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http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/mlb/cardinals/2013/09/10/st-louis-cardinals-matt-carpenter-david-frees-allen-craig-homegrown-talken/2795691/

ST. LOUIS -- It's Matt Carpenter's turn.

The St. Louis Cardinals second baseman is an All-Star, a legitimate MVP candidate, the National League leader in runs, hits and doubles.

He wasn't even sure he was a second baseman until May. Now, he's another homegrown hero coming along at just the right time to help maintain the Cardinals' status as World Series contenders.

After all, it's the Cardinals Way.

One of baseball's most storied franchises is now a consistent juggernaut — on pace for its fourth playoff berth in five seasons — thanks to what can best be described as organizational mastery:

Identify and draft talented and versatile players. Teach them a wide variety of skills. Impart consistent franchise philosophies across all affiliates. And watch previously unheralded players flourish at the major league level.

It's a recurring theme: Third baseman David Freese and outfielder-first baseman Allen Craig became unlikely stars for an unlikely 2011 World Series winner, before Craig became the guy who has replaced and outhit Albert Pujols over the last two seasons and become a cornerstone of manager Mike Matheny's roster.

More recently, in the heat of a difficult National League Central race, 25-year-old Matt Adams, a 2009 23rd-round draft pick, has stepped up, hitting two extra-inning home runs to win a crucial game at the Cincinnati Reds. Adams is filling in for injured Craig, who two years ago was just like Adams: an unheralded product of the St. Louis farm system looking to prove he could play in the major leagues.

It's what the Cardinals do.

"The path that I've taken to get here — and Allen (took) — it's not your typical way," says Carpenter, a 13th-round draft pick who played five positions last season but earned his way into a regular role this season (he's still played three other positions) and found himself alongside Craig at the All-Star Game. "To see it pay off is pretty rewarding."

It is not your typical way, but it's the Cardinals Way.

They're often names familiar only to ultra-loyal St. Louis fans or your neighborhood fantasy geek.

But there always seems to be another one coming from a farm system that has become one of the game's most prolific.

"Next man up, the next guy is going to get it done," Matheny said Sunday after the sweep of the previously division-leading Pittsburgh Pirates was finished off by pitcher Michael Wacha, a 22-year-old making his sixth major league start.

"Expectations are high," general manager John Mozeliak says. "They embrace it."

And that's something of a learned trait in the Cardinals organization.

***

Philosophy's Roots are deep

That "next man up" philosophy goes back a half-century or so in an organization in which a coaching and development lifer named George Kissell — considered the godfather of how the Cards develop players — became as legendary as Hall of Famers such as Stan Musial and Red Schoendienst.

It stretches into the future in places such as Johnson City, Tenn., and Peoria, Ill., two of the Cardinals' Class A outposts.

"It seems like we're doing something magical," says former big-league catcher Dann Bilardello, in his first year managing the Class A team in Peoria and in his seventh season in the organization.

"In reality, we keep a consistent staff, and we consistently teach the right things."

They talk about the Cardinals Way in almost reverential tones. In seeking to explain it, players offer varying interpretations of the same theme.

"They preach how to get better but win at the same time," says pitcher Lance Lynn, who is a 31-17 since joining the St. Louis rotation last season.

"The Cardinal Way is simply being held accountable for your actions," Carpenter says. "It's integrity, playing hard, working hard, doing all the little things right."

Says Adams, "We're here to win a championship, and if you're not like that, you're just out there playing."

Adams figures he wouldn't be in the majors without the hours coaches spent working with him on defensive footwork or the in-season and offseason improvement plans he was given.

The teaching that Bilardello talks about is a difference-maker. It has to be, considering the success of players who, as Mozeliak says, "weren't necessarily high-profile, cover of Baseball America guys."

Yet the Cardinals turn them into household names.

"When Matt Carpenter first got here, would you have said he's going to be an All-Star? Allen Craig: What position? What's he going to do?" Bilardello asks.

"There's a lot of credit with scouting and everything else. But it's the players. They're the people who make our decisions hard or easy and, they make our decisions to say, 'Man, he deserves a shot.'"

Says Craig, who played every infield position as well as left and right field in the minors as the Cardinals sought a home for his offensive skills, "Every step of the way, I think I've had a coach who told me something that stuck."

***

Perfecting skills is focus

If you're looking for a secret formula, don't bother breaking into the Cardinals offices. They're what has become a fairly typical mix of traditional scouting and development people plus a healthy dose of statistical analysis.

"From an organizational philosophy, we embrace our past, we focus on today but have an eye for the future," says Mozeliak, who has been general manager since October 2007 and arguably holds the strongest sway over baseball operations since Whitey Herzog was building championship teams in the 1980s.

"The character theme gets a lot of play in this organization. We're certainly grateful for that reputation. But how we get there is not like a secret recipe. It comes down to strong scouts who understand what they're looking for and what will fit into our model. Then, once (players) get here, what the expectations are from our uniform staff."

What are they looking for?

"We look at what skills they have," Mozeliak says.

But they also try to perfect those skills.

Charlie Tilson is a 20-year-old outfielder the Cardinals took out of high school in the second round of the 2011 draft. Growing up in suburban Chicago, he didn't have the game repetition of some highly regarded Sun Belt kids.

In his first pro offseason, he was invited to St. Louis to work with veteran outfielder Matt Holliday.

"It was me, Ryan Jackson, Matt Adams and Kolten Wong (all fellow farmhands and now current Cardinals), and he took us through everything he does and how he prepares," Tilson says.

Tilson was sent to Peoria this year to get regular at-bats, and he hit .303.

"Obviously, I knew I belong," Tilson says.

Says Mozeliak, "Think of it as raw materials. When you're thinking about how to build something, he had a nice set of tools."

That's why, Mozeliak says, "we try to wear the more innovative hat."

Translation: Your position in the minors won't necessarily be your position in the majors. It's also why the Cardinals have tried to get one of Tilson's teammates, speedy outfielder C.J. McElroy (son of former major league pitcher Chuck McElroy) to bat left-handed in order to be a bigger threat as a leadoff man.

***

Model in action

That innovation carries over to the major league level.

Sure, they have their blue-chippers. Wacha was a 2012 first-rounder on the fast track; he also is one of 12 25-and-under pitchers the Cardinals have used this season.

Of the 12 offensive players with the most at-bats for St. Louis this year, all but Holliday and fellow outfielder Carlos Beltran are graduates of the farm system. Of the homegrown 10, only Freese and catcher Yadier Molina have turned 30.

No wonder Houston Astros general manager Jeff Luhnow, whose previous job was overseeing the Cardinals system, says of his franchise's rebuilding effort, "There are pieces of the Cardinals Way all over. We're bringing those to Houston."

And the Cardinals keep bringing theirs to St. Louis.

Wong is a 2011 first-rounder who made his debut last month.

"As soon as I got drafted, that day at Busch Stadium, I took BP," Wong says. "They told me to take some ground balls, and instantly (longtime coach) Jose Oquendo found something I could have done differently. Then turning double plays, he said, 'You can't do it that way, you do it this way.' From Day 1, it was a learning experience for me daily."

Back in Peoria, Bilardello has yet another player to "exploit that value," as he puts it: Breyvic Valera, 21, who calls himself a second baseman. Maybe so, but he also played shortstop, third base, left field and right field for Peoria this year.

Such multitasking is often a last resort for a player with deficiencies. But switch-hitting Valera is a legitimate prospect. He hit .309 for Peoria while showing up every day not knowing where he would play.

That versatility is what got Carpenter and Craig to the big leagues. And it's part of the message the Cardinals want to get across.

"They see there's a chance," Mozeliak says. "They see how many homegrown players we have in the big leagues. The level of optimism in a minor league clubhouse is high."

That tenor carries right through the system.

"You don't want to have that asterisk next to your name. 'Oh, this guy doesn't want to work hard,'" Adams says. "You want to get it so you're not that different person in the Cardinals system."

And it's all part of why the Cardinals think their young players have been so successful, especially in 2011. Freese was MVP of the NL Championship Series and the World Series; Craig hit three homers in their seven-game conquest of the Texas Rangers.

"When you have the kind of October they had in '11, there's a lot of growing up going on," Mozeliak says. "But I would also say that group was competitive throughout their careers. Nobody seemed (fearful) because they'd played enough playoff games. The stage was different, but they look like they embraced it."

They continue to embrace it, to expect success.

"It helps when people look at what guys do well, not at what they don't do well," Craig says. "That's part of the development we've had."

And a large part of the Cardinals Way.

"Nothing is done without a lot of things (going) right for us," Mozeliak says. "I assure you, it's not easy.

"I take a lot of pride in this."

Buster Olney is on vacation this week, so for the second straight year, guest columnists are writing the lead of his column in his absence. On Sunday, D-backs reliever Brad Ziegler talked about MLBPA head Michael Weiner, who is battling cancer. Today, A's reliever Sean Doolittle discusses what it's like to play for the team synonymous with "Moneyball."

Not every player gets to shine under the bright lights of the Big Apple or the bright sun of Los Angeles. Not every player lands on a roster filled with marquee names with a total price tag that rivals the GDP of several small countries. And not every player gets to play in a baseball cathedral filled with more than 30,000 fans every single night.

As a member of the small-market Oakland Athletics, this is my story.

My first memories of baseball are of the A's. When I was a kid, my father was stationed at Castle Air Force Base in Merced, Calif., for three years and we had season tickets at the Coliseum. My dad would drive my younger brother Ryan (now a pitching prospect in the A's organization) and me the 90 minutes out of the San Joaquin Valley to the Bay Area to watch the A's: McGwire, Canseco, Henderson, Eckersley, Stewart (and yes, current A's coaches Mike Gallego and Curt Young); it was quite the introduction to baseball.

I can still remember the rush of excitement I would get as we neared the Coliseum on Interstate 880 and I could see the lights of the stadium on the horizon. I appreciate the way things have come full circle for me, and I still get that feeling everyday on my drive to the ballpark.

Of course, back in those days, I dreamed of lacing up the white cleats and playing for the Athletics. But I never could have imagined what goes on behind the scenes and how much fun it is to wear the green and gold.

9:14 a.m. -- I get that feeling as I cross over the hill on I-880 and catch my first glimpse of the O.co basking in the morning summer sun.

9:31 a.m. -- Oakland may be the Sunny Side Of The Bay, but it rained last night and we have to pull the tarp off the field so the infield can dry out for tonight's game. When you share a home with an NFL franchise, sometimes the playing surface needs a little extra TLC.
9:43 a.m. -- Head back up to the clubhouse to clean my spikes. It takes a lot of work (and Scrubbing Bubbles) to keep our spikes looking so white.

9:58 a.m. -- Leave the stadium to run some errands.

10:19 a.m. -- Pick up my uniform at the dry cleaners. (How else do you think we keep our home whites so bright?)

10:32 a.m. -- Stop by the barber shop to get my beard trimmed. In addition to white cleats, facial hair is another Athletics' tradition that this Oakland team continues to carry on.

11:07 a.m. -- Swing by Sports Authority to pick up a Nike Dri-Fit shirt (it's not like we just have them laying around all over the clubhouse) and some Nike compression leggings. You have no idea how cold it gets in the bullpen at the Coliseum.

11:45 a.m. -- Lunch with fellow lefty reliever, and foodie, Jerry Blevins. I have the taste buds of a 9-year-old, so I hope he picks a place that serves pizza or chicken fingers.

12:36 p.m. -- Jerry finally finishes his beet salad and I've finished moving mine around to make it look like I ate it. I'll just eat lunch at the field like I always do (PB&J!).

12:56 p.m. -- Head back across the Bay Bridge to Oakland.

1:10 p.m. -- Stuck in traffic on the bridge.

1:26 p.m. -- Still stuck in traffic on the bridge.

1:39 p.m. -- @$#%^?•&!

1:57 p.m. -- We arrive at the O.co Coliseum. Since Jerry drove it's my turn to feed the meter, but I don't mind. I'm just so happy to finally be out of the car.

1:59 p.m. -- Coco Crisp plays his newest mixed CD on a Sony boom box in the middle of the clubhouse, giving everyone a break from the A.J. Griffin's guitar playing. (He's actually really good, but don't tell him i said that!)

2:01 p.m. -- I make a sandwich and join fellow relievers Jesse Chavez and Dan Otero and catcher John Jaso in doing the USA Today crossword puzzle. There's only one copy of the paper to go around so we have to share, but it's OK, because with four or five of us working on it we can actually finish it. Sometimes.

2:21 p.m. -- This is a very close-knit team with a lot of chemistry and that can be seen throughout the clubhouse on days like this. There's a group of guys sitting in front of the TV watching "Maury" (the satellite signal doesn't get through all the concrete at the Coliseum so we only have basic cable), other guys play cards or backgammon.

3:02 p.m. -- As the media trickles in to talk to players before the game, the players prep for the media in the mirror in the bathroom. Josh Donaldson styles his mohawk. Derek Norris combs his mullet. Griffin tries to decide whether his long blonde locks look better in a pony tail or down on his shoulders. Grant Balfour gels his hair. Seth Smith checks the progress of his facial hair while Josh Reddick brushes his beard. Part of being an Athletic is being able to be yourself and express some individuality within the framework of the team environment.

3:34 p.m. -- Donaldson is still in the bathroom working on his mohawk.

3:45 p.m. -- Time for stretch. A lot of opposing teams think it's a little strange that we wear our green and gold Zubaz out on the field for stretch and batting practice, but they were team issued and they're really comfortable so I'm actually surprised more teams haven't adopted them.

4:02 p.m. -- Throw.

4:14 p.m. -- Run. It's not so much conditioning as much as it's a race that Balfour always has to win.

4:23 p.m. -- We use the 10 minutes or so we have before the hitters start taking batting practice to rake the bullpen mounds and get the game mound ready for the game.

4:30 p.m. -- You know how there's always a swarm of little kids trying to catch the fly balls during the Home Run Derby? We, as pitchers, do that every day in batting practice. Except we don't get a chance to catch that many fly balls between Brandon Moss and [Yoenis] Cespedes hitting them out of the stadium and Bartolo Colon running everything else down.

5:59 p.m. -- Coco puts the "pregame mix" CD on the boom box in the middle of the locker room. This is the signal to be quiet and get focused on the game.

6:56 p.m. -- National anthem. Tonight's version is performed by Huey Lewis and the News. In the '90s. It's a recording.

7:06 p.m. -- First pitch.

As a relief pitcher, you have a lot of down time. On this particular night, scanning the crowd, you can't help but notice the empty seats, or the big green tarps that cover thousands more of them. For most players this would be disheartening, but you realize that the fans who have shown up, the fans we do get, are some of the most loyal and passionate fans in all of MLB. And they prove that as they bring the Coliseum -- a crumbling concrete castle -- to life with chants of "Let's Go Oakland." They come early -- to Bernie Lean when Coco leads off, and stay late -- to fist pump, overcome with Balfour Rage.

You realize that the other guys on the team are your family. There's a lot you can learn about a guy from a conversation on a long bus ride to an away series in Seattle or playing video games together in a Best Western or Days Inn on the road somewhere. Rather than complain about our aging stadium or low national profile, we've embraced it and it's become a part of our identity. We play hard, with a chip on our shoulder, like we have something to prove, like a little brother playing against his older sibling.

Satire aside, we are proud to play for the A's and happy to call Oakland home. We might have to pay for our soda in the clubhouse (you guys saw Moneyball, right?), and our clubhouse might have plumbing issues (you guys heard about that flood, right?), but at the end of the day our clubhouse is full of guys grateful for the opportunity the A's have given them. Not only do they want to make the most of it, they also want to have a little fun too.

11:12 p.m. -- It looks like most of the guys are done eating dinner so if you'll excuse me, I have to go help do the dishes.

By Ricky Benichak [August 14, 2013 at 10:49am CST]

Ricky Benichak is a baseball operations intern with the Cincinnati Reds. A native of Bethany, CT, he relocated to Ohio following the completion of his Bachelor's degree at the New York University Tisch Center for Hospitality, Tourism, and Sports Management, and a two-year stint as a finance intern with MLB Advanced Media. Ricky was kind enough to share some of his experiences and future aspirations with MLBTR.

My responsibilities with the Reds

One of the greatest perks of a baseball operations internship, at least in my experience, is that every day presents different challenges and experiences. If I had to identify what a normal day would look like, it would be something like this: update the statistics for our BATS video software, chart a game using that same software or capture pickoff moves to help our Major League coaching staff or players for an upcoming series, compile advance scouting reports, and work on research assigned to me by my bosses. I would say about 30-40% of my workload consists of research, some targeted by my superiors based on the needs of the team, some targeted based on my own interests. I have used that time to further look into the ROI of international players, waiver claim and DFA analyses, valuation of farm systems, and aging curves for defensive abilities.

My internship started back in January, so the definition of a normal day has changed greatly over that time. At one point, my days consisted of arbitration research, eventually becoming spring training-based assignments, preparing for the Rule 4 Draft, and now that the season is over two-thirds through, I’m looking forward to what hopes to be a deep playoff run for the Reds.

My favorite work experience

I think my “welcome to baseball operations” moment was fittingly my first day with the Reds, back in January. Having relocated to Cincinnati only a few days earlier, I was getting adjusted to my new life in a new city, and still, work was among the biggest of my worries. I worked in finance for MLB Advanced Media for the past two years, so I didn’t know what to expect of my first position with a team. Hours into my first day, I was sitting in an arbitration conference between Reds baseball operations staff members. With the deadline to exchange figures a few days away and a potential hearing weeks away, it was early on in the process. It was more of an opportunity for the team to establish parameters on the desired salary of its arbitration-eligible players and to formulate the statistical arguments to hopefully get to these figures. I recall reading about the procedures of arbitration, but until I experienced it firsthand (although this was not a formal arbitration hearing), I never fully grasped the extent of research that goes into it. Like a game of chess, you want to think a few steps ahead, recognizing that your own strategy includes an understanding of the moves that can be used against you.  

The best advice I have received

Before coming to Cincinnati, the one thing that I was most frequently told by baseball operations executives was to play the game as long as possible, as that would best help me understand and evaluate players. It makes sense, but for someone who has never played the game at a high level, the advice isn’t really applicable. In some cases, this advice was delivered to me as somewhat of a be-all end-all statement on how to get hired by a team. It wasn’t until a conversation with my parents that I realized the argument of playing baseball in order to best understand baseball is like arguing that you must be a criminal to be a good defense attorney. That’s one piece of advice that I’ve never really accepted.

Perhaps it’s because I have never listened so intently to a person, but a current GM once told me the most valuable trait he identified in entry-level baseball operations personnel was an ability to contribute immediately. More practically speaking, have some type of research and analysis that shows a deep level of understanding of the game.

I think a lot of people are very protective of their knowledge and the work they produce, but you can make a much stronger case of your skills if it’s in writing. Sure, there is a risk that you might not get credit for that work, but the reward is that a team understands that if you can come up with one compelling baseball idea, there is a likelihood that you can come up with many more.

The first steps to getting that job or internship in baseball

Once again, if you can show you can contribute immediately to an organization, that is golden. Find some particular skill or area of research and own it. If you’re a player or former player, be able to easily communicate the skills you look for in players. If you have aspirations of becoming a sabermetrics savvy professional, know every statistic and how each statistic helps you answer a question, and definitely learn SQL. If rules and regulations are your interest, know the current CBA and league rules front to back. I think the biggest differences between high-level and low-level professionals in a baseball operations department are opportunity, leadership, and most importantly, communication skills. However, in breaking into the industry at the entry level, the more technical skills can help set you apart.

It’s also important that you have mentors. I had mentors when I went to college at the NYU Tisch Center where I studied sports management –- they helped me get opportunities that eventually led to me getting hired by the Reds. Not all of us have parents or friends in the industry, so it’s important to build your network as soon as you can. It’s as simple as sending an email or having a phone call. People love to talk about themselves and their experiences, and those who work in baseball operations are no different.

In pursuing an opportunity, a prospective employee should have the right mindset as well. It’s in our nature to think big and expect big. When I was initially looking for jobs with teams, I had this grandiose vision that all 30 teams would be interested in me and my abilities. I couldn’t have been more wrong, but there was a great lesson in that misconception. The reality is that you aren’t looking for 30 jobs or even a dozen jobs, rather you are looking for one team to listen and value the contributions you may bring. Discouragement and disappointment are a part of the cycle in finding employment, but you must take it in stride, and remember the big picture. The satisfaction in getting that first position in baseball is unparalleled.

My future aspirations

I think most baseball operations professionals –- whether or not they would openly admit to it –- dream of becoming a general manager. I don’t see myself any differently than the majority, but I am cognizant with the reality that there are only 30 GM chairs and many, many more people looking to sit in them.

Dreams aside, I honestly have no idea where I am going to be once the season ends, but for now my main focus is getting as much as possible out of my internship with the Reds. It can be nerve-wracking not knowing where I’ll be come next January, but that’s the nature of the beast in this industry. Before getting that first full-time baseball operations position, many will spend a few years interning. The way I see it though, interning is like the proving ground for baseball operations. I’m likely headed that path for another few years, and if anything, it could be a blessing in disguise to get the opportunity to work for a variety of teams and live in different cities. The life of a baseball operations intern offers few guarantees, but what keeps me going is thinking about all of the other types of occupations I could be doing, and how much more interesting baseball is to me. You could tell me a million times that I am not going to make it to GM or even garner a baseball operations assistant position, but that only fuels the fire. I’m willing to stick it out, and hopefully I’m off to a great start here in Cincinnati.