FSL1 Palm Beach Cardinals

Palm Beach Cardinals Announce Opening Day Roster

April 7, 2016 - Florida State League (FSL1)
Palm Beach Cardinals News Release


JUPITER, FL - The St. Louis Cardinals and the Palm Beach Cardinals have announced the opening day roster for the Cardinals 14th season in the Florida State League. The roster includes three players in the St. Louis Cardinals top 30 prospect list ranked by Baseball America and 12 players that spent some of last season in a Palm Beach uniform.

The top ranked prospects on the 2016 Cardinals roster are RHP Jack Flaherty at #3, LHP Austin Gomber at #14, and SS Oscar Mercado at #26. The roster includes 12 position players and 12 pitchers for manager Oliver Marmol.

The position players are separated as two catchers, six infielders and four outfielders. The players behind the plate include Steve Bean and Michael Pritchard. Bean was drafted in the Compensation A round of the 2012 draft by the Cardinals out of Rockwall, TX. He played on the Peoria Chiefs in 2015 and had a .222 average with 2 home runs and 20 RBI. Splitting catching duty with Bean will be Jesse Jenner. Jenner was picked in the 2015 draft in the 7th round by the Cardinals. He played in 40 games behind the plate last season for the State College Spikes. He ended the season with a .250 average, 2 home runs and 10 RBI.

The infielders are led by Oscar Mercado at shortstop. Mercado was drafted in the second round of the 2013 draft by St. Louis out of Gaither High School in Florida. In 2015 he played in 117 games for the Peoria Chiefs and had a .254 average with 4 home runs and 44 RBI. Joining Mercado on the infield will be Danny Diekroeger. Diekroeger was drafted in the tenth round of the 2014 draft out of Stanford. In 2015, he played for both the Palm Beach Cardinals and Chiefs where he had a .264 average with 2 home runs and 56 RBI in 119 games. Another infielder in Marmol's pocket will be Casey Grayson. Grayson was picked in the 21st round of the 2014 draft out of Houston. Grayson played for the Spikes last year where he had a season of .308, 2 home runs, and 38 RBI. Mikey Reynolds will also see some time in the infield after signing a minor league contract with the Cardinals in September of 2015. Reynolds was drafted in the 5th round of the 2013 draft by the Atlanta Braves out of Texas A&M. He did not play baseball during the 2015 season. Andrew Brodbeck will see some time in the infield as well. He saw time in the Gulf Coast League last season hitting .231 with 12 RBI in just 48 games. Brodeck was drafted in the 2015 draft in the 9th round out of Flager High School by the St. Louis Cardinals. The final player covering the infield bases will be Allen Staton out of North Greenville. He was signed as a free agent with the Cardinals last season and saw time with three different teams during his first professional season. He ended up finishing with a .291 average, 10 home runs and 53 RBI over the course of 62 games.

The outfield platoon will be led by Orlando Olivera who was drafted in the 38th round of the draft in 2015 out of Missouri Baptist. Last season with the Spikes and in the Gulf Coast League, Olivera hit for a .340 average with 7 home runs and 34 RBI in just 52 games. Joining Olivera in the outfield will be Michael Pritchard. Pritchard was undrafted and signed to a minor league contract by the Cardinals in 2014 out of Nebraska. In 2015 Pritchard hit for a .260 average with 13 RBI in a State College Spikes uniform. Also in the outfield will be Nick Thompson who was picked in the 8th round of the 2014 amateur player draft out of William & Mary. In 2015, Thompson played on the Chiefs squad with a .248 average, 12 home runs and 59 RBI over the course of 117 games. Blake Drake will be rounding out the outfield once again in Palm Beach. Blake was selected in the 18th round of the 2014 draft out of Concordia, OR. Last year, Drake played 120 games between the Chiefs and the Cardinals where he put up a .209 average to go along with 8 home runs and 35 RBI.

Randy Niemann will once again have a good pitching staff to lead during the 2016 campaign in Palm Beach. Leading the arms will be Jack Flaherty as the top prospect on the team. Flaherty was drafted in the 2014 draft in the first round. He played the entire season in 2015 with the Peoria Chiefs where he started 18 games on the mound, finished with a 9-3 record with a 2.84 ERA and 97 strikeouts while pitching 95 innings. The former Florida Atlantic pitcher who was drafted in the fourth round of the 2014 draft, Austin Gomber, will also join Niemann's starting rotation on the opening day roster. In 2015, he pitched for the Chiefs and started 22 games on the mound. He finished the season with a 15-3 with a 2.67 ERA and also struck out 140 over 135 innings. Also joining Gomber from the Chiefs in the starting rotation will be Matt Pearce out of Polk State College. Pearce was selected in the 13th round of the 2014 amateur draft. Last season with the Chiefs, Pearce posted an 11-10 record to go along with a 2.43 ERA. He also struck out 95 in 144.2 innings pitched. Rounding out the rotation will be Ian McKinney who also spent time with Peoria last season. McKinney posted an 8-3 record over three teams last season to go with a 2.59 ERA. He started 14 games, pitching 87 innings and striking out 74. The rotation seems to be strong once again for the Cardinals. Rounding out the starting rotation to start the season will be Blake McKnight. McKnight returns to the Cardinals after pitching between Palm Beach and Peoria in 2015. McKnight had a 2.21 ERA and posted a 6-5 record during his third year in the minors.

The bullpen will have many great arms for Niemann as well. Silfredo Garcia out of Venezuela will return to Palm Beach to begin the 2016 season. Silfredo threw for two different teams last season and put up a 2-3 record with a 2.54 ERA. He had 27 appearances, 46 innings logged, and 41 strike outs. Jacob Evans, Kyle Grana, Mike Heesch, Kevin Herget, Blake McKnight, Rowan Wick, Pedro Echemendia and Cody Schumacher will join Garcia to round out the .

The Cardinals will be open the season on April 7, 2016 against the Charlotte Stone Crabs. First pitch is set for 6:30 EST.

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