By George Farelli
Canadian Baseball Network
They call it the Cardinal Way.

Yet, how much sense did it make for the St. Louis Cardinals to take the bat away from Wick, who hit a franchise-record 14 in 35 games for the class-A State College Spikes in 2014?

He was the stuff of legends. Promoted to class-A Peoria that same summer, he hit a three-run homer off for the Chiefs off Lansing Lugnuts Phil Kish ... on a ball which landed on the street ... in a five-run ninth to help force extras. He had six in all with Peoria Chiefs in 2014. He had 20 homers in 298 plate appearances and a future.
      
Only 33 games into the 2015 season, Wick was hitting .198 with three homers, 16 RBIs and 50 strikeouts in 126 at-bats with the class-A Palm Beach Cardinals.

The former Vancouver Cannons outfielder is back at Palm Beach. He is staying away from the batting cages at Roger Dean Stadium and he is dominating on the mound.

Wick (North Vancouver, BC) had two more scoreless appearances this week to earn Canadian Baseball Network Minor League Player of the Week, the best of the 58 Canucks in the minors.

How the week that was went for Wick as he ...

_ Worked a scoreless eighth allowing two hits as Palm Beach fell 3-1 to the Jupiter Hammerheads before 402 fans at Roger Dean Stadium.

_ Worked a scoreless eighth as Palm Beach dropped a 7-5, 13-inning decision to the Charlotte Stone Crabs in front of 376 fans at Roger Dean. Wick allowed one hit and struck out a pair: 3B Cristian Toribio swinging and Jace Conrad swinging. SS Toribio, 21, was signed as a free-agent sign by the Tampa Bay Rays from the Dominican Republic, while DH Conrad, 23, was a 13th round pick from LSU in 2014.           

Wick has appeared in 11 games and is 1-0 with a 1.46 ERA, walking four and striking out 17 in 12 1/3 innings.

The Cardinals drafted Wick in the ninth round of the 2012 draft from Cypress College as a catcher before converting him to the outfield. And now, he's moved to the mound.

Two years before the Milwaukee Brewers had selected him as a high schooler in the 19th round.

Turn a slugging outfielder into a closer? So far, so good.

It is the Cardinal Way.         

BEST OFFENSIVE PERFORMANCES
Player / Class / Team    AB    R    H    HR    RBI    AVG
Mike Reeves     -     A     Dunedin    12    1    6    -    2    .500
Tyler O’Neill     -     AA     Jackson    27    4    11    -    4    .407
Kellin Deglan     -     AA     Frisco    20    3    6    -    2    .300
Jesse Hodges     -     A     South Bend    17    5    5    -    1    .294
Josh Naylor     -     A     Greensboro    24    6    7    -    3    .292
(Minimum 10 AB’s required)     

               
 
BEST PITCHING PERFORMANCES
ROWAN WICK RHP - A PALM BEACH CARDINALS
APP IP H R ER BB K W-L SV WHIP WK ERA
2 2.0 3 0 0 1 2 0-0 0 1.50 0.00
Making the transition from a position player to a pitcher is never easy, as the low success rates will attest, but 23 year old North Vancouver native Rowan Wick seems to be making some steady progress in this experiment. Working out of the bullpen for Palm Beach Cardinals the St. Louis affiliate in the Class-A Florida State League, he made two very good relief appearances this week. On May 5th in a 3-1 loss to Jupiter Hammerheads he pitched one scoreless inning, giving up two base hits and was not involved in the decision. On May 8th in a 13-inning Cardinals 3-1 loss to Charlotte Stone Crabs, he threw another scoreless inning, giving up one base hit and while striking out two Charlotte hitters and again was not involved in the decision.
 
These two outings improved his numbers in 11 Relief appearances with Palm Beach, to 1-0 with a 1.46 ERA.

 
JAMES PAXTON LHP - AAA TACOMA RAINIERS
APP IP H R ER BB K W-L SV WHIP WK ERA
1 7.0 4 1 1 0 7 1-0 0 0.57 1.29
A model of consistency thus far in 2016, James Paxton made another excellent start this week for Tacoma. On May 6th in a 6-1 victory over Albuquerque Isotopes he pitched seven innings, gave up just four base hits and one earned run while striking out seven Isotope batters, to earn his fourth win of the season. 

This outing improved his overall record for the Rainiers in the Triple A Pacific Coast League to 4-2 with a 2.93 ERA. 

NICK PIVETTA RHP - AA READING FIGHTIN’ PHILS
APP IP H R ER BB K W-L SV WHIP WK ERA
1 5.1 8 2 2 2 6 1-0 0 1.96 3.53
Nick Pivetta made his sixth start of the season for Reading this week on May 5th, in a 4-2 win over Toronto affiliate New Hampshire Fisher Cats. He pitched five and a third innings, surrendered eight base hits and two earned runs while striking out six New Hampshire hitters, to secure his second win.

This outing improved his Double A Eastern League record to 2-2 with a 4.35 ERA.

PLAYER MOVEMENTS AND TRANSACTIONS     
LHP Shane Dawson (Drayton Valley, Alta.) - Activated from the disabled list by Toronto Blue Jays at Double A New Hampshire Fisher Cats.
 
RHP Tom Robson (Ladner, BC) - Placed on the Disabled List by Toronto Blue Jays at Single A Dunedin Blue Jays.
 
 
RHP David Leblanc (Beaconsfield, Que.) - Free Agent re signs with Trois Rivieres Eagles IND Can Am League.
 
LHP Sheldon McDonald (Spruce Grove, Alta.) - Free Agent re signs with Quebec Capitales IND Can Am League.
 
C Reed Lavallee (Richmond, BC) - Free Agent signs with Trois Rivieres Eagles IND Can Am League.
 
C Chris Robinson (Uxbridge, Ont.) - Placed on the Suspended List by Schaumburg Boomers IND Frontier League.
 
OF Sasha LaGarde (Pierrefonds, Que.) - Released by Trois Rivieres Eagles IND Can Am League.