ST. LOUIS — The St. Louis Cardinals are off to one of their worst starts in franchise history, currently sitting at 10-20 and in last place in the National League Central Division, three games behind fourth-place Cincinnati.
It's the first time the Cardinals have been 10 games below .500 since September 2007. The last time the Cardinals finished in last place was 1990. Before that, 1918, so this is something that doesn’t happen often. It's only May, and there’s plenty of time to turn things around.
“The St. Louis Cardinals have been one of the biggest surprises in baseball but for all the wrong reasons," said JD Hafron, host of the Locked On Cardinals podcast. "They have one of the worst records in the league, they can’t seem to hit, they can’t seem to pitch or field all that well, either, and fans are pretty much freaking out.”
He added, “And when things are going bad at the Major League level, we start looking at how things are going down in the minor leagues to see if perhaps there’s anything coming up through the system that might be able to help turn things around.”
Hafron had minor league expert Lindsay Crosby. of the Locked On MLB Prospects podcast. on the show to discuss whether or not the Cardinals have some pitchers waiting in the wings in the Minors who can help them in 2023.
They discussed both pitching and hitting, but we’re just going to talk about the pitchers because, as Hafron stated during this episode, “That’s what Cardinals fans are most upset about.”
The first player Crosby mentioned was Matthew Liberatore, who is currently in Memphis playing for the Triple-A Redbirds. The lefty has MLB experience, and Crosby thinks he has made enough improvements this season so far to make a difference in the Majors for him.
He’s currently 3-1 with a 2.14 ERA in six starts. He also has 45 strikeouts in just 33 and two-thirds innings of work. He appeared in nine games for the Cardinals last season, started seven, and pitched to a 5.97 ERA in nearly 35 innings.
The next name on the list: Michael McGreevy. McGreevy, a righthander, started the season in Double-A Springfield but has since been moved up to Triple-A Memphis, where he made one start. Across the two levels, he’s 3-0 with a 2.19 ERA.
In that one start in Memphis, he gave up three runs in six innings and picked up the win. Crosby watched McGreevy’s start in Triple-A against Durham and said, “The sinker/slider combination has always been his bread and butter, but I feel like he’s not missing enough bats with his fastball.”
Crosby added that since McGreevy was just called up to Triple-A, he wouldn’t be called up right away to the big league level and that McGreevy still has some things to work on before that can happen.
Up next, righty Gordon Graceffo who was in Cardinals’ camp during Spring Training. Graceffo, also a righty, has had a bit of a rough go so far in Triple-A because he’s walking a lot of batters. He has ten walks in 22 innings, and his ERA is 4.91.
He’s 1-2 across five starts with the Redbirds. Crosby stated that he’s surprised that Graceffo has given up three home runs so far and feels that the culprit is Graceffo’s fastball.
And finally, there’s lefty Connor Thomas with a winning record (3-1) but a bloated ERA (5.33). He’s made five starts for the Redbirds and has also given up three home runs like Graceffo.
Crosby said about Thomas, “He’s struggled a bit, and a bit part of that is the swing and miss stuff. He’s not missing a ton of bats.” Thomas only has 20 strikeouts in 27 innings, which is 6.7K/9. Crosby added, “He’s one of those guys who has a bunch of pitches, but none of them are necessarily amazing. When he’s able to sequence all those pitches is when he’s able to keep his ERA down.”
So, can any of these young pitchers come up and make an impact with the Cardinals in 2023? Crosby thinks it’s Matthew Liberatore.
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