Trio of Cardinals minor leaguers earn postseason recognition

The St. Louis Cardinals major league team is just trying to get to the end of the season, but the organization has to be thrilled with what is going on in the minors. Springfield is playing for a title and Memphis has top talent knocking at the door, but the Single-A Palm Beach Cardinals wanted to get in on the accolades.

Rainiel Rodriguez, Deniel Ortiz, and Jason Savacool were named Florida State League All-Stars.

Even though the Palm Beach Cardinals of the Florida State League finished the season with a 63-67 record, they had three players recognized for their performance by being named Post-Season All-Stars. With three prospects earning honors, the Cardinals tied for the most selections in the league. The highest-profile name comes in the form of top-100 and fast-rising prospect Rainiel Rodriguez, who played 60 games with Palm Beach after he tore through Rookie League pitching to begin his professional career. In less than a half season in Single-A, the 18-year-old catcher played his way to a promotion by smacking 13 homers and putting up a 145 WRC+ against players nearly three years older on average.

Joining Rodriguez on the All-Star squad is corner infielder Deniel Ortiz, who, like the catcher, made his professional debut this season. Ortiz was a 16th-round pick out of Walters State Community College in the 2024 draft but did not play following his selection. Just 20 years old at the start of the year, Ortiz spent near-equal amounts of time at first and third base while putting up a stellar offensive season. In 77 games before his own promotion to Peoria, Ortiz hit .285 with 10 homers and 10 doubles, and he stole 31 bases in 34 attempts while walking over 15% of the time. On the downside, the infielder made 14 errors and struck out over 27% of the time. After his promotion, though, Ortiz made four errors in 30 games, with all of those misplays coming while playing first base. He held his own with Peoria and could become a name to watch early in spring training to see where he will begin the 2026 campaign.

The final honor goes to the veteran of the group, as 23-year-old Jason Savacool took home an All-Star award after a solid third season with Palm Beach. Drafted in the sixth round in 2023, the right-hander made a short appearance in Single-A before repeating the level as a starter in 2024. Savacool was battling command issues, so he was assigned to Palm Beach again to start this season, and his offseason work paid off, as he put together great numbers and was promoted to Peoria midway through the season. While with Palm Beach, Savacool pitched in 11 games (10 starts), and went 4-2 with a minuscule 1.61 ERA in 56 innings. Coming into the season, the righty was averaging well over four walks per nine innings, but this season, he was able to trim that number way down to a 2.57 BB/9 and a 7.5% walk rate. The improvement in his command forced hitters to swing more often, and opponents could only muster a .188 batting average against Savacool. He has one more season of team control and will become Rule 5 eligible in the 2026 offseason.