10 rookies make their big-league debuts during Cardinals ‘Rush Week’
Telling a minor leaguer that he’s made it to the big leagues is a special moment for anyone given the privilege of passing along that news. Part of the excitement is the rarity; in the history of the game, less than 20,000 people have gotten the call.
“One of the best things you can possibly do — and a high percentage of why you do it — is to get guys in the minor leagues, as a minor league instructor or manager, to the big leagues,” St. Louis Cardinals manager Mike Shildt said.
Shildt knows all about the grind; he spent 13 years as a coach or manager in the St. Louis minor league system.
“It’s a huge reward to tell a guy he’s going to play major league baseball and be one of a very, very, very, very small fraternity,” he said.
This week, for the Cardinals, has been rush week.
Ten players have made their Major League Baseball debuts since the team arrived in Chicago — three (Dylan Carlson, Max Schrock, Jake Woodford) on Saturday, four (Seth Elledge, Rob Kaminsky, John Nogowski, Roel Ramírez) on Sunday, two (Nabil Crismatt and Ricardo Sánchez) on Monday, and Jesus Cruz on Tuesday.
In 2020, though, even the call to the big leagues gets spread around.
Carlson got a phone call from José Oqeundo, who had been running the alternate training site at Springfield and is now back coaching third base in the big leagues. Elledge was tapped by minor league pitching coordinator Tim Leveque and given a few days notice. Nogowski was simply told to get in the car and start driving; it was unclear whether he would be promoted to the active roster or the taxi squad, but time was of the essence.
Halfway through the drive from Springfield to St. Louis, director of baseball administration John Vuch got Nogowski on the phone and told him he was officially a big leaguer.
“That was pretty cool,” said Nogowski, who at 27 is the elder statesman of the group, “because (Vuch) was the guy that saw me in (independent) ball in Sioux City and kind of the guy that first kind of believed in me here with the Cardinals and saw me and gave me a chance. So pretty special, for sure.”
“It was very kind of John to say those things,” Vuch said in an electronic message on Sunday night. “I think all of us in the organization are very excited whenever a player who has worked as hard as John has throughout his career gets the opportunity to fulfill a longtime goal.”
Woodford didn’t find out he was starting the second half of Saturday’s doubleheader until the first half concluded. He had time, he said, to shoot a quick text to his family and get right back to work, where he turned in three strong innings marked only by a solo home run in a game the Cardinals would go on to win.
For his efforts, he was rewarded with an option back to the team’s taxi squad and off the active roster.
Typically, he’d have to wait 10 days in the minors or for an injury to be re-added to the team, but with the Cardinals having another twin bill set for Monday at Wrigley Field, he was able to be activated again on Monday.
He was sent out again on Monday night and will be recalled once more on Wednesday. The wheel of pitching never stops spinning.
Ramírez is the lone novice who struggled, suffering the ignominy of becoming the first pitcher in Major League history to allow four consecutive home runs in his debut. With a total of three innings pitched in the minors at a level higher than Double-A, he found himself thrust into a position that, ordinarily, he would never have been found.
He received universal support and acclaim for his body of work from teammates and coaches alike on Sunday afternoon. It’s a difficult situation, and eventually, the Cardinals were bound to be bit by the debut bee.
The mass of young players, many of whom have played together throughout the minor leagues and at Springfield this summer, may be able to find some strength in their commonality, or even some calm among an unusually roiling season.
Nogowski, for one, joked that he could’ve used the calm, since he felt his heart beating out of his chest in his first two at bats. The togetherness, though, was present.
“It’s just kind of cool because you’re here with your best friends,” Nogowski said. “We’ve rode the busses or the planes at Triple-A and we’ve kinda been through it together, and the struggles when it’s tough.
“We’ve seen each other be really, really good too. It’s pretty special to be able to share that moment with your friends that you’ve kind of grown relationships with over these last three years.”
Nogowski stuck around with the team on the road trip, but he was optioned to the taxi squad between the games of Monday’s double header. Room was needed for righty Ryan Meisinger.
Meisinger struck out two and induced a double play on Tuesday night. He should’ve been more than comfortable; he now has 22 and ⅔ career Major League innings pitched.
That makes him one of the staff’s most experienced arms.
This story was originally published August 19, 2020 at 9:56 AM.
