St. Louis Cardinals Trim Three More Players from Spring Roster
The Cardinals trimmed three more players from the spring roster, increasing the total cuts for the day to nine.
The St. Louis Cardinals continued their Sunday purge of the spring training roster during the afternoon, optioning outfielder Anthony Garcia to Triple-A Memphis while reassigning infielders Jonathan Rodriguez and Patrick Wisdom to minor-league camp.
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The team had already
sent out a group of six earlier in the day
, most notably including shortstop
Aledmys Diaz.
Garcia, a late-blooming 24-year-old prospect, was added to the 40-man roster this offseason and was in his first big-league camp with the Cardinals this spring. Through 37 plate appearances this spring, he had a batting average of just .222, but he still managed to accumulate a rather impressive .743 OPS, racking up a team-leading five doubles, a triple, a homer, and six RBI. Garcia exits major-league camp before non-roster invitees Carlos Peguero and Jeremy Hazelbaker, who have to be considered at least dark horse candidates for the Opening Day roster at this point, but he put himself in good position to earn a call-up later this season if the Cardinals are faced with injuries in the outfield.
Rodriguez, who has a good chance to become the starting first baseman at Triple-A Memphis this season, also positioned himself well for an in-season call-up this spring, accumulating an .854 OPS over 27 plate appearances. Wisdom, who also has a chance to move up to Triple-A this season, didn’t have a particularly good spring at the plate, hitting .158/.200/.368. He did hit a homer, though, and continued to show flashes of the power that’s enabled him to hit double-digit homers in each of his three full minor-league seasons.
Next: Cardinals Sign Ruben Tejada to One-Year Deal
The Cardinals now have 41 players remaining in big-league camp, including six non-roster invitees (one pitcher, one catcher, two infielders, and two outfielders).