Cardinals calling up top prospect Carlson

ST. LOUIS -- As the Cardinals received clearance to resume their regular-season schedule Saturday against the White Sox, they also planned for what their club will look like when it does return -- and how top prospect Dylan Carlson will be on it.

Carlson headlines the five players that the Cardinals will be promoting from their alternate training site in Springfield, Mo., for this weekend’s series against the White Sox, president of baseball operations John Mozeliak said Thursday. Carlson is the club's No. 1 prospect and No. 18 in the game by MLB Pipeline.

Right-hander Seth Elledge, left-hander Rob Kaminsky and first baseman John Nogowski will join Carlson in making their debuts in their first appearances. The Cardinals will also recall lefty Ricardo Sánchez, who is already on the 40-man roster and will be designated as the Cardinals’ 29th man for their Saturday doubleheader.

The Cardinals will also add longtime third-base coach Jose Oquendo to the Major League coaching staff, as well as Roberto Espinoza, who has been helping Oquendo run the Springfield camp. The club will announce additional coaching additions to the alternate site once those coaches clear intake testing.

Carlson’s debut has been long awaited by fans and the club, which selected the 21-year-old in the first round of the 2016 MLB Draft. The switch-hitting outfielder made headlines last year as the Texas League MVP, and he didn’t slow down when he was promoted to Triple-A Memphis for the final few weeks of the season. Carlson hit .292/.372/.542 with a .914 OPS in 126 games across two Minor League levels last season.

He was invited to Summer Camp at Busch Stadium when baseball returned, and the Cardinals played him in all three outfield spots. But Carlson has been part of the Springfield camp since Opening Day. The Cards had maintained that his opportunity was near, but the first chances at starting would go to Tyler O’Neill and Lane Thomas. O’Neill has solidified his spot in left field, but Thomas, as well as Austin Dean, were two of the three most recent players to test positive for COVID-19 this past weekend.

Mozeliak has also maintained that when Carlson did reach the Majors, it would be when he could play often. That will likely be the case when the St. Louis resumes its packed schedule Saturday.

“I would imagine he’s going to play, just like I stated all along,” Mozeliak said Thursday.

The players in Springfield have one distinct advantage over those on the Major League roster: They’ve continued playing with live batting practice and simulated games, while the Cardinals were quarantined for six days in Milwaukee and another week in St. Louis.

“I would think they’re in a good spot to go compete,” Mozeliak said. “That’s important right now. All of them had very good camps down there, and feedback from Oquendo and others was extremely positive. Given where we are, it’s nice that we can add some fresh bodies to what we’re dealing with.”

The Cardinals made moves to rearrange the 40-man roster to make room for some of the Springfield players to join the team. Miles Mikolas (right forearm strain) was moved from the 10-day injured list to the 60-day, confirmed by an official with the team, which opened one spot on the 40-man roster. The Cardinals can add to the 40-man to replace players who were placed on the IL, but doing so will require a subsequent transaction to clear a spot for that player to return.

Elledge, the team’s No. 28 prospect, is a big 24-year-old who has racked up a 11.6 strikeouts per nine innings over three seasons in the Minors. The Cardinals signed Kaminsky, their former first-round Draft pick who they traded to the Indians in 2015, to a Minor League deal this winter. And Nogowski impressed the Cardinals this spring with his standout defense and plate discipline. He hit .295/.413/.476 as a starter for Triple-A Memphis last season.

Here are the other moves and plans Mozeliak outlined Thursday:

• Adam Wainwright is scheduled to start the first game Saturday, followed by a bullpen game for the second game. Dakota Hudson is scheduled to start Sunday.

• Left-hander Austin Gomber will be placed on the COVID-19 injured list, not because he tested positive, but because the club, through contact tracing, identified Gomber as potentially at risk for testing positive. He’s been quarantining and testing daily, and the move will allow him to begin to work out this weekend alone at Busch Stadium. The club hopes to activate Gomber by early next week.

• The Cardinals are bringing additional taxi squad players on the road trip to Chicago, and they will announce those in the coming days.

• Catcher Pedro Pages, right-hander Bryan Dobzanski and shortstop Kramer Robertson have been added to the alternate training site and have cleared intake testing.