St. Louis Cardinals: Miles Mikolas, an impressive surprise

The St. Louis Cardinals got back on the winning track Thursday night, thanks to possibly their best addition this offseason.

When the St. Louis Cardinals signed Miles Mikolas the general response from fans was, “Who?” This was a fairly reasonable response considering how Mikolas’ career had gone. No one could have expected him to be the pitcher fans have seen so far this year.

Miles Mikolas was drafted by the Padres in 2009. After that he spent six years in the minors before making his Major League debut. In 2012 Mikolas made 25 appearances, all in relief and finished his rookie campaign with a 3.62 ERA. Unfortunately for him, that is where the success stopped.

The following season the Padres would start Mikolas off in the minors, where he would spend the vast majority of the season. He would only make two appearances in the Majors and would become a Texas Ranger the next season. 2014 became the last year that Mikolas would pitch in the states, that is until he decided to make the return to Major League Baseball in 2018.

The St. Louis Cardinals signed MIkolas to a 2-year, 15.5 million dollar deal, shocking fans and baseball pundits alike. Mikolas had rediscovered himself in Japan; he was a brand new pitcher who had shown he could have success on the mound on a consistent basis. At the time he was pegged to be the Cardinals’ fifth starter and the most likely to be replaced by one of the Cardinals up-and-coming young arms at the first sign of trouble.

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Fast forward to today; Mikolas has been in a word, surprising. Through seven starts Mikolas sports a 2.51 ERA and a .964 WHIP. He has a career best 6.8 K/9 to go with his career best 0.6 BB/9. While the latter is absolutely astounding it is unfortunately unlikely to last. Regardless, Mikolas has made quite the name for himself and in turn made the front office look like a group of collective geniuses for scoring this diamond in the rough.

Coming in to the season Mikolas was the number five starter but, as of right now you could argue, he is this team’s second best pitcher. In his last four starts Mikolas has only allowed one run while striking out 21 and walking just one. He has been someone this team can rely on. Thanks to injuries and up and down performances from other starters, someone to rely on is exactly what this team needs.

Through his seven starts, Mikolas has had only one start go less than six innings. The start he missed out on making it to the sixth? He was one out away. Mikolas has six games exceeding inning number six, Carlos Martinez has six, and the other four pitchers who have made starts combine for 11. Mikolas has helped save the bullpen from quite a few extra innings with his consistency.

As for the contract, fans were surprised when Mikolas was given a two-year deal. The signing was met with some disdain. Jake Arrieta was available, Yu Darvish was available, and even Lance Lynn could have been brought back. The front office instead signed a guy from Japan not named Shohei Ohtani. Little did any of us know how important he would be to this team so early on.

While it is hard to measure value, especially so early in the season, Mikolas’ has been off the charts. According to Fangraphs, Mikolas has been worth 6.2 million dollars to the Cardinals. He is making 7.5 million dollars this season. That is the kind of investment Cardinal fans can get behind.

Next: The return of Reyes

Will Mikolas continue to have the same success throughout the season? It’s hard to say. Will there be regression in the coming months? More than likely. For now though, enjoy it. Mikolas is exceeding everyone’s expectations and he’s doing it on a first place team. That’s hard to beat.