Positional Player Groupings
Not that a player is blessed or cursed by his positional grouping in Spring Training, but St. Louis Cardinals Manager Mike Matheny does have a definite purpose in how he matches veterans and young players in camp. Sometimes it is for the benefit of the young player to be groomed, sometimes it is for the veteran player to take that next step in leadership.
Without overstating the importance of these groupings, here’s a look at how the Cardinals went through their first official day of full-team workouts:
Group 1: Matt Holliday, Mark Ellis, Peter Bourjos, Ed Easley, Stephen Piscotty
Group 2: Jhonny Peralta, Tony Cruz, Scott Moore, Greg Garcia, Rafael Ortega
Group 3: Matt Carpenter, Pete Kozma, Matt Adams, Randall Grichuk, Travis Tartamella, Cody Stanley
Group 4: Yadier Molina, Daniel Descalso, Kolten Wong, Xavier Scruggs, Carson Kelly
Group 5: Jon Jay, Oscar Taveras, Luis Mateo, Patrick Wisdom, James Ramsey, Casey Rasmus
Pitching groups have been as follows:
Adam Wainwright, Michael Wacha, Zach Petrick
Jaime Garcia, Sam Freeman, Jorge Rondon
Jason Motte, Seth Maness, Keith Butler
Trevor Rosenthal, Jordan Swagerty, Sam Gaviglio
Joe Kelly, Carlos Martinez, Lee Stoppelman
Shelby Miller, Pat Neshek, Tyler Lyons, Marco Gonzales
Lance Lynn, Eric Fornataro, Juan Castro
Randy Choate, Kevin Siegrist, Tim Cooney
Group 6: Allen Craig, Shane Robinson, Joey Butler, Audry Perez, Mike O’Neill
