St. Louis Cardinals infielder Ryan Jackson is blistering hot for Triple-A Memphis, hitting .488 in his last 10 games and posting a .385/.453/.525 line through 122 at-bats. He remains well-regarded as a defender and has played solid defense at both third base and shortstop this spring. Although Pete Kozma isn't hitting like Roy Hobbs in St. Louis right now, he's held his major league job so far and has played well with the glove. At this point Jackson represents infield depth to cover injuries and possible trade bait for later in the season.


(yardbarker.com)

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Third baseman David Freese was activated from the 15-day disabled list by the St. Louis Cardinals and batted sixth in Monday's home opener against the Cincinnati Reds.

"This is a day I don't ever want to miss," said Freese, who grew up a Cardinals fan in suburban St. Louis. "I know one day it's going to come to an end, but as many times as I can I'd like to be a part of this special day."

Freese said he was 100 percent, adding "I feel like it's February." Freese hit .293 last season with career highs of 20 homers and 79 RBI while topping 100 games for the first time.

"If he wasn't 100 percent, he wouldn't be here," manager Mike Matheny said. "So he's ready to go and we're excited to watch him do his thing."

Matt Carpenter started five games at third while Freese was out and was on the bench. Carpenter is hitting .320 with four RBI.

Freese strained his lower back tumbling into the stands while chasing a foul ball during spring training and missed the first six games. He appeared in three games with Triple-A Memphis on a rehab assignment and was 3 for 5 with two RBI Sunday against Oklahoma City.

St. Louis optioned infielder Ryan Jackson to Memphis to clear a roster spot.


(usatoday.com)

ST. LOUIS (KMOX) - Prior to Tuesday’s Spring Training game, the St. Louis Cardinals placed third baseman David Freese (lower back strain) on the 15-day disabled list with a lower back strain.

Infielder Ryan Jackson has been recalled from the AAA Memphis roster.

Freese had appeared in 12 spring games, batting .267 with 2 home runs and 5 RBI. According to a release by the team, Jackson was optioned off the Major League roster on March 17. He had appeared in 17 Grapefruit League games prior to that move. Freeman made two spring appearances, the most recent on Sunday, March 24.


(cbs.local.com)

Although St. Louis Cardinals SS Rafael Furcal (elbow) appears on track to be fully healthy for spring training and opening day, the team is unsure how his elbow will hold up when he resumes playing at full effort this spring. St. Louis is expected to be more cautious when giving Furcal playing time in order to keep him healthy throughout the season. INFs Daniel Descalso, Pete Kozma and Ryan Jackson are potential backups at shortstop for Furcal.


(kffl.com)

Cardinals recalled INF Ryan Jackson from Triple-a Memphis.

Jackson managed one hit in eight at-bats with the Cardinals earlier this season. He could see action at shortstop if Daniel Descalso and Pete Kozma can't get hot.


(rotoworld.com)

Jackson is expected to be recalled by the Cardinals on Tuesday, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports.





(fantasysp.com)

Cardinals optioned INF Ryan Jackson to Triple-A Memphis.

Jackson's playing time in his two weeks with the big club was minimal, as he picked up one hit in eight at-bats. He'll be back up when rosters expand.


(rotoworld.com)

ST. LOUIS (KMOV.COM) -- Newly-promoted infielder Ryan Jackson picked up his first major league hit Thursday against the Astros.

Jackson was pinch hitting for pitcher Jake Westbrook in the fifth inning when he singled to right.

The 24-year-old Jackson was picked up August 10th from the Cardinal's AAA team, the Memphis Redbirds.  He had played in 113 games for Memphis. 

Jackson was drafted in the 5th round of the MLB Draft in 2008 from the University of Miami.


(kmov.com)

More than a year ago, shortstop and Cardinals fifth-round pick Ryan Jackson was starting to match his offensive production with his defensive reputation at Class AA Springfield. For the weekly Minor League Insider, I started to calling around to get more info on Jackson's awakening at the plate.

I heard a lot about his defense.

One phrase stood out to me.

"He's a baseball rat," a former coach said.

He meant it as a compliment.

Jackson, 24, is set to join the Cardinals' major-league roster this evening in Philadelphia. He'll be added to the 40-man roster today and he could make his big-league debut as early as tonight. He is widely considered one of the Cardinals' top 20 prospects entering this season. The words that come up often in the descriptions of his potential and his play in the field are "instinctual" and "nimble." I wrote in one report that he has a "high baseball IQ" -- a quote that came from a scout. In short, he's a baseball rat, a twist on the "gym rat" name given to the basketball players who are always found taking shots in the gym, long after the lights go out. Jackson, the coach explained, was that kind of fielder. He was there on the field, gobbling grounders, after the workouts were over and while the grounds crew waited to rake.

Here are some of the scouting reports on Jackson.

John Sickels' Minor League Baseball ranked Jackson 15th in the Cardinals' system, graded him as an above average prospect, and wrote:

15) Ryan Jackson, SS, Grade C+: Scouts have always been impressed with his glove, but he is starting to show something with the bat now, showing more pop. A larger-scale breakthrough is plausible.

Kevin Goldstein, the respected prospect specialist at Baseball Prospectus, ranked Jackson No. 11 in the Cardinals system for his annual Top 11 (published here in February). He wrote:

The glove-first shortstop showed some signs of life at the plate in his first season at the upper levels.

The Good: While Jackson is not a fast player, he's very quick; he has outstanding instincts and reactions at shortstop to go with soft hands, a plus arm, and outstanding actions. He's an instinctual hitter who waits for his pitch, has a decent feel for contact, and gap power.

The Bad: Jackson's numbers always look better due to his ability to hit left-handers hard; his platoon splits are a bit troubling. He can't afford to lose a step because he'll have little big-league value if he can't play on the left side of the field.

Ephemera: Jackson hit at least .323 in three different months of the 2011 season, but he hit just .208 in May and August combined.

Perfect World Projection: He could be an everyday shortstop, with the floor of a nice utility player.

Jonathan Mayo, the top voice on prospects over at MiLB.com, ranked Jackson 17th overall in the system coming into this season. He described Jackson in this way:

When Jackson was taken out of Miami back in 2009, he had a reputation as a slick-fielding shortstop who had some shortcomings with the bat. He still has those impressive defensive skills, but he’s been more productive offensively than some anticipated. He showed some extra-base pop in Double-A in 2011 and has a solid approach at the plate. In the Arizona Fall Leauge, he played all over the infield in the event he’s needed to play a utility role, but there’s still a chance for him to become an everyday shortstop at the big league level.

And, finally, in the Baseball America Prospect Handbook, a project that I work on each season with the editors at BA, Jackson was No. 13 on the list of the Cardinals' top prospects. Here is part of his entry from the book:

When major-league infielder Nick Punto visited Double-A Springfield on a rehab assignment he saw one hitch in Jackson’s fielding: hesitation. Jackson had a habit of pausing to wait on a better hop – an approach that works fine in college, but is too slow at higher levels. Punto worked with Jackson because Jackson his headed to those higher levels. The shortstop validated is reputation as a nimble fielder with a high baseball IQ and strong instincts. His footwork and accuracy give him an above-average arm, and improvement in the field have some believing he can handle that position in the majors. The bat has become less of a question. Jackson has a disciplined approach and improved his ability to make sharper, harder contact this season. He maintained his strength this season and a swing that found that gaps. His 34 doubles ranked second in the Texas League, and he finished in the top 10 for total bases (221). His season earned him an invite to the Arizona Fall League, where he served as a utility infielder, getting starts around the diamond. He’s expected to advance to Triple-A as the starting shortstop, though his utility turn preps him for the majors, where his initial role could be utility, like Punto’s.


(stltoday.com)

If you were to map out a projected lineup of the Cardinals for the next three, four or five years, many of the everyday positions wouldn’t be that difficult.  Matt Holliday’s under contract for a while.  Yadier Molina is, too.  Allen Craig and David Freese don’t figure to be going anywhere.

But what about shortstop?  That’s got to be the hardest one to figure out.  Rafael Furcal is signed through 2013 and, at 34, isn’t exactly getting much younger.

The Cardinals have tried and tried and tried to draft young shortstops and develop them in big leaguers.  And time and time again they’ve failed.  2007 1st round pick Pete Kozma has just 556 hits in 2355 career minor league at-bats (for those scoring at home that’s a borderline embarrassing .236 average).  The recently departed Tyler Greene actually made it to the big leagues but couldn’t crack even a .300 on-base percentage for his career.

There is someone else though.  He’s slowly but surely worked his way up the minor league system without the burden of carrying the label of “1st round pick” unlike Kozma and Greene.

In 2009 the Redbirds drafted this kid named Ryan Jackson out of Miami (FL) in the 5th round.  When he was picked, then-VP of amateur scouting Jeff Luhnow called him major league ready defensively.  It was his offense that needed to catch up.

By all accounts and reports, Jackson hasn’t really done anything to lose his value on the defensive end.  In fact, in my experience watching him in spring training, I’ve seen someone who is remarkably consistent and can make the occasional great play.  Think just a notch below what Brendan Ryan used to do.
Jackson’s offense though has been better than the pessimists feared.  However, there are still questions about whether he’ll hit enough at the big league level to be a starter.

The Miami native usually hangs around the .300 mark for a while but has ended up finishing every season in the .270 range to go along with a .330 or so on-base percentage. 

If that holds true in the majors, I think the Cards would find that to be serviceable on a daily basis.  Getting gold glove caliber play defensively at a premium position while getting solid-if-unspectacular offense hitting, say, 8th is nothing to sneeze at.  Especially if someone like Kolten Wong gives them a long term option hitting leadoff. 

Ryan Jackson will start to get his first taste of the big leagues as he is brought up to take the roster spot vacated by Tyler Greene.  Time will tell if he can develop into a legitimate starter or just be a simple utility guy. 

Otherwise the search for the future shortstop on this ball club might continue for a few more years.


(kmov.com)

Ryan Jackson was the Springfield Cardinals’ everyday shortstop just last season. On Thursday night, the St. Louis Cardinals called up him up to the big leagues, according to published reports.

Jackson was batting .269 with a .331 on-base percentage and .398 slugging percentage this season at Triple-A Memphis. He has hit 10 home runs and 23 doubles, collecting 45 RBIs.

Jackson was a fifth-round draft pick in 2009 out of the University of Miami (Fla.) and teamed with slugger Matt Adams in the Double-A Texas League. He hit .273 last season, doing far better in many stretches, and had a penchant for hitting to the opposite field. He also was one of the best defenders in the league.
His call-up came hours after the Cardinals traded infielder Tyler Greene to the Houston Astros.


(news-leader.com)