CARDINALS TO HOST TWO SPRING “BREAKOUT” GAMES IN 2024

By BILL BALLEW

As the winter meetings in Nashville drew to a close, Major League Baseball gave fans yet another reason to look forward to spring training. Debuting this year, a new four-day event called Spring Breakout will showcase the top up-and-coming players and current standouts in Minor League Baseball by pitting the top prospects in seven-inning games between organizations.

Every Major League team will field a team of top prospects against another club’s top prospects. Adding to the excitement on the field will be in-park fan engagement opportunities centered on the young players.

“Spring Breakout will provide a new opportunity to showcase the future stars of the game as they continue on their journey to the Major Leagues,” Commissioner of Baseball Rob Manfred said in the press release announcing the event. “Our fans will get unique opportunities to meet our best prospects, get autographs, and see the next generation of Major Leaguers up close. We are thrilled that Major League Baseball, Minor League Baseball, and all of our clubs are working closer than ever to grow the game and to shine a brighter light on our future All-Stars.”

The games will consist of each organization’s top 20-25 prospects from all levels of Minor League Baseball and will be played between Thursday, March 14 and Sunday, March 17. Twenty-eight clubs are scheduled to play one Spring Breakout exhibition game, while one team in both Florida and Arizona will compete in two games to ensure the participation of all 30 clubs. While Oakland will take the field twice in the Cactus League, Cardinals fans are in for a treat with a pair of contests featuring St. Louis’ prospects being played at Roger Dean Chevrolet Stadium.

The Cardinals’ top prospects will face the Marlins’ top minor leaguers in Jupiter on Friday, March 15, at 2:05 p.m. That contest will be followed at 6:05 p.m. when the St. Louis and Miami major league clubs conclude the traditional doubleheader. Two days later, on Sunday, March 17, the Cardinals’ prospects will host the up-and-coming Astros at 10:05 a.m. at Roger Dean Chevrolet Stadium. The two major league teams will then meet at 1:05 p.m. in another traditional doubleheader.

The addition of Spring Breakout creates a trifecta on the baseball calendar that celebrates the game’s future stars. Top prospects are also showcased in the All-Star Futures Game during All-Star Week in July as well as in the Arizona Fall League, which is held in October and November. These events not only give the young players valuable experience but also helps create added interest among many of the most dedicated fans of the game.

Members of Redbird Nation who follow the AFL are acquainted with a handful of St. Louis prospects who participated in Arizona Fall League action this fall. This group includes outfielder Victor Scott II, catcher Jimmy Crooks, and pitchers Tekoah Roby, Cooper Hjerpe, and Edwin Nunez. Scott, Roby, Hjerpe, and Scott played in the

Scott was selected by the Cardinals in the fifth-round of the 2022 draft out of West Virginia University. Considered one of the fastest players in professional baseball, he tied for the minor league lead last season with 94 steals while splitting his time between Advanced A Peoria and Double-A Springfield. Scott received All-Star recognition in the Midwest League and has the overall tools to be a traditional leadoff hitter who covers center field from gap to gap. Crooks’ playing time in Arizona was limited to 43 at-bats after a stellar showing in the MWL, where he earned All-Star honors and was named Peoria’s Player of the Year. A fourth-round pick in 2022 out of the University of Oklahoma, Crooks batted .271 with 13 home runs and 73 RBIs in his first full professional campaign.

Roby had 18 strikeouts in 13 2/3 innings in Arizona after missing an extended stretch of last season with a shoulder injury. Acquired from Texas in the Jordan Montgomery deal at the trade deadline, Roby was a third-round draft pick of the Rangers in 2020 who features a four-pitch repertoire. Hjerpe tossed 8 1/3 innings of relief for Scottsdale in the AFL after he missed three months of last season with due to an elbow set-back. Hjerpe, who was selected out of Oregon State University as St. Louis’ first-round pick in 2022, possesses an impressive fastball-slider combination from the left side. Nunez, a righthander who signed out of the Dominican Republic in 2020, saved two games in eight appearances in the AFL. Possessing a power fastball with outstanding spin on his breaking ball, he split the 2023 regular season between Class A Palm Beach and Peoria, going a combined 6-4 with a 3.39 ERA and 10 saves in 41 outings.

Scott played in the 2023 Futures Game, joining another top Cardinals prospect, Tink Hence, in Seattle. The 63rd overall pick in the 2020 draft, Hence has been handled conservatively in the St. Louis farm system in order to manage his workload. He possesses one of the strongest right arms in the organization that produces a fastball that reaches the upper 90s, a sharp curveball that generates strikeouts, and a mid-80s changeup that keeps hitters offbalance. Hence was selected as the FSL Pitcher of the Year in 2022 and had a combined record of 4-6 with a 4.31 ERA between stops at Peoria and Springfield last season.

Middle infielder Masyn Winn also has experience in the Futures Game. He joined current major leaguer Jordan Walker in the 2022 contest and established a record with a 100.5 mph throw from shortstop. Ranked as the Cardinals’ top prospect and the 30th overall prospect by MLBPipeline upon entering this season, Winn is projected to compete for a spot on the major league roster this spring. Tabbed as the top prospect in the International League last year while hitting .288/.359/.833 with 18 home runs, 61 RBIs and 17 steals, Winn also played in 37 games for the Cardinals in 2023 and had two doubles, two home runs and 12 RBIs in 122 at-bats.

Outfielder Chase Davis may be a season or two from reaching St. Louis, but the University of Arizona product has already impressed after being drafted in the first round with the 23rd overall pick in 2023. Davis has shown outstanding power from the left side of the plate that produced 39 home runs over his final two seasons in college. He played in 34 games last season at Palm Beach after signing with the Cardinals and drove in 23 runs during his first taste of pro ball.

The Cardinals have a plethora of pitchers ranked among their top 10 prospects. In addition to the previously mentioned Hence, Hjerpe and Roby, righthanders Gordon Graceffo, Sem Robberse, and Michael McGreevy are building impressive resumes as they work their way to the major leagues. Graceffo was a fifth-round draft in 2021 out of Villanova University who went a combined 10-6 with a 2.97 ERA between Peoria and Springfield in 2022 and 4-3 with a 5.23 ERA at Memphis last year. A native of the Netherlands, Robberse was acquired from Toronto last July in the Jordan Hicks trade and had a 2-1 record with a 4.84 ERA in eight games at Memphis following the deal. McGreevy joined the Cardinals in 2021 as a first-round draft pick out of UC Santa Barbara. In 27 starts last season between Springfield and Memphis, the righthander went 13-6 with a 4.12 ERA.

Several other hurlers are emerging to further demonstrate the impressive depth of pitching in the St. Louis farm system. The righthanders include Ian Bedell, who is the reigning MWL Pitcher of the Year after posting a 2.44 ERA in 27 games with Peoria, and Max Rajcic, who was named to the FSL All-Star team after he went 6-3 with a 1.89 ERA and 68 strikeouts in 12 games with Palm Beach. Rajcic was the named the Cardinals Minor League Pitcher of the Year for 2023. Among the lefthanders attracting attention is Pete Hansen. A third-round draft pick in 2022 from the University of Texas, Hansen was a FSL All-Star last summer, when he went 11-3 with a 3.12 ERA and 126 strikeouts.

On a similar note, other position players making steady progress and holding solid promise include infielders Thomas Saggese and Cesar Prieto, catcher Leonardo Bernal, and outfielders Travis Honeyman and Won-Bin Cho. Another part of the Montgomery deal with the Rangers, Saggese was named the Texas League MVP in 2023 after hitting .318 with an OPS of .930, 25 home runs and 107 RBIs. The Cuban-born Prieto came to the Cardinals from the Baltimore organization in the Jack Flaherty deal last August and hit .270/.314/.387 with four home runs and 20 RBIs in 38 outings with Memphis. Bernal is a promising 20-year-old receiver from Panama who has hit a combined .262 with 10 home runs and 73 RBIs over the past two years with Palm Beach. Honeyman was a third-round pick and the 90th overall selection in 2023 out of Boston College. Cho signed out of South Korea and is a 20-year-old who batted .270/.376/.389 with seven homers and 52 RBIs for Palm Beach in 2023.