Counselor Bo’s Cardinals Farm Précis

Some information is better shared.

Personally, I’m not the biggest minor league wonk. If a guy is having a great season for one of the Cardinals farm teams, I’m mildly happy when informed and then I immediately forget about it until they’re called up to the show.

Maybe you’re different?

I’m on a pretty great WhatsApp thread. And earlier today Counselor Bo dropped some real good knowledge that other people on the thread thought should be shared here. So it’s being shared here.

If it turns out you like his information, I’m sure he’ll write more.

If not?

We’ll delete this post and forget it ever happened. Have him stick to the messaging apps.

(The words below are all Counselor Bo’s, but have been lightly edited for capitalization, minor grammar tweaks, bolding and punctuation.)

Counselor Bo’s Cardinals Farm Précis

Relief pitching in the pipeline.

Relievers are unique in how they are developed and how they end up in the pen. A lot of relievers in the bigs were starters for most, if not all, of their minor league careers. Rosenthal and Siegrist were starters. Brett Cecil made 86 minors appearances, 79 were starts.

So it’s sometimes hard to pinpoint pure relievers coming thru the system. But the Cardinals are seeking immediate help, so we can look to Memphis for some options.

THE BAD

The Cards sent three relievers to the Arizona fall league last year. Corey Littrell, Rowan Wick, and Ryan Sheriff. Chris Ellis, who came over in the Jaime Garcia trade was also sent by Atlanta but he remains a starter, for now.

None of them performed well.

Corey Littrell is interesting. He was certainly the best of this bumbling bunch. He came over in the Allen Craig/Joe Kelly trade with Boston. Side note: he is a third generation pro ball player. He was going to likely crack the MLB roster at some point this season, but he failed a drug test in the off-season, his 2nd, and is now serving a 50 game suspension. All bets are off on him now.

Rowan Wick’s story is interesting. It’s similar to that of Jason Motte. Came up as a catcher. Hit well early, then really faded. Bigly. But his cannon arm ultimately caused the cards to try and reinvent him as a reliever. Results have been mixed at best. And he hasn’t been good at all this year in Memphis.

Ryan Sheriff has been even worse this year than Wick. Although he had a good spring so hopefully he can rebound.

THE GOOD

Sam Tuivailala has been up and down from Memphis already this season. He’s been great this year in Memphis and been solid in 4 big league appearances. Oddly, he is also a converted reliever from his originally drafted position as a SS. He has had command issues but he throws hard and has the stuff to close games, if he can put it all together. The Cards continue to wait for that to happen. Small sample, but so far so good this season.

John Gant, who we also acquired in the Jaime trade, is probably our best bullpen call-up option and a guy the cards like. He had a fantastic spring and might’ve made the opening day roster if he hadn’t hurt his groin in late march. He is getting close to returning and would likely be the first guy we turn to when the need arises. If he gets the call-up, look for him to stick in the big league pen.

Another guy to really watch is Mark Montgomery. He was an 11th round pick of the New York Yankees. The dude has a career minor league ERA of 2.57. He has thrown 300 minor league innings with 397 Ks. Yanks thought he had control issues despite a solid 1.12 WHIP. They released him in the off-season and the cards nabbed him. He has been outstanding in Memphis to start the year. 2.51 ERA. 14.1 IP. 21 Ks. 3 BBs. He really should get his first big league call at some point this season once the grind starts to wear on the cards pen. And I think he is even cause for a little bit of excitement.

Arturo Reyes is potentially another candidate for a call-up, albeit a long shot. He is a former teammate of Marco Gonzales at Gonzaga. He has been great so far in Memphis, but he doesn’t really have an out pitch. No real weapon he could utilize coming out of the pen. He profiles more in a hybrid/long relief role, similar to Tyler Lyons, but not as good. Also his last two outings have been starts, which may signal the cards intentions with him.

A real long shot would be for the cards to call up 21-year-old Sandy Alcantara straight from AA ball. This almost certainly won’t happen. The kid is not ready. In fact, he hasn’t even been that good this year. People are really high on him and want him to be the next tsunami or Alex Reyes. There’s good reason for that and I’m hopeful, but only Luke warm at this point. He has stalled a bit. He’s got a long way to go and still has a lot of questions to answer.

There are other guys that could likely or potentially profile as relievers but it won’t be this year. Connor Jones could rise quickly thru the system. Prob ends up in the pen. Zac Gallen will get every chance to start. Dakota Hudson is a name to keep an eye on. He will rise quickly. But his 4 pitch mix definitely profiles as a starter.

Photo: Loudon County Fence