St. Louis Cardinals: Alex Reyes and the Cardinals’ Unimpressive Rotation

The St. Louis Cardinals have in their AAA arsenal a hurler who is begging to break into the majors.  How much longer do we have to wait for him to get the call-up?

Alex Reyes continues to impress in Memphis.  So it is time to call him up, right?  While the Cardinals rotation seems to be finding stronger footing, how much longer should this young arm sit in Memphis?

Let’s look into all of this piece by piece.  For starters, let’s examine the current Cardinals rotation.

One-time Cy Young contender, Adam Wainwright, holds the highest ERA of the Cardinals rotation arms at 5.71.  This ERA was earned over eleven games and 64.2 innings pitched.  Wainwright has allowed 78 hits, 41 earned runs, and eight home runs all while striking out 40 batters.  He owns a 1.47 WHIP.

The next highest ERA in the Cardinals rotation is held by Michael Wacha at 4.99.  This ERA was earned over eleven games and 61.1 innings pitched.  Wacha has allowed 69 hits, 34 earned runs, and five home runs all while striking out 54 batters.  He owns a 1.50 WHIP. 

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Mike Leake comes in next in the ERA chase with an ERA of 3.82.  This ERA was earned over eleven games and 68.1 innings pitched.  Leake has allowed 64 hits, 29 earned runs, and ten home runs all while striking out 42 batters.  He owns a 1.14 WHIP.

Carlos Martinez, having some of the strongest outings in the rotation, holds a 3.69 ERA.  This ERA was earned over ten games and 61.0 innings pitched.  Martinez has allowed 49 hits, 25 earned runs, and five home runs all while striking out 50 batters.  He owns a 1.15 WHIP.

Jaime Garcia, despite the rocky early innings in the Brewers game yesterday, holds the rotation’s best ERA of 3.48.  This ERA was earned over eleven games and 64.2 innings pitched.  Garcia has allowed 55 hits, 25 earned runs, and three home runs all while striking out 58 batters.  He owns a 1.22 WHIP. 

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From these stats, we can clearly see that Wainwright and Wacha leave much to be desired.  And, honestly, Leake- while getting better- is bordering on this same reaction.  Is it time for something new?  YES!

Enter the Alex Reyes return-from-suspension! I wrote about Reyes’ first start for Memphis wherein I felt that the Cardinals had found themselves a new strikeout king.  I certainly still feel that way!

Last night, for Memphis, Reyes made his third start and it was as impressive as the first two.

In his first start, Reyes pitched four complete innings, surrendered only two hits and recorded eight strikeouts.  In his second start, he pitched five complete innings, surrendered three hits, surrendered one earned run, and recorded seven strikeouts.  In last night’s start, Reyes lasted six complete innings, surrendered two hits and two earned runs all while recording eleven strikeouts.

Related Story: Reyes is Needed Now!

As can been seen here, the team is gradually increasing Reyes’ exposure.  In each game, he has tacked on one additional inning in each game.  In these additions, on a downside of things, Reyes’ hits and earned runs have also increased.  On the positive side of things, Reyes has found his groove in recording strikeouts!

Last night’s contest was Reyes’ first win on the season.  After last night’s game, Reyes holds an ERA of 1.80 over 15 innings pitched.   He has allowed seven hits, three earned runs, and has recorded 26 total strikeouts.  He owns a 0.93 WHIP.

I’ve written a good deal lately about the Cardinals needing pitching help possibly via trade.  Would Reyes be an option to address this need?  Should he be an option?  Sure. The statistics above argue in favor of a ‘yes’ answer to both questions.  The real question now is when?

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I wish I knew the answer to when Reyes will break the glass ceiling.  In the meantime, we will enjoy watching him rake in Memphis.  Follow me on Twitter for any breaking update relative to Reyes’ climb.  Go Cardinals!