On Wednesday (well it became official on Thursday), former Duke baseball player Jake Lemmerman was traded from the LA Dodgers to the St. Louis Cardinals in exchange for utility man Skip Schumaker.

Schumaker needed a place to play (he was not going to get that in St. Louis), so the Cardinals finally made a deal to send him somewhere where he might have a chance.

The Cardinals received Lemmerman, a shortstop who spent last season in Double-A. With Chattanooga in the Southern League, he hit just .233 in 116 games. He did however record 29 doubles and walk 53 times. He has shown some power (as evidenced by the doubles and seven homeruns), but has also struck out (94 times in 373 at-bats).

He really struggled in July, when he hit just .125 to give him a post All-Star break batting average of .197. However, in that time period, he hit more doubles (17 to 12) and walked more (25-21), while also striking out a few more times (33-20) in just three more at-bats.

In the field, Lemmerman played 83 games at shortstop and 28 at second base. He made 15 errors at shortstop in 350 chances. He made two errors at second base in 133 chances.

When the regular season ended, he was off to Jupiter, Florida to participate in the World Baseball Classic Qualifiers for Team Israel. They lost to Spain in the finals and he was hit three times in that game by three different pitchers. He started all three games and picked up his lone hit, a single, against Spain in their second game of the qualifiers.

Unfortunately, Lemmerman finds himself in an organization that is crowded at the upper levels in the middle infield. Who knows where he may end up to start the 2013 season?

*I’m a fan of Skip’s mainly for his name. Well…the Cardinals High-A team used to be in Potomac, so I got a chance to see him play in Wilmington (a long time ago). Anyway, he always seemed to have a few people there cheering him on. Who doesn’t love yelling “Skip!” or “Skippy!” every time he went to the plate?