Today we return to our postseason wrapup of the Cards’ minor league teams in 2018, level by level. The complex leagues are out of the way, and so we move up the ladder to the short-season affiliates in the Appalachian and New York-Penn League.
By way of offering some context, short season ball begins after the draft each June, and is generally the first stop for most college players selected. Short season ball is an interesting mix of ages and polish levels, with kids as young as eighteen occasionally taking the field (especially in the Appy League), and going up against college senior signs, guys with four years of DI ball under their belts, already having figured out how to out-guile the guys getting the big bonus checks.