Game Recap – Mar 1 – Cardinals walk off Nationals 3-2

The calendar swings to March, innings become more precious

Pre-game

We see a couple old friends today. DeJong, Knizner. I believe Jacob Young was in the org last year, too.

Mikolas toes the rubber for the Cardinals. Sunny day, low 80’s. Right behind home plate, second row. Will get good look at CB Bucknors strike zone.

Minor leaguers in camp and full go. Will have a more full camp report next Saturday with pics and observations.

The Game Summary

Mikolas fought his location in first inning. Gave up long 2 run HR to Bell. Lifted after 20+ pitches for Taylor, who is nearly 30 still trying to catch on. MM much sharper in innings two and three. Pace, mechanics, velo and location all better.

Contreras was busy in the field today. Made the plays. Looked comfortable. He joins the catcher on mound visits. He also absolutely smoked a pitch off Sims that hit right near the top of the batting eye. He stood at the plate and admired the entire flight of that one. I’d peg at 450 feet. Wow! Statcast confirms 453′.

Today’s story was pretty much all pitching and defense.

JJ made a terrific stop and strong throw from the hole at SS. That oppo swing will need work. Probably only thing that is not MLB ready.

Barrero had nice sliding catch in RF. He is very rangy. Suspect his hit tool is his Kryponite. His skill set catches the eye, tho. Can see why he was a top prospect.

Prieto had an outstanding grab and throw on a ball headed to the corner. Gorman had a nice play in the hole, too.

Graceffo had 2 good innings. As each batter went by, his body language seemed to exude “I got this” more and more. He froze a guy to end his outing and he just walked off.

Robberse had a strong rebound from a poor earlier outing. Statcast has now caught up to the fact that Robberse has added a sinker to his repertoire. Much sharper today, he froze Rosario with it to end his two inning stint. It looks pretty average, but methinks an average sinker to RH hitters is better than a 4 seamer that gets demolished.

Fernandez looked unhittable in his inning. FB/curve combo.

Svanson was ok. Didn’t have the best command.

Grissom walks the bases loaded then gives up walk-off hit to Sags and there you have it.

More backfield time tomorrow.