Todd back to Memphis for now

TODD Pro baseball player Jess Todd made his Major League Baseball debut Friday night, and hadn't been in St. Louis very long when he was sent back to Memphis, a bit of a victim of the slump the Cardinals are in.

Jess, a Kilgore native and 2007 secondround draft pick of the Cardinals, is a young right-handed pitcher who has risen very quickly through the team's organization, all the way to the Triple-A affiliate in Memphis in less than two years.

Jess was called up to the bigs after an arm injury to a Cardinals' starter last week. He had been serving as the closer for the Memphis Redbirds, and was used in relief Friday night against the Colorado Rockies.

In the appearance Friday night against Colorado, Jess went 1 2/3 innings, threw 45 pitches, allowed three hits including a homer, walked two, and struck out two. The Cardinals were already trailing 8-1 when Todd got to the mound, though, and have been struggling in recent games.

One of the writers in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch referred to Todd's move back to Memphis, though, and said he didn't expect it would be long before the young Kilgore native returned to St. Louis.

In 21 games for the Redbirds this season (that leads the team for appearances by a pitcher), Todd has a 3-1 record and 11 saves over 25 1/3 innings. He has an ERA of 2.84, has allowed 19 hits (and just one home run at the Triple-A level), and has 34 strikeouts.

Jess is the son of Tom and Kim Todd.