Xavier Scruggs (@Xavier_Scruggs) was drafted by St. Louis in 2008 out of UNLV and is in the midst of his seventh professional season. He grew up in California and attended Poway High School in San Diego. The infielder spent the past two seasons with the Cardinals’ Double-A affiliate, the Springfield Cardinals, where he is the all-time career home runs leader with 59.

“A few years ago I was blogging for Scout.com and had a great time doing it,” Scruggs said. “I wrote about winter ball and my season in Springfield. When the Redbirds Media team approached me about blogging, I immediately thought about how awesome it would be to give fans an inside look on a player’s thoughts and everyday experiences.”

The 2014 season is here and underway and I couldn’t be more excited about this year’s Memphis Redbirds team. It is another season to show improvement, strive for your dreams and to grind all 140 games. Triple A is a new experience for me.

I have never been to Memphis but I have heard so much about it. The first day we arrived I couldn’t help but be in awe of such an awesome stadium. I stared at the field just thinking how AutoZone Park will be my new playground for the next 6 months. It was three days before the season started but I already wanted to be on the field. I was visualizing myself in the batter’s box and hitting one over the fence. Redbirds fans showed up for one of our first practices and it only emphasized how awesome it is to have so many people that support you. 

Needless to say I am very blessed to be here. Every day I remind myself to not take this for granted. When I think about it, all I’m really doing is playing the sport I have loved to play since I was five years old. What makes it even more special is that every year I get to play in front of so many Cardinal fans that truly love the game as much as I do. For that I will be forever thankful grateful.

There are two things that I have always associated with Memphis and I’m sure it is probably the same for others who aren’t from here: music and food. People warned me about the food here in Memphis. They told me there is a good chance I could get fat with all the wonderful food here in this city. It’s such a shame that all the hard work I put into shedding pounds this offseason will be put to waste with places like Rendezvous, Central BBQ, Gus’s, Blue Plate Cafe and Germantown Commissary surrounding me. I’m not complaining though because being from California it’s not too often I get options like this.

My first thought about the upcoming season is that we have a very talented team. It is not every day that a team has such a remarkable outstanding core of guys. I’m positive that our team will do very well this year. True baseball fans know that a team only goes as far as their pitching will take them. With that being said we could definitely lose pitchers to the big league team if they are pitching well. Actually that could be said for both position players and pitchers. That is one thing that I will have to get used to more of this year, seeing players get promoted to the big leagues. That’s the most exciting part though, knowing that you are only one step away from being in ‘the show’. That’s all the motivation I need.

I’m happy to call Memphis my new home for a little while, but hopefully not for too long because I would love to check out St. Louis as well. More blogging to come very soon, but for now you can find more of my thoughts on Twitter. Until next time!