Cardinals release five minor-leaguers from camp
JUPITER, Fla. — One-time minor-league batting champion Isa Garcia was among five players released this morning in the first wave of cuts from the St. Louis Cardinals minor-league camp.
Garcia, a second baseman, was a 34th-round selection in the 2006 draft. He was identified by his college numbers, which stood out when the Cardinals ran them through their metrics thats normalize college stats from different conferences, different quality of opponents and different ballparks. Immediately, he looked like a find. Garcia won the Appalachian League batting title in 2006 with a .339 average, and he posted the lowest-strikeout rate in the league. (His .510 slugging percentage ranked fourth.) Garcia had a .290/.339/.411 line in the minors, finishing last year with Class AA Springfield. He hit .284 there — the only level that he didn’t have a .300 average at when leaving.
The others released were knuckleballer Joe Rogers, catcher Christian Rosa, third baseman Nick Vera, and righthander pitcher Miguel Flores, a 16th-round selection in last summer’s draft. Flores was drafted out of a junior college in June, and he went 2-2, 2.66 last season in 44 innings. He topped out at short-season Johnson City.
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Derrick Goold said he was going to Mizzou for capital-J journalism, but after growing up in the Time Zone Baseball Forgot he was really drawn to MU sitting between two major-league cities. Goold joined the Post-Dispatch in 2001 after working for The Times-Picayune and Rocky Mountain News, covering sports from LSU to NHL and every level of baseball in between. 
When players like this get released from Minor League camp, is it essentially releasing from the organization? It seems like Isa Garcia is a good player who they should keep around.
Once a minor leaguer is released, he becomes a free agent and is able to sign with any club.
Releasing a middle infielder (our minor leagues biggest weakness) who can hit may seem a little puzzling, but it was his poor defense that made him expendable. There is no room for Rogers in Memphis this year so that’s no surprise either. Christian Rosa was a nice little signing last year and even though he hit decently, he’s smallest for a catcher. Having said that we haven’t been opposed to keeping catchers in the minors we knew would never make it just for the fact that we need catchers. Nick Vera, of course, is stuck in a stacked position on our farm; Wallace, Freese, Craig, Tony Cruz, Jermaine Curtis and Roberto De La Cruz. I guess the only real surprise is Miguel Flores who is only 21 and pitched extremely well for us last year. That one is puzzling!
Did not expect to see Isa Garcia on a release list. Not saying this is a mistake or that he will be a star someday but is a lot better than a free agent and another organization will scoop him up very quickly.
if he was hitting well why did they release him?
anyone have any idea?