Arizona Fall Stars: Cardinals prospect Sam Tuivailala pitches final inning for AFL West

facebooktwitterreddit

St. Louis Cardinals reliever Sam Tuivailala pitched the final inning of the night for the AFL West in the Arizona Fall Stars game on Saturday night.

More from St Louis Cardinals News

Representing the Peoria Javelinas, the Cardinals reliever pitched during the bottom of the eighth inning for the AFL West team. He allowed one run on two hits and walked a player. His sole run allowed came as a result of a single off the bat of Roman Quinn. Quinn drove in Josh Bell as he expanded on the AFL East’s lead for what became a 6-2 victory.

In eight appearances for the Javelinas, Tuivailala posts a 0.90 ERA and 10 strikeouts in just 10 innings pitched.

The pitcher made two appearances this year for the Cardinals as Jim Callis writes on MLB.com. Drafted during the third round of the 2010 MLB Draft, it’s been a long road of ups and downs. Originally a shortstop from California, he converted to a pitcher full-time in 2012.

Following his conversion in 2012, he was still trying to find himself as a pitcher after finishing the 2013 season with a 5.35 ERA in 35.1 innings for the Peoria Chiefs.

This season, split across three levels of the minor league organization, he improved with a 3.15 ERA in an even 60 innings.

MLB Pipeline currently ranks the pitcher as the 13th best prospect in the Cardinals organization. WitH Jason Motte a free agent and Pat Neshek unlikely to be resigned by the Cardinals, it is very probably that Tuivailala will start next season in the Cardinals bullpen, if not close behind with the Memphis Redbirds.