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 |