St. Louis Cardinals ‘misfits’ shock Team Waino to win pitcher fielder practice title
John Brebbia was one of the last people in Cardinals camp to learn that he was on the path to a championship.
The righty reliever was in Roger Dean Stadium on Wednesday morning having shots taken for the team’s annual picture day when the schedule was posted for the second annual pitchers fielding practice championship.
Brebbia, along with Adam Wainwright, Andrew Miller, Carlos Martínez, Jack Flaherty, and Tyler Webb, would have to select five teammates to join him on a trip through a series of stations which were established to test various fielding proficiencies.
At the end, Team Brebbia -- the Bad News Bears? The Cardinals? -- was the last crew standing, defeating Team Miller in the championship bunt-off.
“PFPs are cool, winning a world championship is cooler,” Brebbia said. “So that’s what we were playing for today.”
The early morning clubhouse air was thick with anticipation. Cardinals bullpen coach Bryan Eversgerd suggested that Dakota Hudson could be a sleeper draft pick, thanks to his year-over-year improvement in the rag ball drill. Pitching coach Mike Maddux pointed out three names on the roster as those to watch -- Daniel Ponce de Leon, John Gant, and Jake Woodford.
In the end, each of those players would compete for the title.
Gant, Hudson, and Woodford were joined by Rob Kaminsky and Akeem Bostick on Team Miller. Ponce de Leon, a champion now after last year’s runner-up finish, was grouped with Evan Kruczynski, Ramón Santos, Seth Elledge, and Bryan Dobzanski on Team Brebbia.
Ponce de Leon started the morning throwing daggers, suggesting that any pitcher should want a place on Team Wainwright, given that he believed Wainwright’s team was judged less harshly than its opponents.
Alex Reyes, last year’s first overall pick, was selected in that spot by Wainwright once again. He was followed in order by Gant (Miller), Austin Gomber (Martínez), Ryan Helsley (Flaherty), Kruczynski (Brebbia) and Kwang-hyun Kim (Webb) in the draft’s first round.
Webb joked that his strategy for the draft would be to pick players whose names that he knew, and suggested that he would try to lean heavily left handed. He did select Kim and Brett Cecil with his first two picks, fulfilling that part of his strategy.
He was left without Giovanny Gallegos, who lobbied to be a part of Webb’s team by telling the lefty that he had “the best hands in Mexico.” Gallegos would be snapped up by Flaherty just two picks after Webb selected Cecil.
The six teams cycled through six stations, comprising bunting, infield defensive plays, rag ball (fielding fungo-hit soft balls from close range), covering home plate, catching pop-ups, and fielding hard-hit grounders.
Injured pitchers Jordan Hicks and Miles Mikolas stood watch, keeping score at some of the stations. Teammates offered varying bribes with varying degrees of seriousness and lobbied their coaches hard for relief on plays which they believed were unfairly scored against them.
Gant attempted penance, offering to “wear one on the chest” if Eversgerd would deduct demerits from his team’s score. Hudson chimed in that he would “take one off the throat” and still refuse to move, in an effort to prove his mettle.
The championship round was preceded by a round of jeers and cheers from the assembled Cardinals as they watched Brebbia enthusiastically declare that his group preferred to be the road team.
“Backs against the wall,” Brebbia said.
He declared they would fight out, and his confidence was rewarded.
Santos was roundly razzed by his fellow Latin teammates as he squared around; Brebbia would estimate later that, “out of 15, 20 repetitions there was one time where it wasn’t executed, so he just nailed it.”
Ponce de Leon was given a different challenge. Flaherty stood at the edge of the cage, rocking it violently back and forth as Ponce de Leon bunted, causing it to sway in and out of his peripheral eyesight. Brebbia preferred it that way; better to simulate the environment of a Game 7.
“We want the reps and we want the challenge,” Brebbia said. “It’s real cool to come out here and take it easy, field our ground balls. It’s way cooler to stop a hot shot in game six or seven, pick the ball up, throw the guy out, celebrate, pop (bottles), wshhhhh, that’s a lot more fun.”
“We stressed to each other to treat it like a Game 7. We’re all under the same umbrella, the same brolly. We were constantly reminding each other that it’s Game 7 and we don’t hold anything back. It’s do or die.”
After some hesitation and consideration, Brebbia awarded his team’s Most Valuable Player award to Ponce de Leon.
“He was in the championship last year and they did not win the championship,” Brebbia said. “To watch him attack each station like he did today and carry this team to a championship was impressive.”
The reward for winning the tournament was unclear.
Team Wainwright and Team Martínez tied for last place, and the expectation is that they’ll be required to provide some personal valet services to Team Brebbia.
Brebbia, however, was concerned about being kind.
“I don’t know if I’ve got it in me to make anyone else get in my car,” he explained. “My AC broke. Air blows out of it but it’s not cold air. I’d feel really bad putting anyone in there.”
Perhaps, as a reward, he could pursue a fix?
“I’ll treat myself to a YouTube video on how to fix it,” he said.
To the victor goes the spoils.
