St. Louis Cardinals: Time for a Memphis Check-in

Mar 12, 2016; Jupiter, FL, USA; St. Louis Cardinals pinch hitter Harrison Bader is congratulated after the victory over the Houston Astros during the game at Roger Dean Stadium. The Cardinals defeated the Astros 4-3. Mandatory Credit: Scott Rovak-USA TODAY Sports
Mar 12, 2016; Jupiter, FL, USA; St. Louis Cardinals pinch hitter Harrison Bader is congratulated after the victory over the Houston Astros during the game at Roger Dean Stadium. The Cardinals defeated the Astros 4-3. Mandatory Credit: Scott Rovak-USA TODAY Sports /
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St. Louis Cardinals
Mar 12, 2016; Port St. Lucie, FL, USA; St. Louis Cardinals third baseman Jacob Wilson (87) takes infield practice before a spring training game against the New York Mets at Tradition Field. Mandatory Credit: Steve Mitchell-USA TODAY Sports /

Memphis Infield

Seven players make up the infield for the Memphis Redbirds.  Of these, only one- Dean Anna– is on the St. Louis Cardinals 40-man roster.  Of these seven, only five are active as two- Patrick Wisdom and Alex Mejia– are on the 7-day disabled list.

Starting with the disabled players, Wisdom was placed on the disabled list on June 17 and hasn’t been reactivated yet.  Prior to his disabled placement, Wisdom held a slash line of .234/.317/.359.  He has appeared defensively at first base (1.000 fielding percentage, three games), third base (.944 fielding percentage, 46 games), and short stop (.833 fielding percentage, three games).

Mejia was placed on the disabled list on June 6 and hasn’t been activated yet.  Prior to his placement, Mejia held a slash line of .224/.284/.306 (AA); and .306/.346/.449 (AAA) this season.  Defensively, he has appeared at second base (1.000 fielding percentage, three games at AA), and short stop (.943 percentage in 27 games AA; .964 percentage in 16 games AAA).

Jacob Wilson– the pride of Bartlett, TN- hasn’t had the best season.  He holds a slash line of .210/.278/.358.  Defensively, he has appeared at 1B, 2B, 3B, LF, and OF.  His best defensive position this season is first base (1.000 fielding percentage, three games).  His “regular” position is third where he has appeared in 38 games for a fielding percentage of .927.

Anna- the only infielder on the 40-man- has also had a season not strong enough to make waves.  His 2016 slash line is .251/.327/.301.  Defensively, Anna has played two games at short stop (1.000 percentage) and sixty-seven games at second (.984 percentage).

Matt Williams– one of the speediest players on the Redbirds roster- has decent enough promise if he could only get on base more.  His 2016 slash line is .274/.373/.337.

Williams, now appearing more regularly in the infield (44 games at short, .944 percentage; three games at 3B, 1.000 percentage; 13 games at 2B, 1.000 percentage), has also appeared in the outfield (16 games, 1.000 percentage).

Breyvic Valera was promoted to Memphis after appearing in fifty-two games in AA.  In his games at AA, his slash line was .258/.289/.298.  After his promotion, Valera has batted .333/.413/.389 in twenty-two games.

Defensively, Valera has played the outfield in AA and AAA in 23 games for a 1.000 fielding percentage.  In addition, Valera has played in 23 games at second in AA and AAA for a .969 fielding percentage, and has played in 34 games at short in AA and AAA for a .948 fielding percentage.

Lastly on the infield roster, Efren Navarro was added to the Memphis Roster on July 8 after he was signed as a minor league free agent by the St. Louis Cardinals on July 7.  This move went almost unnoticed by the public.

This first baseman has batted .245/.321/.363 in his three locations in AAA this season.  His fielding percentage this season at first base is .995 across 66 games for Tijuana, Tacoma, and Memphis.

I wish I could say that there were greats found “hidden” here in the Memphis infield, but the St. Louis Cardinals are just without luck in this regard.  Let’s turn our attention to the outfield in hopes of finding bright lights.

Next: Memphis Outfield