Cardinals Were Ready For Remote Development

When the Cardinals made the decision several years ago to rewrite their calendar and transplant the traditional instructional league from October to January, when it could be closer to spring training, it had an unintended benefit they are now utilizing.

It bought them time.

Only the Cardinals and Yankees did not hold an instructional league camp this fall. St. Louis was using the early winter months to reorganize their offseason workouts and, they hoped, buy time for the virus to slow its spread before they bring players together. The decision also allows the team to consider staffing and the costs associated with instructs.

“We had no intentions of doing it at this point,” Cardinals president of baseball operations John Mozeliak said. “We are still considering a hitting camp at some point. We will have potentially a better understanding maybe in December, but it’s more like January.”

The Cardinals are looking at places for players to collect innings or at-bats, and a handful of 40-man roster players—like Rangel Ravelo, John Nogowski and likely Edmundo Sosa—will participate in winter leagues.

Leading prospects Matthew Liberatore and Nolan Gorman as well as recent draft picks Trey Fletcher and Masyn Winn were able to get work during the summer at the Cardinals’ alternate training site in Springfield, Mo.

Those small-group workouts have been considered a possible model for the winter camps, and the Cardinals would host several weeks of instructs with limited numbers circulating through. There is no plan to “open things up” with the pandemic calming, Mozeliak said.

The emphasis for the club becomes helping minor league players craft their solo workouts, and the Cardinals have a head start on that with the department of performance. Several years ago, as part of the expansion of the department, the Cardinals sought to give their minor leaguers individualized plans for the offseason, and without scheduled camps that outreach becomes more prominent.

“The good news is we have the infrastructure set up, so that’s carryover from what we had last year,” Mozeliak said. “For the most part, there has been months of conversations with players. We’re rolling down the hill already.”

REDBIRD CHIRPS

— After 43 years scouting amateur talent for the Cardinals, Mike Roberts had his final day with the organization on Halloween. His contract was not renewed. Roberts, 80, had pitched to Stan Musial as a minor leaguer and one of his last scouting trips was to see 2020 second-round pick Masyn Winn. He scouted generations of players, from Rick Ankiel to Yadier Molina, David Cone to Albert Pujols. In recent years, his role was mentoring young scouts.

— Zack Thompson, the Cardinals’ first-round pick in 2019, had shoulder soreness limit his work at the satellite camp, but the club had already planned to strictly monitor his workload in 2020 with an eye to having him ready to ascend swiftly in 2021.