Johnson City Cardinals Release Official 2018 Roster

  JOHNSON CITY, TN - The Johnson City Cardinals in conjunction with the St. Louis Cardinals, have announced their initial roster for the upcoming 2018 season. The first roster is comprised of 29 players, and broken down further to 15 pitchers, three catchers, seven infielders, and four outfielders. The Cardinals start their season on Tuesday, June 19th, 2018 on the road against the Bluefield Blue Jays.
  Among the 29 players, the Cardinals have three returning players that have either spent the 2017 or 2016 season as a member of the team. The group of returning Cardinals are all pitchers, Juan Alvarez, David Oca, and Edwar Ramirez.
     Offense will be a big focus for the Cardinals in 2018 as they look to improve on their .249 team average from 2017 which was tied for seventh among all Appalachian League teams.
  One offensive catalyst the Cardinals will look to take form early is 2018 1st round pick Nolan Gorman who was drafted out of Sandra Day O'Connor High School. Gorman was a highly touted high school prospect who was selected by the Cardinals 19th overall.
  The other seven infielders that will dawn a Cardinals jersey this season are Moises Castillo, Luis Flores, Darmiel Gomez, Michael Perri, Donivan Williams, and Kevin Woodall.
  Johnson City will start the season with three backstops.   Zach Jackson, who spent the 2017 season with the GCL Cardinals and played in 14 games. He was a 6th round pick for St. Louis in the 2017 MLB First Year Player Draft. Joining Jackson is Benito Santiago who was drafted in the 34th round of the 2018 draft out of the University of Tennessee. Santiago had a very good career at Tennessee, hitting for a career average of .257 but his defense is what was stellar, only committing three errors out of 33 games in 2017. The final catcher on the roster is Carlos Soto, who spent 2017 with the GCL Cardinals, where he hit .239 but started in 28 games as a catcher and only committed 5 errors.
  The outfielders for Johnson City this season are familiar with each other, playing with the GCL Cardinals in 2017. Leandro Cedeno, Jonatan Machado, Sanel Rosendo, and Brian Sanchez all played in the GCL in 2017.
  Expected to begin the season in the Cardinals' rotation is returning right hander, Edwar Ramirez. He will be alongside Oneiver Diaz, Noel De Jesus, Junior Gonzalez, Hector Villalobos, and Kyle Leahy, all who are scheduled to make their Johnson City debuts this season.
  Johnson City's bullpen too has some familiar faces, including, Juan Alvarez and David Oca. Alongside Alvarez and Oca are Enrique Perez, Evan Sisk, Tommy Parsons, Parker Kelly, Colin Schmid, and Jacob Sylvester, all are scheduled to make their Johnson City debuts this season as well.
     Roberto Espinoza returns for his second year as Manager of the Johnson City Cardinals. Fellow fresh faces, Rick Harig will take over as the team's pitching coach, and Cody Gabella joins Johnson City as the team's hitting coach.
    Johnson City will begin their 2018 campaign on the road on Tuesday, June 19th, starting a three-gmae series against the Bluefield Blue Jays, the Rookie affiliate of the Toronto Blue Jays.