Greatest omission Sandy Alcantara.
Latest News (Feb 22, 2017)
Alcantara, a non-roster invitee to spring training and promising prospect, has made impressive physical strides over the last year, Jose de Jesus Oritz of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports. "He's a specimen," Cardinals manager Mike Matheny said. "This guy is impressive in how he's developed over the last year. A year ago you just saw a very thin (player who) just still looked kind of like a kid. He looks like a man who has taken the next step. Watching his athleticism, watching the way he moves, watching how he handles just his disposition and his mound disposition as well, there's a lot of things that he's improved on over the last year."
Analysis: Alcantara firmly remains a developmental project after compiling a 5-11 record over 23 starts between Low-A Peoria and High-A Palm Beach in 2016, but has undeniably eye-opening stuff. The 21-year-old boasts a 100 mph-fastball, a changeup that tops out at about 90 mph, a sharp-breaking curve and an effective sinker. That arsenal helped produce 153 whiffs over 122.2 innings last season, although Alcantara offset those impressive numbers with 59 walks, an area in which he clearly has room for improvement. Given his skill set and potential, Alcantara will be one of the more intriguing non-roster invitees to monitor in Cardinals' camp, and could well start the 2017 campaign at the Double-A level with a strong spring training effort.