitching Coach Bryan Eversgerd will be well stocked heading into the 2012 season.

Returning to the roster are 15 players who appeared in a Springfield uniform last year, including Texas League All-Star Pitchers Michael Blazek and Scott Gorgen.  Blazek led the Cardinals with 11 wins and finished second in the Texas League in strikeouts (128).  Gorgen, coming off of Tommy John Surgery that made his miss the 2011 season, was 5-1 with a 1.26 ERA for Springfield in 2010.

The starting staff will feature Gorgen, #17 prospect John Gast (9-8, 4.02 ERA), #11 Prospect Trevor Rosenthal (7-7, 4.11 ERA), Michael Blazek (11-6, 5.45 ERA) and lefty Tyler Lyons (9-4, 4.50 ERA Several other familiar names from the mound will be at Hammons Field in 2012 as starter John Gast and relievers Sam Freeman, Deryk Hooker Jorge Rondon, Scott Schneider, Jesse Simpson and Kevin Thomas return to Springfield.  New to Springfield bullpen are right handers Keith Butler (1-1, 1.23 ERA with Quad Cities and Palm Beach) and Eric Fornataro (7-13, 3.67 ERA with Palm Beach as a starter) and lefty Justin Wright (5-1, 1.26 ERA with Quad Cities and 0-0, 0.57 ERA with Palm Beach).

Leading the infield at second base is newcomer Kolten Wong, a 2011 1^st round pick out of the University of Hawaii and the 5^th best prospect in the organization.  Xavier Scruggs returns to Springfield after slugging 21 homers in Palm Beach and Jose Garcia (.318 and 19 steals) will be Wong’s double play partner.  Niko Vasquez also makes his return to the hot corner.  Fellow University of Hawaii product Greg Garcia will make if Double-A debut this year.

Number three Prospect Oscar Taveras will patrol the Hammons Field outfield after skipping Palm Beach entirely to make his Texas League debut in 2012.  Taveras batted .386 with eight homeruns and 62 RBI in only 78 games for Quad Cities last season.  Tommy Pham returns to Springfield after an injury plagued 2011 season and will be joined by newcomers Adam Melker, Raniel Rosario and Jake Shaffer, who was signed by the Cardinals out of the Mariners organization on March 31^st.

The team arrived on Sunday and hosted the defending world champion St. Louis Cardinals Monday in a 3-2 defeat. They start the season against the Frisco RoughRiders tonight and 7:08pm! Scott Gorgen is scheduled to pitch for the Cardinals against Justin Grimm of the RoughRiders. All games in 2012 can be heard live on JOCK 98.7 FM as well as online at springfieldcardinals.com with play-by-play voice Jeff Levering.

Opening Night will feature 5,000 fans receiving a Great Southern 2012 Magnet Schedule/Picture Frames, the first of nine “Buck a Brat” $1 Johnson Bratwurst nights and everyone will enjoy a post-game Fireworks Spectacular thanks to AM Pyrotechnics.  Tickets are available by visiting the Hammons Field Ticket Office, online at www.springfieldcardinals.com or by calling (417) 863-2143.

Escape to Cardinals Baseball!

April 2^nd, 2012

Springfield, MO – The defending World Series Champion St. Louis Cardinals returned to the state of Missouri for the first time since their seven game series win against the Texas Rangers.  But it wasn’t at Busch Stadium; Hammons Field in Springfield was the spot and fans came out in full force to show their support for the champs.

The crowd of 10,079, the third largest in Hammons Field history and biggest since 2006, were starved for offense early as both starting pitchers, Tyler Lyons for Springfield and Trevor Rosenthal who are scheduled to both be in the Springfield rotation, each threw four scoreless innings.  Lyons matched Rosenthal’s four strikeouts and allowed just one hit.  Rosenthal threw four perfect innings.

After a scoreless inning from Sam Freeman out of the Springfield bullpen, St. Louis plated two runs against reliever Eric Fornataro.  Vance Albitz led off with a single and moved to third on a single by Matt Carpenter.  With runners at second and third, Tony Cruz grounded out to second scoring Albitz and Erik Komatsu followed with an RBI sacrifice fly to give the “Big Birds” a 2-0 lead.

St. Louis added another run in the 7^th off of Keith Butler when Palm Beach shortstop Ronny Gil hit a long home run to right to make it 3-0.

Springfield, who had just two hits both off of Kyle McClellan in the 5^th, got lead-off batter Kolten Wong on base thanks to a walk.  He would come around and score on an RBI triple by top prospect Oscar Taveras.  An RBI ground out by Xavier Scruggs put Springfield within just a run.

The 2^nd best prospect in the organization, Carlos Martinez who will begin the season in Palm Beach, pitched four sharp innings for St. Louis to earn the save.

Springfield received scoreless frames from Nick Greenwood and Jorge Rondon out of the bullpen.

As for the Cardinals Superstars, David Freese and Matt Holliday each played four innings.  Holliday was 0-for-1 with a walk and Freese was 0-for-2, but reached on an error.

Springfield will open the 2012 regular season schedule Thursday, April 5^th, as they take on the Frisco RoughRiders at Hammons Field.  5,000 fans will receive a Great Southern 2012 Magnet Schedule/Picture Frames. It’ll be the first of nine “Buck a Brat” $1 Johnson Bratwurst nights and everyone will enjoy a post-game Fireworks Spectacular thanks to AM Pyrotechnics.  Game time on Thursday is 7:08pm and tickets are available by visiting the Hammons Field Ticket Office, online atspringfieldcardinals.com or by calling (417) 863-2143.

Escape to Cardinals Baseball!