Cardinals Pitchers Maintain High Hopes

— Northwest Arkansas Naturals fans may have seen Shelby Miller or Seth Maness when they played for the Springfield Cardinals during the past two seasons.

The two pitchers hope to don a different Cardinals jersey in the upcoming weeks — the one belonging to the parent team in St. Louis. The only problem is there are a number of other players there with the same goal.

“It’s definitely going to be tough,” Miller said during the Cardinals Caravan, which took place Saturday afternoon at Missouri Southern State University. “I’m hoping they can find a way to put us all up there. If not, I’m sure somebody will have to go to Triple-A (Memphis), or somebody won’t be very happy.”

The 22-year-old Miller, who pitched against Northwest Arkansas during the 2011 season, was the Cardinals’ top draft pick in 2009 and has climbed through the minor league ranks. Now he is trying to break into a starting rotation that already features veterans such as Chris Carpenter, Adam Wainwright, Jake Westbrook and Jaime Garcia — if he’s healthy — as well as Lance Lynn, who won 18 games and earned All-Star status in his first year as a starter.

St. Louis thought enough of Miller to call him up in September, where he made six major-league appearances. That included the Cardinals’ regular-season finale Oct. 3 against Cincinnati, where he earned his first start and picked up the win with a six-inning outing.

“That was fun,” he said. “You’re taking a no-hitter into the sixth inning — that’s pretty awesome. That’s obviously the highlight of it. I was just thankful to get the start, and the way it came out, it was one of my best games of the year.”

Maness, 23, began last season at Class-A Advanced Palm Beach and was promoted to Springfield, where the right-hander compiled an 11-3 record with a 3.27 earned run average. It was impressive enough that he was named a Texas League All-Star at the end of the season.

He realizes he’s probably headed to Triple-A Memphis to start the season, but the 11th-round pick out in the 2012 draft hasn’t changed his mindset about how he will approach spring training next month.

“Really, you can’t look too far into it,” he said. “You just want to take things one game at a time and one day at a time, then put in the work you need to do.

“Just take it slow and hope for the best. Things aren’t going to happen overnight, so I have to work my way up there. That’s the goal. Wherever they put me, that’s not going to change my attitude.”

Even if their time in St. Louis isn’t this season, former pitcher and current television commentator Al Hrabosky believes it’s just a matter of time before they are in the big leagues for good.

“One thing I know is Shelby Miller, Trevor Rosenthal and Joe Kelly — all those guys are very talented,” Hrabosky said. “They’re all going to have successful major-league careers, and even Seth Maness — in some ways — is more accomplished than the others.

“The Cardinals will have competition there, and we know you can never have enough pitching. The Cardinals are well-armed, if anybody goes down.”

Upcoming Events