Niko Vasquez (Photo by Bill Mitchell)

St. Louis Cardinals Director of Minor League Operations, John Vuch, sent this along from day one of the teams’ minor league exhibition schedule. These are just the highlights with my commentary in parenthesis.

Memphis/Springfield

Pitchers

Blake Hawksworth 4 IP, 3 hits, 2 runs, 0 BB, 2 K’s (I would really love to see “Hawks put it together)

Royce Ring one perfect inning, 1 K (Good to see, he will provide quality depth at Memphis)

Brad Furnish 2 hitless innings, one walk, one K

Ian Ostlund 2 scoreless innings, 1 hit, one K (still my sleeper to be a solid contributor)

Russ Haltiwanger one perfect inning (team’s lone Rule 5 selection)

Chuckie Fick 1 IP, 1 hit, 1 run, 2 BB (solid pitcher who is really overlooked)

Hitters

Jarrett Hoffpauir 2-for-2, 2 RBIs (Just keeps getting on base)

Antonio DeJesus 2-for-5 with a triple (Highly athletic yet overlooked prospect)

Brett Wallace 2-for-5 with an RBI (Batman just keeps on hitting)

Brandon Buckman doubled (Solid defender who I still really like)

Amaury Cazana was 1-for-3 with an RBI (FR folk hero gets his first of 2000 hits for 2009)

Tyler Henley, Bryan Anderson, Casey Rowlett, Mike Folli and David Freese also had hits

Palm Beach

Pitchers

PJ Walters 4 IP, 4 hits, 1 R, 0 BB, 3 K’s (His he the sixth starter?)

Luke Gregerson 1 IP, 2 hits, 1 R (Another talented RH reliever. Is he the PTBNL in the Greene trade?)

Lance Lynn 2 IP, 1 hit, 0 runs, 1 K (Look for a big year out of the 2008 supplemental pick)

Nick Additon 2 IP, 5 hits, 1 run, 1 K (With Garcia out, is he the top left-handed starter in the system?)

Mark Diapoules 2 IP, 2 hits, 1 run 1 BB (I am still not sure about this RHP)

Hitters

Curt Smith hit a two-run HR (Appy Player of the Year fresh off his WBC appearance)

Oliver Marmol and Charlie Kingrey doubled (Marmol is all glove and Kingrey is completely overlooked)

Pete Kozma one single in one at bat (Good to see future SS(?) get his first hit)

Jonathan Edwards was 1-for-3 (Great size to go along with great power)

Quad Cities #1 – 10, Quad Cities #2 – 0

Pitchers

QC#1 combined for a 2-hit shutout.  Hector Cardenas, George Brown and Ramon Delgado each threw two hitless innings, while Adam Veres allowed two hits in his two scoreless innings.

QC #1 hitters

Alex Castellanos was 3-for-5 with two doubles a run scored and an RBI (One of my personal faves)

Niko Vasquez was 2-for-2 with two walks, two runs scored and an RBI (Another fave who is primed for a big year)

Ryde Rodriguez was 2-for-4 with a double, run scored and two RBIs. (The first of the Cardinals big international signings is a tool-shed)

Beau Riportella and Osvaldo Morales each doubled. (Riportella really struggled in his first full pro season and Morales is just a professional hitter.)

QC #2 pitchers

Eric Fornataro 2 IP, 2 ER

Anthony Ferrara 2 IP, 2 ER, with 4 K’s (The team will bring him along slowly but he could become one of the top arms in the system)

Kevin Thomas 1.2 IP, 3 R, 2 ER

Dan Richardson one scoreless IP

Jorge Rondon 1 IP, 2 R, 1 ER

QC #2 hitters

Brett Lilley 1-for-3 with a walk

Yunior Castillo 1-for-2 with a walk (There’s a lot of buzz about this sure handed SS)
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Dustin Mattison

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