Arozarena perfect at plate for Springfield

This season has not gone according to plan for Randy Arozarena. But it might be what's best for his career.
The 23-year-old was slated to spend the entire season with the Double-A Springfield, but injuries on the big league club afforded Arozarena two extended stints with Triple-A Memphis. Based on Wednesday's showcase in his first Texas League game since May 17, the experience has done wonders for his development.
The seventh-ranked Cardinals prospect went 4-for-4 with a pair of homers and a double, driving in four runs and scoring four times to power Springfield past Northwest Arkansas, 10-6, at Hammons Field. The teams totaled 21 hits, including six long balls.

"He is definitely ahead of schedule," Springfield manager Johnny Rodriguez said. "He was in High-A for almost all of last season and so far he's spent more of this season at Memphis than with us, and he's performing. He's been doing really well over there and every time he comes back here he does a good job.
"He's a spark in our lineup. He's a big energy guy and he's got a lot of confidence right now and it rubs off on people."
Arozarena batted .238/.326/.351 with 15 extra-base hits, 23 RBIs and 28 runs scored in 66 total games with the Redbirds. In 14 Texas League contests, the right fielder has six roundtrippers, 17 RBIs and 16 runs scored. He raised his batting average 44 points to .429 on Wednesday.
"He's a very exciting player," Rodriguez said. "And every time he gets sent back here he takes it as a challenge."
Against the Naturals, Arozarena opened the scoring for Springfield with a hard-hit double to left field off Royals No. 8 prospectScott Blewett (4-6) to drive home Tommy Edman in the first inning. After leading off the third with a single to left on an 0-2 pitch, he aggressively went first-to-third on a base hit by No. 28 prospect Evan Mendoza then scampered home on John Nogowski's sacrifice fly.
"It's not just a bat with him. He can play defense and he can run," Rodriguez said. "When he's on the bases, he puts a lot of pressure on the defense. He not afraid to take off when the opportunity is there."
Gameday box score
Arozarena got things going again in the fifth with a moonshot to left on a first-pitch fastball from Blewett. The native of Cuba doubled down two innings later as he worked the count full against righty Dallas Beeler, then turned around a high heater for a two-run shot to left-center to give the Cardinals an 8-0 advantage and cap his first four-hit, multi-homer performance of the year.
"Both of those shots tonight were tape-measure shots," Rodriguez said. "That's the thing about him, he doesn't miss mistakes. If you make a mistake against him, he's going to identify it and hit it. That's what happened tonight: they made four mistakes up in the zone and he launched two and just got on top of two.
"I noticed this time around his swing is shorter, more compact. And like I said, he looks very confident right now. I'm not sure how long he's going to stick around here this time, but we're sure happy to have him back."

Cardinals left-hander Austin Warner (1-3) earned his first Texas League win after allowing four hits and three walks with five punchouts over seven scoreless frames.
Johan Mieses blasted a solo shot and Lane Thomas added a two-run dinger for Springfield.
Top-ranked Royals prospect Khalil Lee smacked his first Texas League homer to lead off the eighth.