2012 Palm Beach Cardinals Roster Released

Jupiter, FL- The Palm Beach Cardinals, Class-A Advanced affiliate of the St. Louis Cardinals, announced the 2012 roster on Monday. The Cardinals welcome 12 players from the 2011 roster (7 pitchers, 5 position players) and contains 13 players from the 2011 Midwest League Championship Quad Cities River Bandits squad.

 

The Cardinals roster will be highlighted by two heavily- touted right-handed pitchers in Seth Blair and Carlos Martinez. Blair, the former 46^th overall pick in the 2010 draft will look to anchor the staff. The former Pacific- 10 Conference pitcher of the year in 2010 had a rough second-half of the season before being sidelined with injury. However, he still posted a 6-3 record with a 5.29 ERA and 70 strikeouts in 82 innings.

 

Backing him will be No. 2 overall prospect in the Cardinals organization, Carlos Martinez. The flame-thrower from the Dominican Republic has been in the organization for two seasons. Last year, Martinez posted a 2.33 ERA and 1.06 WHIP in six starts with the Quad Cities River Bandits. His performance earned him an invitation to the 2011 Futures Game, where he posted a shutout inning for team World. Martinez spent the last month of the season in Palm Beach. In 10 starts he went 3-3 with 5.28 ERA and 48 strikeouts.

 

Expected to relieve them will be the 1-2 punch of Aidan Lucas and Dean Kiekhefer. Lucas, the former 27-round pick out from Denison University, finished fifth among all Cardinals minor leaguers in saves. His 2.75 ERA was among the top amongst all River Bandits relievers, but second to Kiekhefer, who posted a 1.26 ERA in 57 innings of relief. The left-hander out of the University of Louisville topped the Midwest League with four saves and five appearances during the playoffs. His 0.90 ERA after all-star break was the best on the team, while posting the second lowest batting average allowed among all Midwest relievers.

 

The remainder of the staff will consist of right-handers Drew Benes, Richard Castillo, Seth Maness, Christopher Corrigan, Ricky Martinez, Chase Reid and  Zach Russell; while the left-handers rounding out the staff will be Anthony Ferraro and  Iden Nazario.

 

Offensively, the Cardinals will welcome Starlin Rodriguez back. The switch-hitting middle infielder from the Dominican Republic saw great success in the FSL in 2011, posting a .315 batting average and 14 extra base-hits in 45 games with the Cardinals. In 2010, he was the Midwest League All-Star at second base. He will be joined by Jonathan Rodriguez. The 6’2’ first baseman from Manatee Community College (FL), ranked 4^th in the Midwest League in home runs (20), 3^rd in walks (77), and 5^th in on base percentage (.389).

 

Catchers Luis De La Cruz, Geoffrey Klein and Travis Tartamella, infielders Vance Albitz, Packy Elkins and Ronny Gil, outfielders Alan Ahmady, Chris Edmondson, Nicholas Longmire, Mike O’Neill and Michael Swinson will round out the rest of the roster.

 

The 2012 Cardinals will look to improve upon a 68-70 record in 2011, which helped them finish third in the Florida State League South Division, under the new leadership of former Quad Cities River Bandits Manager Johnny Rodriguez. Assisting him will Jeff Albert who will serve as the hitting coach, Dennis Martinez will serve as pitching coach, while Manabu Kuwazuru will be the head athletic trainer.

 

Palm Beach opens its season at home on Friday night, April 6^st, as they play host to the Jupiter Hammerheads at 6:35 p.m.