By Kary Booher (for O-Zone)
Know this about the 2017 Springfield Cardinals – this is arguably the most exciting Opening Day roster in years.
Here’s the quick breakdown:
$2.5 million – That’s the signing bonus the St. Louis Cardinals handed one player on this roster, Cuban outfielder Adolis Garcia.
5 – The number of farmhands not named Garcia who are rated among Baseball America’s Top 30 St. Louis Cardinals prospects.
104 – The number of players who have appeared on Springfield’s official roster and gone on to play in the big leagues in the past dozen years.
All of which is quite the backdrop as the curtain rises on the home-opener of the Double-A Texas League affiliate Thursday night at Hammons Field, with first pitch set for 7:10 p.m (Televised on KYCW). By the way, the club is off to an encouraging start, having won its first two, three-game series.
OF Adolis Garcia
The recent wave from Cuba piques everybody’s interest – think World Series closer Aroldis Chapman – and the Cardinals tapped into the market by signing the 24-year-old to a minor league contract this past offseason. MLB.com reported his signing bonus was $2.5 million. Baseball America, the industry’s top trade publication, noted he has 60 speed on the 20-80 scouting scale. But from all reports, the big question is whether Garcia can show enough discipline at the plate and not chase pitches out of the zone. In Japan last summer, he got released after striking out 37 times in 117 plate appearances, with a meager .396 slugging percentage and .274 on-base percentage.
RHP Sandy Alcantara
This dude has been leaving vapor trails in recent years and zoomed to a No. 6 ranking among Baseball America’s Top 30 St. Louis Cardinals prospects this year. In fact, he’s starting the home-opener — just two years removed from reportedly hitting 102 mph on the radar gun. However, like Carlos Martinez and top prospect Alex Reyes before him – to liken Alcantara to two other flamethrowers who have stormed through Springfield – enhancing secondary pitches will determine whether Alcantara remains on a starter’s track. A year ago in Class A ball, he struck out 153 batters in 122.2 innings, and walked only 59.
RHP Dakota Hudson
He’s St. Louis’ No. 1 draft pick of 2016 and actually zipped up to Hammons Field last year, making his Double-A debut in the Texas League playoffs, and landed at No. 9 on BA’s St. Louis prospect rankings. He’s intriguing because the Cardinals have historically enjoyed success with college arms-turned-top draft picks. Case in point — Michael Wacha, Marco Gonzales and Luke Weaver. But can Hudson and his four-pitch mix pass the Texas League test? The Tennessee native and Mississippi State product is off to a good start, as he debuted with 5.2 innings, allowing 2 earned runs and striking out 7.
2B Eliezer Alvarez
If you remember the 2011 and 2012 seasons, the Cardinals jumped Matt Adams, Kolten Wong, Oscar Taveras and Trevor Rosenthal over the high Class A Florida State League and challenged them here in Double-A. Same story with Alvarez, rated No. 10 among Baseball America’s Top 30 Cardinals prospects. He seems like a scary talent, given he did almost nothing in four season in the lowest levels of the minor leagues but had an outstanding 2016 season in the low Class A Midwest League. There, his 36 steals led the circuit, and he hit .323 with an impressive on-base percentage (.404) and 36 doubles.
RHP Jack Flaherty
They say high school pitchers are the biggest risks atop each draft and that said arms require as much patience as seasoning. For St. Louis, theirs is paying off as Flaherty has reached Double-A this year some three years after being a top draft pick out of a Los Angeles high school. He’s also rated No. 11 among BA’s Cardinals prospects. A year ago in the high Class A Florida State League, he struck out 126 in 134 innings and walked 45 – the numbers that matter far more than his 5-9 record.
LHP Austin Gomber
He’s rated No. 15 among BA’s Top 30 St. Louis Cardinals prospects and reached Springfield late last season, then got invited to the prestigious Arizona Fall League, which bills itself as a prospect finishing school. Lefties, of course, have a much longer shelf life, so expect the Cardinals to see how much mileage they can get out of Gomber in Springfield’s starting rotation. He’s a 2014 third-round draft pick out of Florida Atlantic.
A couple of sleepers: Keep tabs on outfielders Oscar Mercado and Blake Drake. Mercado was the 57th overall selection of the 2013 draft and has since moved from shortstop the outfield. Drake’s nothing flashy, on paper anyway, given he was an 18th-round draft pick out of little-known Concordia (Ore.), but he’s got an arm and athleticism. Can he connect with the bat?
The veterans: The 2012 club that won the Texas League pennant did so thanks to clubhouse leadership, and that role falls now former college standouts with great seasoning in the high minor leagues — former Kansas State outfielder Nick Martini, former Memphis infielder Jacob Wilson, former Arizona shortstop Alex Mejia (College World Series champion) and Spartanburg (S.C.) Methodist College infielder Bruce Caldwell.
Other names to know: Reliever Blake McKnight pitched at Evangel University in Springfield and reached Double-A last season, and infielder Dickie Joe Thon is the son of the former Houston Astros infielder by the same name.
The staff: The club is managed by Johnny Rodriguez, who has managed Cardinals’ Class A clubs since 2010 and entered the year with a 451-368 (.538) record. He’s had three clubs win league pennants, and his son is Sean Rodriguez, a big-leaguer with the Rays and Pirates. The pitching coach is former big-leaguer Jason Simontacchi, and new to Springfield is hitting coach Jobel Jimenez, now in his 11th season in the Cardinals farm.
