Tyler Greene to Get Opportunities at Second - KMOX.com

St. Louis Cardinals Tyler Greene talks to fans during the team’s Winter Warm Up in St. Louis on January 13, 2012. UPI/Bill Greenblatt

ST. LOUIS, Mo. (KMOX) â€" The biggest position competition for the Cardinals heading into Spring Training as of now will be at second base. Among the contenders are Tyler Greene, Daniel Descalso and Skip Schumaker.

Cardinals general manager John Mozeliak told reporters on Saturday at the Cardinals Winter Warm-Up that it should be considered an open competition, yet he also mentioned, “We would like to see Tyler Greene get a strong opportunity there.”

That does not mean Greene has the advantage or is even a front-runner, but the organization would certainly like to see what they can get out of the former 30th overall pick in the 2005 amateur draft.

“We look at his athleticism and what he’s capable of doing, “Mozeliak said about Greene. “Seeing him in a large volume or 150 games would be quite interesting to us, and we just want to see if he’s capable of doing it.”

Greene, 28, did confirm the organization’s plan for him to get a lot of work in at second base this Spring. In a conversation with new manager Mike Matheny, he was told to prepare for work at second while being ready to switch to a few positions. Currently, aside from the visit to St. Louis, that’s what Greene has been up to lately working down at the Cardinals Spring Training facility in Jupiter, Florida.

In three seasons of getting shot with the Cardinals, Greene has played in 150 games. During that experience, he has a .218 average in 316 at-bats with 5 home runs, 28 RBI’s, and 16 stolen bases. Last season, he made 14 starts at second tallying 3 errors in 60 chances. Overall, Greene has a .950 fielding percentage in 47 career games at the position.

Being a high draft pick by the organization, perhaps the pressure may have gotten to Greene as it has happen before in the past with other highly touted prospects. Yet, he did not want to go there and simply said, “It’s in the past, and just looking forward to this year.”

Skip Schumaker, who played at second base in 95 games last season, also had to make a transition to the position, yet he was mainly playing in the outfield whereas Greene’s mostly played on the left side of the infield. Similar to what the Cardinals wanted with Schumaker in 2009, they would like to see what Green’s capable of doing with an opportunity to play everyday.

Daniel Descalso, who really made his mark playing at third base for an injured David Freese, played 18 games at second base last season.

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