WEST PALM BEACH, Fla.—Cardinals righthander Daniel Ponce de Leon, who has a Grapefruit League earned run average of 4.26, will make his final start of spring training Thursday night against the Houston Astros and Jose Urquidy. Ponce de Leon tentatively is slated for a regular-season start in Miami in the second series of the season but that depends on Kwang Hyun Kim’s readiness after his spring was thwarted by some back tightness.
Kim is slated to pitch sometime this weekend in a Grapefruit League game and might be available to start a regulation game by the time the Cardinals leave Cincinnati to go to Miami although club officials so far don’t seem to be counting on him to be ready to start a regular-season game quite that soon.