JUPITER, Fla. • He is not the blazer like Jordan Hicks or Alex Reyes. Or at the next level, Ryan Helsley. But Jake Woodford, a 22-year-old Tampa area product, may be the Cardinals’ next top pitching prospect, a righthander you don’t really know. Yet.
Woodford made his spring debut Monday, throwing two innings and allowing two runs in the second to the Detroit Tigers in a game that ended in a 3-3 tie as the Cardinals rallied for two runs in the ninth. The tying run scored on a two-out single by little infielder Tommy Edman, who is five for 10 so far this spring and is “the Little Silent Assassin,” according to manager Mike Shildt.