The St. Louis Cardinals announced prior to tonight’s series opener with Cincinnati that they have purchased rookie catcher Travis Tartamella from Memphis (AAA) and designated Memphis first baseman Xavier Scruggs for assignment to make room for Tartamella on the team’s 40-man roster.
Tartamella, 27, played in 40 games for Memphis this season, starting 33 games behind the plate. The right-handed hitting California native was rated as the “Best Defensive Catcher” in the Cardinals minor league system by Baseball America in their 2014 “Best Tools” survey.
Drafted by the Cardinals in the 19th round (579th player overall), Tartamella played baseball for two seasons at Pepperdine University before transferring to California State University – Los Angeles.
The 6-0, 205-pound Tartamella has been invited to the Cardinals Major League Spring Training camp each of the past two seasons. He has been assigned uniform no. 68.
