Tagged: memphis redbirds

Surprise!!! More Baseball


The Arizona Fall League starts today out in the dessert and several other Winter Leagues are already underway. The Arizona Fall League is probably the most glamorous of all the Winter Leagues due to the fact it is normally a who’s-who of top prospects from all 30 MLB teams. Let’s just run down the list of who will be in Arizona for a few extra weeks of fun in the sun. Well the top two picks from this summer’s draft will be there with Stephen Strasburg (Washington Nationals) bringing his millions of dollars and 100-MPH fastball. No. 2 pick Dustin Ackley will be there representing the Seattle Mariners. Including Strasburg and Ackley, five of the first 10 picks from last summer’s draft are scheduled to be in Arizona. The Giants uber-catching prospect Buster Posey will be there. The Marlins are sending Andrew Miller in hopes of getting the big lefty back on track. The Kansas City Royals top prospect Mike Moustakas will play third for the Surprise Rafters. Former Ole Miss Rebel and Collierville, TN-native Zach Cozart will represent Cincinnati. And all those guys are just a few of the best, future big leaguers.

So if this the best-of-the-best prospects league, who are  the Cardinals sending? Since the Cardinals traded four of their Top 10 prospects from last year fans will definitely see some new, yet familiar faces wearing the Birds on the Bat while playing for the Surprise Rafters this fall. The players the Cards have slated on the Rafters Opening Day Roster are below along with their position and the highest level they reached in 2009.

  • Gary Daley – RHP – Double-A Springfield – Daley pitched in just nine games, all in relief, for the S-Cards this past season going 0-2 with a 4.76 ERA. The right-hander didn’t make his debut until August 19 for Springfield after starting the year with Single-A Quad Cities, where he went 4-3 with a 6.93 ERA in 32 games, 10 starts. Daley was the Cardinals third round pick out of Cal Poly San Luis Obispo in 2006.
  • Scott Gorgen – RHP – Double-A Springfield – Gorgen reached Double-A in just his first full year of pro ball after being a fourth round pick out of California-Irvine in 2008. The right-hander went 4-5 with a 5.20 ERA in 11 starts for the S-Cardinals after posting a 3-5 record with a 2.93 ERA in 14 games, 13 starts, for Single-A Palm Beach. Gorgen’s twin brother was a 16th
    round pick of the Rays last year.
  • Mike Parisi – RHP – Single-A Palm Beach – Former Redbird Mike Parisi will be one of very few guys in the Fall League with MLB experience. Parisi pitched in 12 games, two starts, for St. Louis in 2008 before blowing out his elbow in a game with Memphis at Sacramento in early August. The right-hander missed almost all of 2009 recovering from Tommy John surgery.
  • Adam Reifer – RHP – Single-A Palm Beach – Reifer racked up 21 saves in 54 games for the Cardinals this past summer going 4-7 with a 4.47 ERA along the way. In his first full year of pro baseball Reifer followed up a stellar 2008 when he was tabbed the third-best prospect and best pitching prospect in the New York-Penn League after punching out 41 batters in 30.1 innings.
  • Bryan Anderson – C – Triple-A Memphis – Anderson is another former Redbird scheduled to get some extra at-bats in the Fall League after missing significant time due to an injury. Anderson was the ‘Birds starting catcher before going down with a shoulder injury sustained in a collision at the plate in late June. The California-native is still considered one of the Cardinals best prospects but needs to use the Fall League to vault into 2010.
  • Daniel Descalso – 2B – Triple-A Memphis – The Arizona Fall League will be the icing on the cake to an amazing 2009  campaign for Descalso. After crushing the Texas League for a .323 average and 26 doubles in 73 games, Descalso was promoted to Memphis for 46 games before joining Team USA for their gold medal run in the World Cup. He’ll share the Rafters infield with Team USA teammate Ike Davis from the New York Mets organization.
  • Tyler Henley – OF – Double-A Springfield – Henley just wrapped up the best season of his young career leading Springfield with a .303 average and 31 doubles in a career-best 123 games. The former Rice star hadn’t even played in 123 games in his two previous years as a pro until this past summer. Henley is on the taxi squad for the Rafters, which means he is only active on Wednesdays and Saturdays.
  • Daryl Jones – OF – Double-A Springfield – Jones has been one of the Cardinals top prospects since he was drafted in the third round out of high school in 2005. However, since then his career has been up-and-down until 2008 when he was named the Cardinals Minor League Player of the Year. Jones will be making up some at-bats this fall as well after missing a lot of time in the second half of the season with a leg injury.

Other former Redbirds playing ball this fall are Jon Jay, who is hitting .400 in four games for Leones del Caracas in the Venezuelan Winter League, and Fernando Salas, who has turned in 1.1 scoreless innings for Naranjeros de Hermosillo in the Mexican Pacific League. Naranjero translates to orange seller in case you were wondering. Follow us on twitter (@memphisredbirds) and check back here for updates on our Boys of Fall. You can also follow the Arizona Fall League games pitch-by-pitch over on MiLB.com. Games start at 1:35 p.m. CT so if you’re bored at work or like us and get to say it’s part of your job check it out.

Headed Home


Well, as they say, all good things must come to an end and our Spring Training trip is no different. The Redbirds traveling party disbanded this morning with the important people (President/GM Dave Chase and President Bill Harter) leaving first thing this morning and the not quite as important people (Broadcaster Steve Selby and myself) sitting in the Palm Beach Airport right now waiting to fly back to Memphis. (Side note: the trip is already off to a great start as they just announced our flight is delayed by nearly an hour.)

The last day of the Spring Training trip is always a little bittersweet. First, you don’t want to leave the baseball behind and second, no one wants to leave the sun and the fun of southern Florida. But the end of the trip always comes with a silver lining, especially this year. Baseball at AutoZone Park is only one week away with the ‘Birds and Cards kicking off the 10th season of AZP next Friday at 7:05.

I will say one thing about this trip, it has made me more excited for the 2009 season than any other since I started working for the Redbirds in 2005. There are still a few roster spots to be determined but even with those spots still up in the air the ‘Birds Opening Day Roster is going to be packed with young talent. The pitching staff will arguably be one of the best in the Pacific Coast League with the majority of last season’s rotation and part of the bullpen returning. Memphis posted the best ERA in the league last season and will be a serious threat to do it again. With Mitchell Boggs, P.J. Walters, Clayton Mortensen, Jess Todd and Blake Hawksworth penciled in as the starting five it should help what could potentially be a really young bullpen. There are no big boppers for the offense this year with David Freese looking more and more like he’ll be in St. Louis with each passing day. So look for a little more running on the basepaths and a lot more small ball this year…at least to start the season.

We’ll see you at the yard.

Spring Training is Fun


Director of Communications Kyle Parkinson is at Spring Training this week which means updates from Jupiter on Chirp Chatter all week. This is the first official non-Ben and Alex post on this blog and I promise I will not use awesomeness in any of the headlines this week.

The Redbirds traveling party arrived yesterday in time to catch the majority of the ‘Birds loss to New Orleans and have dinner with athletic trainer Chris Conroy. It’s hard to believe we’ve already been here for two days. And when I say we I mean myself, President of Baseball Operations/GM Dave Chase, President of Business Operations Bill Harter and Broadcaster Steve Selby. The two days we
have been here have been action packed, we’ve seen the ‘Birds lose a game, win a game, talked with our field staff, caught up with former Memphis manager Gaylen Pitts and pitching coach Dyar Miller, watched a few innings of the Marlins/Twins and I already have a pretty good tan going which is tantastic.

Today’s game against Springfield was a great chance to see players that are on our team and players that will likely be on our team at some point in the future. Normally, we don’t get much of a chance to see the players on the Springfield roster due to them playing on another field at the same time the Redbirds are playing. Mitchell Boggs and Clayton Mortensen were both strong in their three-inning efforts. Boggs pitched against the Redbirds which was a little weird to watch him head to the other dugout after the inning. The ‘Birds
infield had a new look to it with Jarrett Hoffpauir at third, Tyler Greene at shortstop, Casey Rowlett at second and Nick Stavinoha at first. Out of those four only Greene played the position he played today for the Redbirds last season. It looks like the word for this camp is versatility.

Technology! We did it!


Hello and welcome to what will be many new entries into the world of two dudes interning with the Redbirds. Hopefully this will be an enjoyable experience for those who are fans of the Redbirds, the sport of baseball and the even bigger game…of life. And more importantly, we hope this won’t be a complete waste of time. We’ll be making new posts as much as possible to keep you informed about the comings-and-goings of the Redbirds family. We absolutely encourage and welcome as much feedback as possible. Our goal is to make this area as much about you guys as it is about letting everyone know what’s happening with the Redbirds this season. So, make sure and tell us what you like, what needs improvement and what you think is just absolutely horrible. We can take it.

Let’s get started with some background information to show you that we aren’t just a couple of 17-year-old punks who don’t know the first thing about life, we both have college degrees! Introducing: Ben and Alex…

Ben’s take on Alex:
In his apparent quest for the perfect indie-chic outfit, Alex made his way to Memphis by way of Knoxville, TN, where he received a Bachelor’s Degree from the University of Tennessee. Outside of baseball, Alex is an authority on all things Nashville Predators and is a firm believer in the glory that is novelty pin collecting. Where as most males might be bashful of their shortcomings, Alex is frighteningly open about his paralyzing fear of flying insects and knows when to bring in reinforcements when bug killing dirty work needs to be enacted. He has a well-developed background in the underground music scene, always keeping his ear to the ground to catch what new sounds are making their way to the listening public. He’s pretty good at it, too. Some call him skinny, but most of us call him friend. Thanks for all you do.

Alex’s take on Ben:
If there’s one thing that is glaringly obvious when you walk into the Redbirds Media Department, it’s the fact that there is a Texan in the room. Thankfully the office has a dress code policy, leaving his boots and spurs hanging in the closet at home. Granted I’ve only known the 24-year-old spittoonin’ cowboy for a little over a month, but not a day goes by without a ‘guns up’ cheer and hand gesture (the equivalent of a pleasant ‘how are you’ in Lubbock, the proud city of Texas Tech and Ben’s college of choice). Ben is using this internship to fulfill his final 6 credits to earn his Master’s in Mass Communication. Overkill I think. So while the Texan pride may not yet be evident in his writing, before long you could start seeing posts about the Astros, Rockets and dirt.

We’ll start getting into a little baseball and begin gearing up for the season in future posts. Along the way we might throw in some music, movies and other miscellaneous interests, but first and foremost we are a baseball blog meant to let you know what’s happening with your Memphis Redbirds. Stay tuned.