JUPITER, Fla. • A hand-picked group of players from both the St. Louis Cardinals major-league and minor-league camps took to the back fields Tuesday to play the part of hitters in a game designed for pitchers.
As mid-March approaches, innings become a commodity.
The Cardinals scheduled a B-Game scrimmage Tuesday morning to get work for RHP P. J. Walters, a candidate for a long relief role in the major-league bullpen if needed, and RHP Maikel Cleto, the power arm the Cardinals received from Seattle in exchange for shortstop Brendan Ryan. Neither could fit into the 1 o'clock game against the Boston Red Sox, where starter LHP Jaime Garcia and prospect RHP Brandon Dickson were going to get priority.
The innings crunch has already started for young players, and even some pitchers auditioning for jobs. This is part of the reason why RHP Shelby Miller was shipped out on the first day possible: To get him work -- consistent, scheduled work.
As the Cardinals continue to trot out candidates for the open bullpen spots -- and give appearances to the insurance plans for the fifth starter spot (dispense with politically correctness and start calling RHP Kyle McClellan No. 5, already) -- available innings are diminishing. The Cardinals and Atlanta Braves have a morning B-Game scheduled at Walt Disney World tomorrow, part of a planned doubleheader for the day in Lake Buena Vista, Fla. That gives the Cardinals nine more innings they can use to evaluate or ready (or both) pitchers.
Walters had only one appearance before Tuesday's B-Game. He got in the equivalent of about four innings of work as the coaches bent the rules to fit his pitch count. (One inning he faced four batters and got two outs and manager Tony La Russa told the teams to switch.) Walters was sharper earlier. He got Amaury Cazana swinging over a series of sinkers in his first "inning," but he started to elevate his pitches later in the outing.
Cleto, 21, had the save last Thursday against Washington, working two innings to protect the Cardinals' 7-5 lead. Cleto is a bona fide arm with an improving breaking pitch. The trade with the Cardinals was his second in as many years, as the righty went to Seattle as part of the 12-player deal that moved J. J. Putz to the New York Mets. Cleto debuted at No. 16 on the Cardinals' Top 30 prospects list in Baseball America. Per the scouting report*:
His fastball sits at 94-98 mph and touches 100 with explosive life. He can blow his heater by hitters, but focuses on velocity at the expense of throwing quality strikes. Overthrowing causes him to fall off the mound toward first base and miss to tat side of the plate.
* Since he was with Seattle at the time most of the BA Prospect Handbook was written, I did not write the Cleto report.
Cleto's power was clear, but during the B-Game it didn't appear like he was trying to delight any radar guns. (Of course, there were none out there.) Cleto has a live arm, and when he's been throwing in major-league camp this spring it appears like he's able to keep his delivery under control in these settings. Velocity, you figure, will only increase through spring. Pitching coach Dave Duncan said recently he doesn't even look at the radar readings this early in camp because pitchers are still building speed.
Rather than describe Cleto's outing, though, I figured I'd show you. The B-Game was held on Field No. 2, out of site of radio broadcasts and cameras. So here are a couple innings shot on the trusty iPhone of Cleto's outing. You can get a sense of his arm from the hitters' reactions.
In his final "inning" of work, Cleto allowed a base hit to lefthanded-hitting catcher Bryan Anderson. (You can see pictures from that at-bat over at the Facebook page. I'm a multi-social-medial fiend today.) In the video, you'll get a sense real quick not only of Cleto's potential speed but also of the real purpose of these scrimmages and B-Game and alternate options for innings.
As mentioned above, it's all about the pitchers.
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