Cardinals Released Five More Minor Leaguers

The St. Louis Cardinals have released a number of minor league players – both from US spring training camp and their Dominican Republic academy.

The Cardinal Nation

2016 Dominican Summer League Cardinals Season Archive

Weekly Notebooks:
June 13, 2016: Leandro Cedeno, Enrique Perez, Angel Rondon, Brian Sanchez, and Francis Ventura.
June 20, 2016: Leandro Cedeno, Noel DeJesus, Carlos Luis, Elehuris Montero, Winston Nicacio, Brian Sanchez, and Wadye Ynfante.
June 27, 2016: Esequeil Delgado, Brian Pirela, Brian Sanchez, Alvaro Seijas, and Wadye Ynfante.
July 4, 2016: Fabian Blanco, Noel DeJesus, Junior Gonzalez, Brian Sanchez, and Carlos Soto.
July 11, 2016: Noel DeJesus, Dariel Gomez, Junior Gonzalez, Carlos Luis, Edwar Ramirez, and Julio Rodriguez.
July 18, 2016 (All-Star Edition): Leandro Cedeno, Cristhian Lugo, Enrique Perez, Brian Pirela, Brian Sanchez, Carlos Soto, and Wadye Ynfante.
July 25, 2016: Leandro Cedeno, Noel DeJesus, Enrique Perez, Brian Sanchez, and Wadye Ynfante.
August 1, 2016: Moises Castillo, Julio Rodriguez, Angel Rondon, Brian Sanchez, and Wadye Ynfante.
August 8, 2016: Moises Castillo, Oscar Cotes, Noel DeJesus, Dariel Gomez, and Brian Sanchez.
August 15, 2016: Moises Castillo, Leandro Cedeno, Noel DeJesus, Elehuris Montero, Julio Rodriguez, and Wadye Ynfante.
August 22, 2016: Fabian Blanco, Esequeil Delgado, Junior Gonzalez, Winston Nicacio, Edwar Ramirez, Carlos Soto, and Francis Ventura.
August 29, 2016: Fabian Blanco, Diomedes Del Rio, Esequeil Delgado, Elehuris Montero, Winston Nicacio, Johan Oviedo, Raffy Ozuna, Brian Pirela, Edwar Ramirez, and Julio Rodriguez.

Awards:
2016 Player of the Year: Brian Sanchez
2016 Starting Pitcher of the Year: Noel DeJesus
2016 Reliever of the Year: Fabian Blanco

2016 Dominican Summer League Cardinals Player Of The Year - Brian Sanchez

June 2016	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	OBP	SLG	AVG	OPS
Sanchez	21	84	23	31	6	2	6	32	14	24	.461	.702	.369	1.163
Luis	19	72	18	25	3	3	1	10	8	13	.422	.514	.313	.936
Ynfante	15	54	18	17	7	0	0	10	11	11	.441	.444	.315	.886
Cedeno	19	85	18	24	8	2	3	18	5	19	.319	.529	.282	.848
Montero	22	81	25	21	4	2	1	9	14	23	.388	.395	.259	.783
Ozuna	19	79	16	18	6	1	2	14	16	25	.358	.405	.228	.763
Castillo	22	70	11	15	3	1	0	10	14	19	.371	.286	.214	.657
Delgado	19	60	14	12	1	1	1	10	22	13	.424	.300	.200	.724

As we see in the first month of the season, Brian Sanchez put up strong numbers all around.  Sanchez was hitting the ball well enough to lead the league in hits, home runs, RBIs, OBP, SLG, AVG, and OPS.  Carlos Luis, who missed the previous season, came out hitting well also and made up for some lost time.  Wadye Ynfante joined the team a tab bit late, but put up some great numbers.  Leandro Cedeno also added to a solid offensive attack that the team hasn’t seen in years.  Elehuris Montero was decent at the plate and scored plenty of runs.  Raffy Ozuna and Moises Castillo were a little sluggish with the bat and Esequiel Delgado was the walk and stolen base specialist.

July 2016	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	OBP	SLG	AVG	OPS
Ynfante	18	62	16	26	5	0	1	12	9	11	.486	.548	.419	1.035
Sanchez	23	91	18	33	3	3	7	28	10	24	.438	.692	.363	1.130
Cedeno	16	61	8	22	5	2	1	10	5	15	.418	.557	.361	.975
Rodriguez	14	44	9	13	3	2	3	12	5	7	.373	.659	.295	1.032
Soto	16	53	8	12	2	0	1	7	16	8	.400	.321	.226	.721
Montero	19	74	8	15	5	0	0	8	9	17	.388	.395	.203	.564
Gomez	17	56	7	11	6	0	0	8	11	7	.324	.304	.196	.627
Delgado	23	78	15	15	1	1	0	2	14	13	.315	.231	.192	.546
Castillo	20	67	10	12	3	0	0	3	10	17	.291	.224	.179	.515
Ozuna	17	67	8	12	4	1	0	4	6	31	.243	.269	.179	.512
Jimenez	14	41	8	7	1	0	0	2	6	11	.277	.195	.171	.472
Del Rio	14	42	6	5	0	1	0	5	6	10	.260	.167	.119	.427

Yanfante and Cedeno starting hitting much better in the second month of the season.  Sanchez kept thumping the ball during the month of July.  Julio Rodriguez received more playing time with the promotion of Irving Wilson and took well advantage of that, showing some power at the plate.  Carlos Soto, one of a handful of July 2^, 2016 signings, lead the team in free passes.  The remainder of the team struggled at the plate.  Luis dropped off after injuries plagued the rest of his 2016 season.

Aug 2016	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	OBP	SLG	AVG	OPS
Soto	14	46	9	18	4	0	0	3	9	9	.491	.478	.379	.969
Castillo	20	72	20	24	5	1	0	10	11	11	.422	.431	.333	.852
Rodriguez	17	61	13	20	4	0	4	18	9	5	.413	.590	.328	1.003
Montero	20	72	8	23	5	0	0	9	5	11	.359	.389	.319	.748
Sanchez	17	57	8	17	4	0	2	16	7	17	.382	.474	.298	.856
Gomez	15	51	2	14	5	1	0	10	4	8	.327	.412	.275	.739
Ynfante	16	65	17	17	3	2	0	5	9	18	.360	.369	.262	.729
Delgado	17	57	8	13	1	1	1	6	11	12	.362	.333	.228	.696
Cedeno	12	47	6	10	2	0	0	2	2	8	.240	.255	.213	.495
Del Rio	17	44	5	9	2	1	0	3	6	15	.321	.295	.205	.616
Ozuna	14	47	3	5	2	0	0	0	4	18	.176	.149	.106	.325

Sanchez and Ynfante slowed in the final month of the season but still hit pretty well.  Cedeno slumped for much of the month of August.  But players like Soto, Castillo, Montero, and Dariel Gomez picked up the slack to help keep the team well above .500 and in contention for the playoffs.  Rodriguez continued his hitting from midseason on until the end of the year and probably opened up some eyes for the next season.

Name	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	TB	BB	SO	OBP	SLG	AVG	OPS
Sanchez	61	232	49	81	13	5	15	76	149	31	65	.433	.642	.349	1.075
Ynfante	49	181	51	60	15	2	1	27	82	29	40	.429	.453	.331	.882
Rodriguez	40	143	30	46	10	3	7	37	83	19	19	.400	.580	.322	.980
Cedeno	47	193	32	56	15	4	4	30	91	12	42	.332	.472	.290	.803

I think it is pretty clear who had the best season offensively at the plate for the Dominican Summer League Cardinals.  Brian Sanchez is my choice for the 2016 DSL Player of the Year.