Fans get rare glimpse of 2015 Cardinals

There's no doubt fans of the St. Louis Cardinals are regarded as some of the best in baseball and will go to whatever lengths to meet their favorite players, no matter if they're old legends or bright, young stars that will frame the franchise for years to come.

"Cardinal Nation" in Southeast Missouri didn't have to go too far to talk with those young players, or reminisce with the old ones on Saturday.

Even after losing two straight games to the San Francisco Giants, which derailed the Cardinals' chances of making their third World Series appearance in four seasons, the more than 300 people who attended the Cardinals Caravan at the Show Me Center came away with an autograph and a feeling that their favorite team will make another run in 2015.

Former St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Danny Cox signs autographs at the Cardinals Caravan Saturday, Jan. 17, 2015 at the Show Me Center. (Fred Lynch)

"This is awesome just getting to meet these young players and getting to meet the older players, too," said Bob Birk, who traveled over 20 miles from Altenburg, Missouri, with his wife, Amy, and son, Carson. "I think it is one of the better one's I've seen, to be honest with you. It's obviously brought the people out and to have some major future stars in our presence is something I don't think I or my son will forget."

Six former, present and future Cardinals made their fourth and final stop of the weekend in Cape Girardeau for the annual caravan appeance, along with emcee Tom Ackerman of KMOX radio in St. Louis and many other members of the team's front office. Pitchers Michael Wacha and Tyler Lyons and Cardinals' prospects Marco Gonzales and Tommy Pham, along with former players Tom Lawless and Danny Cox entertained the crowd with an autograph signing session as well as a quick picture and some time to talk about the upcoming season.

"It's great. I think we have the widest fanbase in the country," Gonzales said. "Cardinal Nation stretches pretty far, so it's cool to come to the surrounding areas and give back to the people who maybe can't make it to Busch Stadium or even those who do make the trek. We owe it to them. This is my first time on the caravan, and it's exciting. It's awesome to be here."

Many in attendance were eager to get an autograph from Wacha and hear about the recovery of his shoulder injury, which sidelined him for most of the 2014 season.

Wacha, 23, will be entering just his second full season with St. Louis. The young right-hander experienced his first bit of success after joining the club in mid-August of 2013 and remained with the club throughout the postseason.

Wacha pitched a near perfect game in the NLDS against the Central division rival Pittsburgh Pirates, and outdueled Los Angeles Dodgers lefty Clayton Kershaw in a 1-0 victory in Game 2 of the NLCS.

In Game 2 of the World Series, Wacha pitched the Cardinals to a 4-2 victory. Before surrendering a home run to David Ortiz in Game 2, Wacha tied Cardinal Hall of Famer Bob Gibson with the longest scoreless streak (19 innings) in Cardinals' postseason history. Wacha lost Game 6 of the series, and the Cardinals eventually fell to the Red Sox, but that hasn't seemed to stop fans from calling Wacha one of their favorite players.

Carson Birk, 7, said he doesn't have a favorite player. He likes every Cardinal. But like many others in attendance, Birk wanted Wacha's autograph the most.

"I caught this ball from Yadi at a game last year," Birk said, while showing off a dirt-covered baseball with a big smile on his face. "I think Yadi makes Wacha a good player, so I wanted to have him sign it."

Wacha said having one of the best cathcers in the game as well as rehab to his damaged shoulder has gotten him back to 100 percent for the upcoming season.

"Everything feels good. I had my exit MRI and everything after the season, and everything checked out then," Wacha said about his rehabilitation. "The arm has been felling great. I've been throwing a little with Yadi and some other guys, and everything feels good."

Like many other Cardinals looking to suit up this season, Wacha will have to wait and see exactly what his role for the club and manager Mike Matheny will be this season.

Wacha said he doesn't like to speculate on where he'll be slotted in the rotation, and even though he'll be trying to start and remain healthy for a full season for the first time in his career, he's not preparing for the season any differently.

"They haven't said anything about exactly what my role will be or where I'll be positioned, but I imagine just in the starting rotatain somewhere," Wacha said. "But you just have to go into spring training ready to compete and be ready to get the season going. That's the goal going into every season, is to pitch that full season. That's the way I train going into the offseason. To be able to to handle that workload pitching every fifth day and then throwing 200 innings is really high up there for me. That's the main goal. And I don't see it being challenging as much as I see it as me having to accept a challenge and show that I have what it takes to pitch well all year and to hopefully stay healthy."

Filling in for the injured Jaime Garc'a, Gonzales made his major league debut as the starter against the Rockies on June 25. The left-hander finished the season with a 4-2 record and even saw time as a relief pitcher in the postseason.

Gonzales enters 2015 regarded as one of the Cardinals' top prospects. He, like Wacha, has the same attitude when it comes to knowing exactly how he'll fit into the team's gameplan.

"I'm not sure about any role right now," Marco Gonzales said. "All I'm focused on is coming prepared spring training and giving myself a chance to compete for a role. We'll see. I think I would take anything to be with the team. At this point I'm just getting ready."

Now a top prospect in the organization, Gonzales has a couple new pitches he hopes will earn him a spot on the opening day 25-man roster.

At the tail end of last season, Gonzales added a two-seam fastball and a cutter to his pitching arsenal. He said he's worked on perfecting those pitches in anticipation of the new season.

"I've tried to keep it pretty similar," Gonzales said about his preparation for the upcoming season. "Similar to the point of just doing things physically to be ready, and focusing on my pitches. I'm focused a little bit more on my two-seamer and my cutter. They were little late additions last summer and they worked really well for me. I've been working to fine tune them, and just trying to stay healthy. They've already made a jump. As you guys saw, the first time I came up I didn't have either of them, and those were pitches I was just messing with and kind of tweaking. And then in the postsaeson they were great. I'm looking forward to them."

The weekend proved to be a reunion of sorts for Wacha, Gonzales, Lyons and Pham. After playing for a full season together, the offseason tends to hinder the time players get to spend with one another.

That's especially true for the four current Cardinals, who spent time playing together for the Triple-A Memphis Redbirds and remain friends to this day.

"It's weird because this is unlike any other job really," Lyons said. "We spend every day together for nine months almost. You see each other every single day. You hang out on the field, off the field, you know, and then all of the sudden you go home and life is different and you don't see the same people every day."

Lyons was called up early in the season last year and made his major league debut as a starter against the San Diego Padres. Lyons also spent time on the bullpen, which is something he sees as an added bonus for the upcoming season.

"At least for me, I've had the ability to start and relieve, so I've got some versatility and some options," Lyons said. "For me, I try not to worry about it too much because at the end of the day it's out of my control anyways. It's just about me going out and pitching when I'm told to pitch and hopefully make the most of that opportunity."