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Brendan Ryan

When David Eckstein was placed on the D.L., the Cardinals recalled AAA SS Brendan Ryan to fill Eck's roster spot. The initial opinion was he would fill the back-up middle infielder role behind SS Aaron Miles and 2B Adam Kennedy. That has not quite been the case. He started Saturday and Sunday against lefties Joe Kennedy and Lenny DiNardo. Given, Aaron Miles started Friday night's game versus righty Danny Haren, one is naturally led towards the conclusion there is a platoon going on.

That may be the case, but Kennedy was removed after five innings and DiNardo didn't finish the 4th inning, but Ryan remained in the game both times with Adam Kennedy remaining on the bench. Will this continue with Ryan off to a 1-7 start against righties? Maybe not, but his minor league numbers show the ability to put the bat on the ball with a persistent 85%+ contact rate. He has some speed too. In fact, he seems statistically interchangeable with the current mix of Cardinals' middle infielders - Dave Eckstein included.

It is not as if Brendan Ryan is without recognition either. Baseball America ranked him as the 12th best prospect in the organization entering this season, and John Sickels' also thought enough of him to include him in his 2007 Prospect Book.

Year Team Lg Age Level AB XBH HR RBI SB BB SO AVG OBP SLG CR BABIP
2003 New Jersey NYPL 21 A- 193 18 0 13 11 14 25 0.311 0.363 0.425 87.0% 0.357
2004 Peoria Midw 22 A 426 27 2 59 30 24 42 0.322 0.356 0.404 90.1% 0.353
2005 Palm Beach FSL 23 A+ 188 18 1 16 8 15 20 0.303 0.355 0.41 89.4% 0.335
Springfiel Tex 23 AA 154 11 2 9 6 15 19 0.273 0.343 0.377 87.7% 0.301
2006 State Coll NYPL 24 A- 34 0 0 3 1 3 4 0.235 0.282 0.235 88.2% 0.267
Palm Beach FSL 24 A+ 14 1 0 1 1 0 2 0.429 0.429 0.5 85.7% 0.500
Springfiel Tex 24 AA 43 1 0 3 1 3 6 0.302 0.348 0.326 86.0% 0.351
Memphis PCL 24 AAA 26 1 1 6 1 1 3 0.154 0.185 0.269 88.5% 0.136
2007 Memphis PCL 25 AAA 256 14 1 13 12 17 34 0.266 0.315 0.348 86.7% 0.303