The final tally
Out:
- Jordan Hicks
- Jordan Montgomery
- Chris Stratton
- Paul DeJong
- Jack Flaherty
In:
- RHP Sam Robberse
- RHP Adam Kloffenstein
- INF Thomas Saggese
- RHP Tekoah Roby
- LHP John King
- RHP Matt Svanson
- INF Cesar Prieto
- LHP Drew Rom
- RHP Zack Showalter
All the love is going to Albert Pujols for last night and rightfully so but I want to take a moment to shoutout Jose Quintana.
- 14.2 consecutive shutout innings
- 0.71 ERA in his last 25.1 IP
- Never allowed more than 2 ER in a game with the Cardinals
What a pickup
Did I miss 696 and 697 because of MLB blackouts? Yes I did.
I’m so glad the league is concerned more with changing rules than with making the game more accessible.
Jordan Hicks last night:
- Threw 70% of his pitches for strikes
- Allowed a max exit velo of 80.9 mph
- 31% whiff rate
- Sinker averaged 101.9 mph
It was a good performance. Let’s not overreact to back luck in one game.
Tink Hence has been absolutely dominant in his last 5 starts.
- 1.16 ERA
- 22 K
- 14 hits
- 5 BB
That's more strikeouts than base runners allowed and he hasn't allowed more than 1 run in a single outing over that stretch.
🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥
Zack Showalter might be the most interesting part of the Flaherty deal.
Good mid-90s fastball with ride out of a low release, lots of whiffs, still only 19 in Single-A, promising breaking ball.
This is a really fun throw in piece.
Ivan Herrera just went deep for the third time in the Caribbean Series.
This time he gave Panama a 7th inning lead in the third place game.
Exit Velocity: 102.3 mph
Distance: 384 feet
The Cardinals turned 2 players that fans wanted DFA’d not too long ago into two good SP prospects and a good relief prospect all in the upper levels of the system.
That’s a huge win.
The Cardinals have a new top pitching prospect: Tink Hence. The 20-year-old ranks…
#47
at Baseball America
#77
at MLB Pipeline
#43
at Baseball Prospectus
Pairing a 95+ mph FB and a nasty curveball, Hence has potential top of the rotation stuff.
🔥🔥🔥
Quick Nick Robertson breakdown:
- FB sits 95 with elite extension and 16.3 inches of IVB
- SL gets 14.6 inches of glove side sweep
- Good CH with depth and 16 inches of ASR
He doesn’t throw the sweeper enough but it’s a wipeout offering with a 150 Stuff+
The Cardinals outfield now contains:
- Lars Nootbaar
- Alec Burleson
- Michael Siani
- Brendan Donovan
- Tommy Pham
- Dylan Carlson
Feels like there’s a clear odd man out in that group…I’m wondering if we’ll see another move.
Yadier Molina has been suspended and fined by the Venezuelan Baseball League. Molina, who is the manager of the Navegantes de Magallanes, is suspended for two games and fined $300 for being part of a November 19th incident against the Lions of Caracas.
Steven Matz has had a tale of two seasons so far.
Before moving to the bullpen:
- 50.1 IP
- 5.72 ERA
- 4.81 FIP
- 4.26 xFIP
Since moving to the bullpen and back:
- 36.2 IP
- 2.45 ERA
- 2.79 FIP
- 3.41 xFIP
An effective Steven Matz can really boost next year’s rotation.
Thomas Saggese’s stats in the Cardinals organization:
- 1.127 OPS
- 185 wRC+
- 12.3 BB%
- 22.8 K %
It’s only a 13 game sample size but The 21-year-old has been dominating Double-A all year.
I’m really excited about him.
So the bullpen right now looks something like…
- Ryan Helsley
- Giovanny Gallegos
- Andrew Kittredge
- JoJo Romero
- Andre Pallante
- Zack Thompson
- Ryan Fernandez
- Nick Robertson
- Lots of interesting Triple-A depth
That’s…probably pretty good actually.
Zack Thompson been great this season, but do you know just how great he's been?
If you remove his one start against Pittsburgh, he has a 0.68 ERA in 26 2/3 innings.
He's been lights out as a reliever and is putting himself in great position for a playoff role.
- Go ahead HR in the 9th last night
- Go ahead HR in the 8th today
Nolan Gorman has been clutch for a team that has struggled to get the big hit.
He’s doing his best to almost single-handedly drag the Cardinals out of their rut.
Andre Pallante casually throwing sweepers with 19 inches of sweep after reshaping his curveball into a “death ball” earlier this off-season.
I can’t wait to see what he looks like in Spring Training.
Tommy Pham’s first 5 batted balls since returning to St. Louis:
- 106.2 mph (home run)
- 52.2 mph (groundout)
- 106.6 mph (line out)
- 103.3 mph (single)
- 103.6 mph (double)
He’s had an instant impact on the Cardinals lineup.
Matthew Liberatore tonight:
- 7 IP, 2 ER, 10 Ks
- 95.4 mph avg FB velo (up 1.7 mph)
- 38% whiff rate
- 33% oSwing%
That brings his season ERA to 1.06 with 24 Ks in 17 innings.
He’s knocking on the door
We have non-tendered the following players:
RHP Dakota Hudson
RHP Jake Woodford
C Andrew Knizner
1B/OF Juan Yepez
Our 40-player roster now stands at 36.
Miles Mikolas has been really good recently.
In his last 6 starts he has a 1.98 ERA, and, perhaps most importantly, has pitched into the 6th inning in 5 of those 6 outings.
For a rotation that is lacking quality innings, Mikolas has been huge.
Masyn Winn is the consensus
#2
prospect in the Cardinals system and ranks…
#48
at Baseball America
#50
at MLB Pipeline
#30
at Baseball Prospectus
He’s still just 20 years old and is knocking on the door of the majors.
🚀 🚀 🚀
Looks like Andre Pallante is developing a death ball this offseason.
The velo on the final "death ball" in the video was 83.3 mph. For reference, Pallante's CB averaged 76.9 mph in 2023.
This could be huge for someone who desperately needs an effective breaking ball.
We’ve now had 3 major publications drop their top 100 prospect lists and Jordan Walker ranks…
#4
at Baseball America
#4
at MLB Pipeline
#2
at Baseball Prospectus
📈📈📈
The Cardinals have *8* batted balls at 100+ mph today and it's only the 4th inning. They are legit crushing the ball.
Juan Yepez, Jordan Walker, and Masyn Winn have each done it twice already.
Unreal.
Sonny Gray’s best pitch? Sweeper.
Kyle Gibson’s best pitch? Sweeper.
Nick Robertson’s best pitch? Sweeper.
Lance Lynn’s newest pitch? Sweeper.
Could be a coincidence but the Cardinals sure are bringing in a lot of pitchers who throw sweepers.
What I find interesting is that the Cardinals have now acquired 2 of the top 3 sweepers in baseball as well as as a pitcher (Lynn) who should throw his more in 2024.
Sonny Gray’s sweeper - 19 RV, 41.3 Whiff%, .115 wOBA
Kyle Gibson’s sweeper - 12 RV, 46.7 Whiff%, .184 wOBA
Svanson gets a ton of run (around 16 inches) on his sinker and can touch 98 with it.
He pairs that with a pretty nice looking slider that he throws a lot.
This is a solid relief arm with both bat missing and ground ball getting abilities.
After retiring, Yadier Molina will begin his managerial career in the Venezuelan winter league.
He will take over the defending champion Navegantes del Magallanes in the upcoming winter.
#STLCards
🚨🔥 El grandeliga Yadier Molina 🇵🇷 será el mánager del vigente campeón,
@Magallanes_bbc
⚓️, en la temporada 2022-2023, anuncia el equipo.
#LVBP
|
#LaPasi
ónDeTodos ⚾️🇻🇪
Ian Bedell, the Cardinals 4th round pick in that 2020 draft, has thrown just 8.1 innings in his professional career.
Today was his season and Peoria debut:
- 10 batters faced
- 7 Ks
- 2.2 scoreless innings
The 2020 draft class could be getting even better 📈
The Cardinals are set to sign Christian Sáez when the next international signing window opens.
The switch hitting OF/1B was listed at 6’3” and 195 pounds as of April 2022 and comes with strong reports about his bat.
He left Cuba in December of 2021.
Source: Cuban prospect OF Christian Sáez is expected to sign with the St. Louis Cardinals when a new international signing period opens January 15, 2024. Approx bonus range: $150,000.
Sáez made a huge impact in the U-12 World Cup (2019) with 4 HR and .522 AVG. Two years later
There are 5 Cardinals in Baseball America’s updated top 100 prospects list:
#39
- Masyn Winn
#75
- Tekoah Roby
#83
- Victor Scott
#84
- Tink Hence
#85
- Thomas Saggese
Jordan Hicks has now thrown 8 consecutive scoreless innings.
In that time, he has 10 Ks and ZERO WALKS.
A dominant Hicks would be a huge weapon in the playoffs.
I like Tekoah Roby for a number of reasons:
1. His curveball is gross. It’s an easy plus pitch and probably even better than that.
2. He gets good riding life on his fastball
3. Good combo of bat missing and control
4. 3.85 FIP in Double-A as a 21-year-old is impressive.
New pitches thrown by Cardinals MLB pitchers this spring:
- Nick Robertson: Cutter
- Matthew Liberatore: Cutter
- Zack Thompson: Fork-change
- Andre Pallante: Death Ball
More details below 👇
The Cardinals have some cannons in the outfield.
Arm strength grades (per Baseball Savant):
- Noot - 94th percentile
- Carlson - 88th percentile
- TON - 69th percentile
- Walker - 60 to 70 grade arm
Don’t run on this group.
After tonight’s rookie league game, 20-year-old
#STLCards
prospect Ettore Giuliannelli has struck out 40% of the batters he’s faced this season.
The Italian does have major control issues but any arm with that much swing and miss in an interesting prospect.
I thought Christian Yelich being a GG finalist was bad...then Juan Soto happened.
Soto had the FEWEST Outs Above Average (-14) of every single right fielder in baseball.
What a joke
It’s prospect thread time!
The Cards have a deep system of catchers with a truly interesting backstop at every level of the system:
AAA - Ivan Herrera
AA - Pedro Pages
A+ - Jimmy Crooks
A - Leonardo Bernal
But there’s one catching prospect who has flown under the radar.
The Cardinals bullpen getting legitimate contributions from Kyle Leahy, Chris Roycroft, John King, and a rule 5 guy is the exact kind of bullpen chaos that makes baseball fun
Adam Kloffenstein had another fantastic outing with Memphis tonight.
- 5 IP
- 0 ER
- 7 K
- 34% Whiff%
- 35% Chase%
The right-hander now has a 2.63 ERA through his first 5 outings in Triple-A
Cardinals left-handed hitters this year:
Donovan - 126 wRC+
Nootbaar - 125 wRC+
Gorman - 113 wRC+
Dickerson - 113 wRC+
Burleson - 138 wRC+ (AAA)
I remember a time when the Cards couldn't find a good left-handed bat. Now they have 4 rookies and a veteran all raking.
Matthew Liberatore is off to a strong start in AAA with 14 Ks in 10 scoreless innings and his improvement can be seen clearly in the pitch metrics.
- 84 Stuff+ in 2022
- 95.8 Stuff+ in 2023
Currently, the only Cardinals starter with a better stuff+ is Jordan Montgomery (98).
Gordon Graceffo, who may debut in 2023, is the 2nd best arm in the system. He ranks…
N/A at Baseball America (???)
#79
at MLB Pipeline
#58
at Baseball Prospectus
The RHP commands a mid-90s heater and 4 potentially above average or better pitches
🎯🎯🎯
NEWS: The St. Louis Cardinals are set to announce the hiring of Chaim Bloom to the front office in an advisory role, sources tell The Athletic. The Cardinals had been linked to the former Red Sox exec dating back to the beginning of the offseason.
#STLCards
Iván Herrera has a 143 wRC+ in AAA and is in his last option year. That lends a sense of urgency to his situation.
There are really only 2 options to maximize his value/talent:
- Trade him while his value is high
- Commit to giving him real MLB playing time soon
Sem Robberse had his best start with the Memphis Redbirds tonight.
- 4 IP
- 1 ER
- 3 BB
- 5 K
- 44% Whiff%
- 35% Chase%
The 21-year-old has had a rough start in Triple-A but he missed a lot of bats with all of his pitches tonight.
Bat speed data is out on Savant!
Cardinals Top 5
- Jordan Walker (76.5 mph)
- Willson Contreras (75.7)
- Ivan Herrera (73.4)
- Nolan Gorman (72.3)
- Lars Nootbaar (72.1)
Bottom 5
- Jose Fermin (65.2)
- Matt Carpenter (68.0)
- Pedro Pages (68.7)
- Masyn Winn (68.9)
- VS2 (68.9)
It’s moving day in the Cardinals farm system with 5 players getting promotions after strong starts to the season.
That means it’s time for another prospect thread!
Keep reading for a breakdown of Al 5 players moving up today.
Adam Kloffenstein is a really underrated acquisition.
For starters, a 3.45 FIP, 27.6 K%, and 8.9 BB% is really solid for a 22-year-old Double-A arm but beyond the numbers, I really like what Kloffenstein does on the mound.
The Cardinals may not have scored today but the Springfield Cardinals won a 15-14 shootout highlighted by 3-hit performances from...
- Victor Scott
- Thomas Saggese
- Noah Mendlinger
- Aaron Antonini
- Errol Robinson
Some big performances from some good prospects today.
Drew Rom’s first two starts in the Cardinals organization have outstanding:
- 5 IP, 1 ER, 1 H, 2 BB, 10 K
- 6 IP, 0 ER, 1 H, 2 BB, 8 K
Rom has a lot of deception and has missed plenty of bats despite sitting in the low 90s.
This just confirms what we already know but the Cardinals are the best team at extracting value from the draft after the first round.
It’s a wide margin too.
Day 7: Most WAR Gained by players who were not drafted and signed in the First Round, Bonus Pool Era AMATEUR DRAFT. Bit of a different tale, as the Astros are fortunate to have a ton of high 1st-rounders, but it is the Cardinals who get the most talent outside of Round 1.
I've cooked up another graph made in R and this time I want to look at hitting approach.
Which Cardinals are the best at taking balls AND swinging at strikes?
It might not be who you think.
The
#STLCards
have 3 top 100 prospects according to BA, all in the top 50.
Jordan Walker -
#24
Nolan Gorman -
#34
Mathew Liberatore -
#50
Both Gorman and Walker were given 70-grade power.
For the last few months I’ve been thinking that Weatherholt wasn’t a realistic option at 7.
Heading into the 2024 season he was talked about at either the best or second best player on the board.
This is a great talent to get at 7.
- Sonny Gray blowup in the 5th
- Nearly every hard hit ball gets caught
- Terrible umpiring
This was truly one of the most frustrating games of the year
The Cardinals picked this guy up for cash. O'Brien looks nasty and could play a role in next year's bullpen.
These are exactly the kind of fringe depth roster moves that the Cardinals should be making.
Fun fact: Paul Goldschmidt had more fWAR last season (7.1) than Carson Kelly, Luke Weaver, and Andy Young did in their entire Diamondbacks careers combined (6.9).
Zack Thompson threw 24 changeups all of last year. He threw 22 tonight.
The early returns:
- 38% whiff rate
- 44% chase rate
- 1 hit allowed
There’s a real chance that Thompson’s re-designed changeup is the best pitch in his arsenal.
Prospects Live has their top 100 list out and the Cardinals had 5 players make the cut:
#19
Masyn Winn
#47
Victor Scott
#80
Tekoah Roby
#81
Tink Hence
#94
Thomas Saggese
There is only one defensible reason to send Herrera back to Triple-A and that's to audition Knizner for a trade, if there's even a market for him.
Otherwise this is dumb. Herrera deserves to be on the major league roster. his lack of opportunity is baffling.
What I find interesting is that the Cardinals have now acquired 2 of the top 3 sweepers in baseball as well as as a pitcher (Lynn) who should throw his more in 2024.
Sonny Gray’s sweeper - 19 RV, 41.3 Whiff%, .115 wOBA
Kyle Gibson’s sweeper - 12 RV, 46.7 Whiff%, .184 wOBA
Better late than never…here’s a thread on the Cardinals picks in the Rule 5 Draft!
First up is Ryan Fernandez who will need to remain on the MLB roster all year or else return to the Red Sox org.
His 2023 stats:
AA - 2.54 FIP, 32.1 K%, 9.9 BB%
AAA - 5.24 FIP, 25.2 K%, 7.2 BB%
This means the Springfield rotation could potentially consist of:
- Tink Hence
- Tekoah Roby
- Max Rajcic
- Ian Bedell
- Cooper Hjerpe
That would be absolutely electric
The Memphis roster is out. Some takeaways:
- There's a real chance we'll see a lot of Saggese at SS
- Potential infield alignment of Baker (1B), Dunn (2B), Saggese (SS), and Prieto (3B) is fun
- Decent amount of interesting bullpen guys
- Solid rotation full of legit prospects
Thomas Saggese just flat out hits and has a 133 wRC+ in Double-A as a 21-year-old.
Since being drafted in the 5th round in 2020, Saggese has yet to post a wRC+ lower than 127 at any level.
Albert has a career high 203 wRC+ in the second half of this season.
His previous high was a 194 second half wRC+ in 2004.
This may actually be the best second half he's ever had.
Is this the best second half that Albert Pujols has ever had? It’s improbable and incredible and awesome that he’s going out the way that he came in to the league. All logic and reason out the window
Thread on the Cardinals international free agent class:
First, some context:
- Total bonus pool: $5,152,200
- Not all bonus figures are reported
- So far I have 12 names from 5 different countries
- I will keep this thread updated as more names come out
Let’s dive in!