FSL1 Palm Beach Cardinals

Three Cardinals Selected to FSL All-Star Game

Published on June 2, 2011 under Florida State League (FSL1)
Palm Beach Cardinals News Release


JUPITER, Fla. - Three members of the Palm Beach Cardinals have been selected to participate in the 2011 Florida State League All-Star Game, the league announced Thursday. Right-handed pitcher Joe Kelly and outfielder Edgar Lara will represent Palm Beach on the FSL South squad while pitcher Shelby Miller was replaced due to promotion.

The 50th Annual Florida State League All-Star Game will be played Saturday, June 18, at 7:05 p.m. at Bright House Field in Clearwater, Fla.

Miller was a first-team selection but will not participate in the All-Star festivities due to his recent promotion to Class-AA Springfield. He led all of Minor League Baseball with 81 strikeouts in just 53.0 innings-pitched through last Friday, a strikeout-per-nine innings ratio of 13.75. He went 2-3 with a 2.89 ERA in nine starts as the Cardinals' ace, allowing 40 hits and 20 walks while holding opposing batters to a .204 average. Miller recorded a regular season career-high 12 strikeouts while allowing just three hits and one earned run in his last outing with Palm Beach last Friday night.

The Houston, Texas native was drafted by the Cardinals with the 19th overall pick in the 2009 First-Year Player Draft out of Brownwood (TX) High School and made his professional debut that same year with Class-A Quad Cities. The 6-foot-3, 195-pound right hander went 7-5 with a 3.62 ERA during his first full season with the River Bandits in 2010, ranking fourth in the Midwest League with 140 strikeouts and first among Cardinals minor leaguers with 12.1 strikeouts/9.0 IP. He was honored as the Cardinals Minor League Pitcher of the Year in '10, completing his first full professional season one month before his 20th birthday. Coming into the 2011 season Miller was rated as the No. 1 overall prospect in the Cardinals organization (13th overall in the nation) by Baseball America.

Representing the Cardinals pitching staff will be Joe Kelly, a right-handed starter receiving his first career All-Star selection. Through Thursday Kelly has gone 3-2 with a 2.67 ERA in nine starts for Palm Beach this season, collecting 45 strikeouts and 25 walks in 54.0 innings. He ranks seventh in the league in ERA and third in lowest opponent batting average, holding opposing hitters to a .216 mark. Kelly has grabbed national headlines for his last two starts in which he took two no-hitters into the eighth inning (7.1 IP an 7.2 IP, respectively).

Kelly, a native of Anaheim, Calif., was selected by the Cardinals in the 3rd round of the 2009 draft out of the University of California at Riverside. He made 16 appearances with Class-A Short-Season Batavia in '09, going 2-3 with a 4.75 ERA before being promoted to Quad Cities to begin the 2010 season. Kelly went 6-8 with a 4.62 ERA in 26 games for the River Bandits, making the transition from the bullpen with 18 starts after leaving UC-Riverside as the career saves leader with 24. He was named Midwest League Player of the Week for 7/26-8/1 and was named the 10th-best prospect in the Cardinals organization by Baseball America coming into this season.

Right-handed hitter Edgar Lara, who will represent the Cardinals in the outfield, earns his first career All-Star selection in his sixth professional season in the organization. The 22-year-old Dominican Republic native, who has played primarily first base and served as the designated hitter of late, is currently hitting .256 and leads the team with six home runs and 24 RBI.

Lara was signed by the Cardinals as a non-drafted free agent Sept. 1, 2005, and made his organizational debut in '06 in the Dominican Summer League. After spending a year in the Venezuelan Summer League and two in Rookie-Level Johnson City, Lara hit .239 with 17 home runs and 73 RBI with Quad Cities last year before beginning 2011 with Palm Beach.

The Cardinals (21-32) are currently in fourth place in the FSL South Division, 8.0 games behind the St. Lucie Mets, and are in the midst of a four-game series at the Dunedin Blue Jays before returning home for a three-game set with the Mets beginning this Saturday.

For more information on the Palm Beach Cardinals, Class-A Advanced affiliate of the St. Louis Cardinals, please call (561) 775-1818 or visit www.palmbeachcardinals.com . For tickets and more information regarding Roger Dean Stadium, please visit www.rogerdeanstadium.com .

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Florida State League Stories from June 2, 2011


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