32-year old righty starting pitcher Brad Penny and 23-year old lefty starting pitcher Jaime Garcia are off to impressive starts for the Cardinals this season. With Chris Carpenter and Adam Wainwright at the top of the rotation the Cardinals’ pitching has been awesome. Penny has been incredible so far as he seems to have learned a lot about pitching from Dave Duncan (Cards’ pitching coach). Penny has started 4 games for the Cardinals so far this season and he is 3-0 with a 0.94 ERA and a 0.98 WHIP. He has been very aggressive in the strike zone as he has whiffed 15 batters while only walking 3 in 28 2/3 innings so far this year. If Penny keeps attacking the strike zone the way he is right now and he stays healthy he might have the most wins on the Cardinals’ pitching staff this year. 23-year old rookie lefty starting pitcher Jaime Garcia came into this season as the Cardinals’ #2 prospect according to Baseball America and he’s showing why so far. He has started 4 games for the Cardinals so far this year and he is 2-1 with a 1.04 ERA and a 0.96 WHIP. He has only allowed 16 hits in 26 innings while whiffing 17 batters which shows what kind of stuff he has. Penny and Garcia will give the Cardinals the most quality depth of any rotation in all of baseball if they keep up the good work.

The Cardinals have signed 33-year old switch hitting infielder Aaron Miles to a minor league deal. Miles played in 74 games for the Cubs last season and he was 29 of 157 (.185 avg, .466 OPS) with 17 runs scored, 5 RBIs and 3 stolen bases. Manager Tony LaRussa is a very loyal manager and he remembers how well Miles played for him from 2006-08 which is likely why he was signed. Miles played in 402 games in his three years in St. Louis and he was 352 of 1,219 (.289 avg, .698 OPS) with 152 runs scored, 8 homers, 93 RBIs and 7 stolen bases. If Miles gets off to a good start in the minors he will likely get called up by the Cardinals quickly.

Starting CF Colby Rasmus is really swinging a lethal bat right now for the Cardinals. Rasmus has played in 18 games for the Cardinals this season and he is 17 of 54 (.315 avg, 1.199 OPS) with 13 runs scored, 6 homers, 11 RBIs and 3 stolen bases. Rasmus has whiffed 18 times already this season but he does have 12 walks so he appears to be swinging at better pitches this season. With so many other great hitters on the Cardinals, Rasmus doesn’t have a lot of pressure on him to produce. Look for him to take advantage of that this season as he will likely have a HUGE second year in St. Louis.

Brendan Ryan came into this season as the starting shortstop based on his solid season he turned in for the Cardinals in 2009. But, he’s lucky that Felipe Lopez hurt himself recently or he might have gotten benched due to his awful hitting. Ryan has played in 18 games for the Cardinals this season and he is 9 for 57 (.158 avg, .472 OPS) with 4 runs scored and 4 RBIs. He is still a good defensive shortstop but the Cardinals won’t continue to carry him if he isn’t hitting.

The Cardinals have placed shortstop Felipe Lopez on the 15-day disabled list with right elbow soreness. Lopez has played in 15 games this season for the Cardinals and he is 12 of 44 (.273 avg, .779 OPS) with 6 runs scored, 1 homer, 4 RBIs and 2 stolen bases. This will hurt the Cardinals bench as Lopez is a good, versatile baseball player. The Cardinals have recalled 26-year old righty swinging shortstop Tyler Greene to replace Lopez on the active roster. Greene played in 18 games in AAA-ball this season and he is 19 for 69 (.275 avg, .785 OPS) with 11 runs scored, 2 homers, 6 RBIs and 4 stolen bases. He played in 48 games as a rookie for the Cardinals last season and he was 24 of 108 (.222 avg, .594 OPS) with 9 runs scored, 2 homers, 7 RBIs and 3 stolen bases. Greene did whiff 32 times last season as he looked overmatched quite a bit for the Cardinals. They hope he will play better for them this time around.