Jaime Garcia: 1 of 10 St. Louis Cardinals to Watch During Spring Training

ST. LOUIS — It will be “news” Friday when Jaime Garcia walks onto one of the pitching mounds at the St. Louis Cardinals' spring training complex in Jupiter, Florida, to throw a bullpen session during the team’s first official workout.

While that development in and of itself is not really significant, Garcia is definitely someone who bears watching over the next six weeks.

Almost a forgotten man on the Cardinals’ staff because of his injury problems the last couple of seasons that limited him to a combined 16 starts, Garcia is reportedly progressing well from the thoracic outlet syndrome surgery that ended his 2014 season prematurely, as told to me by general manager John Mozeliak.

Whether that progress will continue when Garcia actually begins pitching to live batters remains to be seen, but if it does, it raises several interesting options for Mozeliak and manager Mike Matheny.

There are injury concerns, which have been well documented, with starters Adam Wainwright and Michael Wacha. While early indications from Florida have been positive for both pitchers, there always will be a lingering worry that new, or old, problems could crop up again.

Having Garcia available as a possible fill-in for either pitcher, even on a temporary basis, could be a good situation.

The team also is promising to give Carlos Martinez every opportunity to win the fifth spot in the rotation, but should he struggle, a healthy Garcia could be waiting as an alternative.

Garcia’s return to health could also mean the team would feel more confident in having rookie Marco Gonzales pitching every fifth day in the rotation at Triple-A Memphis, where he would be only a phone call away if a need arose, instead of being used in the major league level as an extra reliever.

One somewhat off-the-wall possibility if Garcia is healthy would be for the Cardinals to go with six starting pitchers instead of five, even though it would not necessarily be a straight “rotation.” They could use Garcia as a spot starter to give Wainwright, Wacha and Martinez some extra rest between starts, reducing their workloads while also not over-working Garcia.

Garcia, of course, is not the only player in the Cardinals camp who will be interesting to watch this spring. Here are nine more, not ranked in any particular order:

Sam Tuivailala

A right-handed reliever, the 22-year-old Tuivailala shot through the system last year, reaching the majors in September after starting the season at Class A Palm Beach. A third-round pick as a shortstop in 2010, he has only been pitching since 2012.

His best asset is a 100 mph fastball, but he needs to develop more secondary pitches and better control before he will be ready to contribute at the major league level. Anybody who throws as hard as he does, however, deserves attention. He most likely will begin the year at Triple-A Memphis.

Mitch Harris

This is another incredible success story, even if Harris never makes it to the majors during the regular season. A former Navy Lieutenant, the story has been well told of how Harris had to complete a five-year military obligation before beginning his professional career at age 27 in 2013.

Now his age and lack of experience are irrelevant.

Harris does not have Tuivailala’s velocity, but he can throw three pitches for strikes and has gotten more confident in all of them. He most likely will begin the year with Tuivailala in the Memphis bullpen.

Aledmys Diaz 

Signed by the Cardinals last year after he defected from Cuba, Diaz had a hard time staying on the field because of a sore right shoulder, most likely the result of having gone more than a year without playing while waiting to sign with a team. The Cardinals believe he is now healthy.

Diaz will get a shot to play shortstop, probably at the Double-A level to begin the year, and his performance with both the glove and bat will dictate how fast the organization wants to bring him along.

Stephen Piscotty 

Probably the organization’s best prospect who has not reached the majors, Piscotty will battle for a spot on the big-league club but could return to Memphis because of the logjam in the Cardinals outfield. What will be interesting to see is if the work Piscotty did this winter with his college hitting coach at Stanford will produce more power from a redesigned swing.

As good of a prospect as Piscotty is, he has hit only 29 homers in more than 1,200 at-bats in his first three minor league seasons.

Sam Freeman

Some of those most interested in watching Freeman this spring will be opposing scouts. Because he is out of options, the Cardinals would have to put Freeman on waivers if they want to send him back to the minors, or they could try to trade him if he is not going to make the big-league team.

That possibility will probably hinge on the health of Kevin Siegrist or if the team decides it wants to keep three left-handers in the bullpen if they have an all-right-handed starting rotation.

Jordan Walden 

Acquired from Atlanta with Jason Heyward, Walden is expected to inherit the eighth-inning role filled last season by Pat Neshek, who is now in Houston. Walden is four years removed from saving 32 games for the Angels in 2011, which at least raises the possibility he could be in line as a substitute for closer Trevor Rosenthal if that need should arise.

The Cardinals are hoping it won’t, of course, and hope Walden can be just as effective pitching in front of Rosenthal as Neshek was, in part because he was just as effective last year against left-handed batters (who hit .188 against him) as he was against right-handers (who hit .185).

Dean Anna 

One of four candidates, at least as the spring opens, to win the competition to be the Cardinals’ backup infielder, Anna split last season between the Yankees and Pirates organizations before signing as a free agent.

He is a left-handed hitter, which could be an advantage since most of the team’s other bench candidates hit right-handed. He had a down year offensively last season, one year after ranking as one of the top hitters in the Pacific Coast League when he was a member of the Padres organization.

Ty Kelly 

Another of the backup infielder candidates, Kelly was acquired in a minor league trade from Seattle. A switch-hitter, Kelly is two years younger than Anna and hit 15 homers last year in Triple-A. What could work against Kelly is that he has played only one game at shortstop in six years in the minors, and the Cardinals need whomever wins this spot to be able to fill in occasionally for Jhonny Peralta.

Either Anna or Kelly would have to beat out Pete Kozma to win this job, and Kozma—like Freeman—is out of options.

Tim Cooney 

The 24-year-old Cooney led the Memphis staff with 14 wins last season but struggled more with his control than he has in past years. A third-round pick from Wake Forest in 2012, the left-handed Cooney probably is headed back to Triple-A to begin the year, but the Cardinals want to get a good enough look at him this spring so they can make some projections about his future.

Rob Rains covers the Cardinals for Stlsportspage.com. Follow Rob Rains on Twitter @RobRains