St. Louis Cardinals: Arizona Fall League Recap Week 3

Welcome to the week three of our St. Louis Cardinals’ Arizona Fall League Recap. Another week has gone by and we are now into November. The baseball season that we all know and love is officially over. However, as the late great Yogi Berra once said “It ain’t over ’til it’s over”, and we are lucky that there is still the Arizona Fall League as well as the different leagues in Latin America (we will get to these leagues later).

We are now entering the fourth week of the Arizona Fall League season, so let’s look at the results from week three. If you have missed the previous two recaps, you can check out week one here and week two here. Let’s take a look at how week 3 went down for the Cardinals’ prospects. 


Pitchers

Alex Reyes – Reyes posted another four inning outing, totaling 80 pitches, while striking out three and walking three, and allowing no runs on four hits. Reyes struggled with command and control yet again, as evidenced by the three walks and 80 pitches through just four innings. 

Right now, this is not affecting the outcome of his outings too much as he has only allowed one run in the 11.2 innings pitched so far. However, as I stated last week, this has got to improve. The good thing is he is not needed on the big club and won’t be for some time, even more so now that the Cardinals have decided to pick up Jaime Garcia’s option as expected.

Luke Weaver – Weaver had a so so week out of the bullpen. He did manage t0 appear in two of the team’s games (Monday and Saturday). In his first outing, Weaver didn’t allow a run or a single base runner, while he struck out four batters in two and a third innings. In his second outing, Weaver allowed two runs on a home run to Daniel Palka (the power hitting DH from the Arizona Diamondbacks organization).

Dean Kiekhefer – Like Weaver, Kiekhefer had a so so week from the pen. In his two appearances, Kiekhefer totaled 3.1 innings pitched and allowed three runs on five hits, no walks, and three strikeouts. The three runs and five hits all came in his first outing on Wednesday. On that night, he allowed a three run home run to the Cubs’ center field prospect Mark Zagunis in the ninth inning (not good that he’s already allowing homers to Cubs’ players).

In his next outing, Kiekhefer was flawless, going two innings and not allowing a single base runner, striking out two. So, we have a continued Jekyll/Hyde performance from Kiekhefer, who as I mentioned before has a chance to become the new left-handed specialist, with the expected departure of Randy Choate.

Robby Rowland – Rowland has apparently gotten lost in the shuffle of the Seguaros’ bullpen as he only had one appearance last week. Rowland did make the most of his appearance as he didn’t allow a run on one hit, and tallying one strikeout.

Hitters 

Aledmys Diaz – This was an unfortunate week for the Cuban SS, he only managed to get one hit over his 10 at-bats in three starts. Diaz’s lone hit was a triple that he got on Halloween night. With his successful week last week, it is a little disappointing that he was only able to get a start in three of the Seguaros’ games this week, but it is understandable on a team chocked full of prospects. 

More from St Louis Cardinals Prospects

Patrick Wisdom – Wisdom had a slightly better week than Diaz, getting the nod in four of the team’s games this week, even getting a start at first on Friday. Wisdom was able to record one hit in three of the four games, homering in back to back games Thursday and Friday, finishing the week 3-14 with four RBI.

Mike Ohlman – My apologies for not including Ohlman and Tilson on last week’s list, they apparently got lost in the shuffle of my brain. Fortunately and unfortunately, we did not miss much as Ohlman went hitless in his only plate appearance that week, with a walk and an RBI. Since his strong first two games, Ohlman has not had much luck. He only appeared in two games this past week going 1-6, and striking out once in each game.

Next: Gold Gloves get analytical in 2015

Charlie Tilson – Again, sorry for my brain fart and leaving Tilson off of last week’s recap. Tilson has had really good success so far this fall. For week two, Tilson went 4-8, with two walks, two doubles, and two RBI. Tilson also managed to swipe one bag in the two games he played that week. This week, Tilson had a slightly more disappointing two games as he went just 1-7 in 10 plate appearances. However, Tilson made the most of his opportunities, by walking three times, swiping two bags, collecting one RBI in the two games.

Schedule