John Gall - Gall got 49 at bats for the big club between 2005 and 2006 (I wonder if he picked up a World Series ring?). He was an 11th round pick by the Cardinals in the 2000 draft out of Stanford and made his way to AAA by the end of 2003. He always had solid hitting statistics, with a career minor league batting line of .297/.356/.461. He spent the better parts of four seasons at Memphis before leaving the organization after 2006. He was picked up by the Marlins organization and is still at their AAA affiliate (he did get four at bats for the Marlins last season). Here is his line so far in 2008 (he is now 30 years old):

.303/.369/.553 5hr 16rbi

John Rodriguez - JRod (as he is known on his shoes) also got his big league experience with the Cardinals in 2005 and 2006, including an at bat in the World Series (he struck out), so he certainly got a ring for his efforts. Rodriguez was a useful major league ballplayer, in the 332 at bats he was given with the Cardinals he put up a .298/.378/.434 line, which if actually much better than I expected it to be before I looked. He wasn't given much of an opportunity against lefties, but he actually hit them just as well in the small sample size when he was given a chance. Rodriguez came up with the Yankees and the story was that he showed prodigous power in batting practice, but never could translate that power into games (his career SLG of .478 in the minors seems to argue otherwise). He came to the Cardinals as a PTBNL in 2005 and scorched Memphis for 17 homers in 34 games before being called up. Last year he spent the whole year in Memphis and put up a typical John Rodriguez line: .263/.375/.500 with eight homers in only 160 at bats. After the season he picked up with the Tampa Bay system and is toiling away in Durham this year. Here is his line to date:

.274/.357/.500 4hr 9rbi

Scott Seabol - Scott was always one of my favorites and I really hoped that he would make it. He did have one at bat with the Yankees in 2001, but most of his major league experience came in 2005 with the Cardinals, when he appeared in 59 games for 105 at bats. He didn't play particularly well, putting up a .219/.272/.295, but I can remember the one homerun he hit and how happy he looked when he hit it. Scott came up through the Yankees organization and had a brief stop in the Milwaulkee organization before making his way to Memphis. He was never a top prospect, but he maintained respectable numbes that moved him through systems until he reached AAA. His career minor league line is .287/.341/.500. Scott's power really came on once the Cardinals aquired him, as he hit 31 homeruns in his first full year in Memphis (beating his career high by eleven at that point). Scott left the system after splitting 2005 between AAA and replacing an injuried Scott Rolen and wound up with Albuquerque in the Marlin's sysem. He only played a partial season in 2006 and does not seem to be playing this season. If he has retired, he went out with a bang - check out his 2007 season line with Albuquerque:

.300/.366/.577 32hr 105rbi (in 503 at bats!)

Tagg Bozied - Tagg was only with the Cardinals minor league system for one year (2007), but I really like him because of his backstory. Bozied had been a decent prospect in the Padres organization and had moved up to their AAA club in 2004. In July of that year, he hit a walk off grand slam, but blew out his knee when he jumped on his way to homeplate as he circled the bases. He has bounced around ever since then, spending a productive season at Memphis last year: .264/.349/.490 with 24 home runs. He has made his way to Albuquerque (notice a trend here?) this year and has put up this line so far:

.279/.397/.508 4hr 8rbi

Chris Lambert - Chris doesn't quite fall into the same category that the others on this list, but I thought an update was in order. As we all know, the Cardinals took Lambert with the nineteenth pick of the 2004 draft (let's say it together: when we could have had Phil Hughes). He moved fairly quickly through the Cardinals system, even though his peripheral statistics were fairly disappointing. He was moved to the Tigers organization last season when the big league club needed a warm body to pitch every five days (we received Mike Maroth and the jury is still out regarding his body temperature). At the time he was pitching very poorly for Memphis and had been written off by the organization (and everyone else) as a bust. He has pitched decently this season at Toledo, although his peripherals are still pretty weak. Here are the early returns on Lambert this year:

3-1 (5 starts) 27IP 12K's (10.1% k/PA) 15BB's (12.6% BB/PA)

Other then that, it was enjoyable to catch a spring training game, and for once it was fun to watch the some of the NRI's out there verses the usual spring scrubs. Tagg Bozied and Ryan Ludwick may have their wrinkles, but they are a far cry from the John Galls and Scott Seabols of the world. Both look like actual serviceable "in case of injury, call Memphis" type players.

It was also nice to get a look at Brendan Ryan. He came pretty much as advertised, solid line drive stroke, decent speed, erratic glove. He turned a splendid DP with Scott Rolen, and he also botched a routine grounder. But it was somewhat surprising to see him get cut today, especially in the midst of Kennedy, Eckstein and Miles all having different health concerns. It also seems a tad askew in the light of Tony LaRussa's recent praise as sited at Bird Land:

"He’s showing that he has major-league talent,” La Russa said. “He’s clearly shown he has major-league talent. Now it’s a question of major-league consistency, major-league toughness. Since he’s got a chance to play he’s show all those things. He’s had a really good camp.”

Oh well. He was destined to go down sooner or later. Ryan could make an interesting Luna-type player in the very near future, hopefully sans getting on the skipper's dookie list. That will come with him becoming more consistent glove-wise. Ryan hit .333 in 24 at bats this spring, I'm sure we'll see him later this year at some point, barring any injuries.

Chris Constancio of THT and FirstInning.com echoed his statements he made here regarding Colby Rasmus, naming him one of the best young center fielders in the game. Here's the blurb found at The Hardball Times:

Colby Rasmus
20 years old | St. Louis Cardinals
I have a rule of thumb concerning the number .18; if a teenager strikes out in less than .18 of his plate appearances and has an ISOP greater than .18 in a full-season professional baseball league, he has an excellent chance of becoming a good major leaguer. Lots of major league stars, including Alex Rodriguez, Chipper Jones, and Vlad Guerrero, achieved those rates early in their minor league careers. Colby Rasmus did too. I doubt Rasmus will ever match the offensive production of that class of players, but he is going to be a very valuable player if he can maintain above-average contact and power skills while playing center field in the major leagues.

Constancio has Rasmus in the "excellent upside, at least 2 years from his prime" category. He also was one of today's cuts.

Another cut that was without shock was Travis Hanson. Hanson went 1 for 11 this spring, I don't know how much you can blame the bugs anymore, but my impression was he was all out of whack, and his bat seemed troublesomely slow. I don't want to bury him yet, but the small sampling I witnessed matched some of the things I've heard from an eyewitness,who basically said he is toast.

One player who managed to live another day is Dennis Dove, he picked up the save in today's game against the Braves. Duncan said that Dove is "a very interesting guy", but thinks of Dove more in terms of the future.

Oh, and Rick Ankiel broke the homer drought today. Which brings me to my main point after circling the landing a few too many times. There are some people who don't think Ankiel has a shot, that he should just hang it up already, and who see his switch to being a hitter as a prolonging of a long, sad tragedy. Here's why I think those people are wrong.

1. He has considerable power. In 2001, when he wasn't pitching, Ank was Johnson City's part time DH, posting an impressive ISO of .352 in 105 at bats, homering 10 times. In his first year from switching over from pitching to hitting, he posted a .244 ISO at Quad Cities and .272 ISO at Springfield.

2. He's demonstrated good plate discipline. In his lone season, he walked in 12% of his plate appearance and struck out only 16.6% of the time at QC, which ain't shabby for a power hitter. Sure, that's against 20-21 year olds and Ank was 26 at the time, but again, it was his first go as a full time hitter. While I'm throwing stuff out there, Ankiel's total career milb hitting line is 486 at bats, 27 doubles, 33 homers, 120 RBI's, 50 walks, 97 strikeouts, and a batting line of .265/.338/.529.

3. He should be at least adequate defensively. I don't expect him to be a gold glover, but if he can throw 90 mph strikes from the mound, I suspect he can make the throw hard strikes from the outfield as well, hopefully without the wildness. While the early reviews were that his defense was adventurous to say the least, I trust he has the smarts and the athleticism to improve.

4. Tony LaRussa believes in him. Today he said to the press concerning Ankiel, “If this guy stays healthy, he’ll play in the big leagues.” I know we fault TLR's rationale at times, but this is coming from a future Hall of Fame manager who has certainly seen his share of players. I know Ankiel may be seen as a bit of a pet of LaRussa's and maybe there is still some guilt from the incident that shall not be named, but I also think TLR doesn't throw out compliments flippantly. I trust his judgment, because his track record has proven he's right more often then not. Speaking of the "incident-that-shall-not-be-named", Rick's injuries and irrational thinking, here's my 5th and final reason on why I believe he can make it.

5. The Curse of Keith Hernandez has been broken! Because we all know it was curse of Keith that really caused Ankiel's meltdown and maladies. For goodness' sakes, the man had so much promise. Fate owes him.

These are not necessarily how these prospects would rank in the organization, this is just how PECOTA judges their recent work to project how well the player would fare in the majors.

• Jon Jay and Colby Rasmus were separated by only one tenth of a point, though I'm sure we all agree that Rasmus has the higher ceiling. It's pretty exciting that projects so well already. One of Rasmus's top comps is the oft-rumored to be traded Lastings Milledge of the Mets' system. Jay's projected VORP was higher than any left fielder without major league experience. PECOTA thinks he could nearly hit .300 in the majors next year.
• Jaime Garcia's projected VORP is higher then any other Cardinal starter not named Carpenter, Wainwright and Reyes (and Jeff Weaver, should he resign.) PECOTA believes Garcia would be a more valuable starter then Mark Mulder and Kip Wells by a full win above replacement.
• Cody Haerther's VORP is about the same as Juan Encarnacion's and higher then Preston Wilson's.
• Despite his hacky-ness, Tyler Greene isn't a full win less then Adam Kennedy and David Eckstein. That bodes well for his future, however one of his top comps was John Nelson, the soon to be 28 year old and two true outcome SS for Memphis, also a recent September call up.
• The rest: Narveson, Stavinoha and Perez are closer to replacement level.  Chris Perez is on the fast track and should be promoted aggressively. As a reliever, he doesn't need to learn 2 or 3 new pitches like a starter, he just needs to get a little more experience. I expect Stavinoha to improve after being slowed by an ankle injury last season. Narveson is probably as big league ready as he'll ever be. If he doesn't make the team out of spring training, he'll be exposed to waivers. Considering he's a long shot to make the rotation and  the Nats are desperate for pitching, why not flip Narvie for Church straight up? It's not like they are going to suddenly like Ryan Church. I'd hate to lose him for nothing.

Also of note- Tagg Bozied, who was signed as a minor league free agent and is the owner of the best name ever is very close to Haerther's projected VORP. Top prospects Bryan Anderson and Daryl Jones were forecasted way below replacement level, they are still pretty far from reaching their ceilings. Hawksworth, Lambert, Ottavino and McCormick were all forecasted to be below replacement level. Ex-Cardinal prospect Daric Barton's projection wasn't all that hot. I can't say the same for Dan Haren.