St. Louis Cardinals: Five Spring Training Concerns

3. A distracted Trevor Rosenthal?

Trevor Rosenthal still hasn’t completely given up on being a starting pitcher in the Major Leagues.

He says that aspirations of being a starter isn’t something he thinks about too much, but admits that those thoughts are still hanging around in the back of his mind.

“It’s not a closed door, but it’s not something I really think about. I just show up and work hard and, if they see me throw once and are like, ‘Oh, maybe we need him to fill in at a different spot,’ I’ll do it. But it seems to be working where I’m at.” – Rosenthal in a February 24 interview with ESPN.com’s Mark Saxon

I think that it’s working where you’re at, too, Rosie.

In two full seasons of closing ball games for St. Louis, Rosenthal has recorded 93 saves. That is seven more than second place finisher Craig Kimbrel. Thanks to allowing just 25 free passes in 2015, Rosenthal upped his K/BB ratio from 2.07 in 2014 to 3.32 last year.

But, Rosenthal has been anything but sharp in six spring appearances. In 6.0 innings pitched this March, Rosenthal has surrendered eight hits while walking four and allowing three earned runs.

Could he be distracted by those starting pitching thoughts? Does Rosie think that he could and should be doing more for the club?

While it is much more likely that Derek Lilliquist has him working on a number of little things mechanics-wise, the starting pitching aspirations give you something to think about, anyways.

Next: Are the starters in trouble?