JUPITER, Fla. — While the major leaguers are away, the minor leaguers still play.
On the backlots of Roger Dean Stadium today the St. Louis Cardinals’ top four affiliates played what are called “camp games.” Another aftershock of the Los Angeles Dodgers’ migration to Arizona has been more “camp days” this spring, when the Cardinals’ minor-leaguers pair off and play what amount to scrimmages against each other. Not having the Dodgers around means there are only three minor-league camps within a short bus ride of each other, and that means every three days one organization goes without an opponent. Today it was the Cardinals.
But that does allow the crowd to get two-for-one when it comes to seeing in-house prospects.
The news on the backlots this morning were the starts of pitchers Clayton Mortensen and Mitchell Boggs. Both righthanders were bothered by stiffness or discomfort earlier this spring. And they each had their shots at making an impression on the major-league staff derailed by time off to recover. They pitched well this morning. Boggs pitched a few innings against the Memphis lineup (which featured Nick Stavinoha at first base and an outfield that included Shane Robinson and Jon Jay), and Mortensen pitched a few innings for Memphis. Both will be in Memphis when the season opens.
The Cardinals Triple-A rotation is set, barring injury:
- Boggs
- Mortensen
- Jess Todd
- Blake Hawksworth
- and, recently reassigned righthander, P.J. Walters
The question confronting the Cardinals isn’t who makes up the Triple-A staff, but who in the Triple-A staff is first up when/if there is a need for a starter. There does not appear to be a surefire, unanimous answer — or if there is, every answer comes with a caveat. The Cardinals like what Boggs, the closest to the majors on the depth chart, did last year in the big-league level and he also led the Pacific Coast League in ERA. But the righthander needs to have more command of his breaking ball to be able to make repeated and lengthy starts at the major-league level. Mortensen and Todd both have dynamic pitches, but there is a growing sense within the organization that they’ll first arrive in the majors as relievers.
Walters impressed during his spring turn with the major-league camp. He pitched three scoreless innings Monday before being reassigned to the minors. But it’s important always to know the difference between “impressed” and “is on the verge of the majors”. Don’t confuse the two. Walters drew compliments from the major-league staff for what he showed and how he can get people out. But they are projecting him, too. Does he have the ability to pitch in the majors with the stuff he has? Sure. For a few innings. Maybe for a few appearances. Is he ready to start in the majors? No. There’s more work to be done.
That’s the vibe from the major-league staff. A player can impress without being fit for a new address.
Similarly with Hawksworth, whose performance this spring was good enough to earn him a start and put him back on the depth chart for the major-league coaches. Pitching coach Dave Duncan said as much earlier this spring when he mentioned that last year he’d pass by any suggestions of Hawksworth. This year he’ll eye the performance of the righthander and how he does at the Triple-A level.
All that means is the Cardinals aren’t ready to designate today one of these five as their No. 6.
They don’t have to.
The way the depth chart shapes up right now, if the Cardinals have a need for a spot starter in the majors, Brad Thompson would likely get that assignment. He’d be pulled from his role as long reliever. If the Cardinals need a pitcher for several starts or — worst-case scenario — to fill a spot in the rotation, the temptation would be to go with Kyle McClellan if possible. In some circles, Boggs is seen as the 1a, especially if McClellan’s role in the bullpen is deemed too valuable to remove him.
Last year allowed the Cardinals to test the depth of their starting pitchers, and this spring has at least positioned a few of the Class AAA starters for consideration … if the need comes up.
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Derrick Goold said he was going to Mizzou for capital-J journalism, but after growing up in the Time Zone Baseball Forgot he was really drawn to MU sitting between two major-league cities. Goold joined the Post-Dispatch in 2001 after working for The Times-Picayune and Rocky Mountain News, covering sports from LSU to NHL and every level of baseball in between. 
carioca,, as far as pj , he was told by larussa, mo & a couple of the big league starting pitchers to keep working hard & he had a great spring & stay close you could be back real soon..what that means is anybodys guess..but to answer your question he wasnt told he had to improve anything to get to the bigs, he was told his pitches were good..
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J Lunhow said in the Birdland Q&A that Walters’ fastball was up to 88-91 mph. Please confirm.
I guess that means Ottavino starts in Springfield.
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The question needs to be asked whether or not the Cardinals have told Walters (and the others) what they need to work on. There have been reports in the past that they have not always done this with players.
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Its a bummer that they arent going to let one of the young guys have the 5th spot. I really have never been a fan of Pineiro and I have personally seen all of the mentioned pitchers pitch. Although Pineiro has the stamina to go into the seventh inning, Walters and especially Todd have pitches that make batters look pretty dumb. I saw P.J strike out 8 batters in 5 innings with a plus fastball and his famous changeup that looked pretty sick. Im a little confused on the outfielder situation though…..why do you convert outfielders to infielders (Mather and Schumaker) when you have young guys who have been stuck in the minors waiting for a break only to get passed over by a player who has never played that position? I mean really give Freese, Craig and Hoffpauir a chance. i love the other guys but let the outfielders stick to what they do…..i really dont want to see schumaker screw up another routine groundball.
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Nice writeup, DG. I’m optimistic about the chances of Todd & Walters to help in The Show this year–either in the rotation or out of the pen. One question, though. The Cardinals “like what Boggs did last year in the big league level?”
Is this the same Boggs who had a 6.00 as a reliever, with zero strikeouts against 13 batters? Or is it the Boggs who had a 7.55 ERA as a starter, with 21 walks and just 13 strikeouts against 151 batters? What’s to like?
Well, at least they finally got rid of Kelvin Jimenez….
Worst-case scenario for 2009? A repeat of last year, when Parisi, Mulder, and the aforementioned Boggs combined for 9 starts, 38 innings, and 39 earned runs. Ouch.
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Boggs is a tough nut to crack. His fastball is certainly big league quality. If he had better command of it then with his movement and velocity he might be able to get away with throwing it 80-90% of the time ala Fausto Carmona or Brandon Webb. Furthermore, he is certainly durable and that is a skill that cannot be taught.
From your observations at ST does it look like Boggs has made progress with his secondary stuff?
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Just wait until next year when we have too many starters. . .
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