Aledmys Diaz Recalled

The St. Louis Cardinals have announced a pair of roster additions, recalling infielder Aledmys Diaz and pitcher Josh Lucas for their active roster.

Both players were part of the Memphis Redbirds, which just completed their season last night–losing to the Durham Bulls in the Triple A National Championship Game.

Optioned on June 27th, Diaz spent the first 71 games of this season with St. Louis and still leads the team with 19 infield hits. He hit .253 with 4 home runs and 26 RBIs in 46 games at Memphis.

Besides playing 28 games at shortstop, Diaz also expanded his defense to include 9 games at third base and 6 games at second while in Memphis. He was 3rd in the PCL with 17 saves for Memphis and struck out 68 batters in 60.0 IP.

“He’s looked really good at third base,” said Memphis Manager Stubby Clapp in a recent interview of Diaz. “He’s probably had the majority of time moving around at third base. He’s moved off contact really well over there and sure enough, over at second base he’s turned some nice double plays. And he’s made the transition, kind of going the other way, he’s made that transition pretty decent too. Matter of fact, this last week he’s looked really good moving off the ball.”

Back on August 19th, Lucas made his debut with 2.0 innings against Pittsburgh.

Both players will join the team in Cincinnati for tonight’s game. Diaz will wear his familiar number 36, while Lucas has been assigned 77.

photo credit: Bill Greenblatt/UPI