St. Louis Cardinals: Austin Warner pitching well in Memphis

The St. Louis Cardinals took a chance on Austin Warner out of the Frontier League just over a year ago. Now, he is pitching for Memphis.

A couple of months back, I wrote about some struggles that Austin Warner was having in Springfield. But he put the pieces together to get a well earned promotion to the Triple A affiliate of the St. Louis Cardinals.

Though his career did not start in the most traditional way, it has taken off. Warner is a 24 year old southpaw who took over a spot in the Memphis rotation on the heels of the plethora of pitchers heading up to St. Louis. He has been making the most of it so far.

Three Starts, Good Numbers

In Warner’s first three appearances with Memphis he has an ERA just over two in nearly 17 innings of work. He was able to collect his first win at the Triple A level in his second outing. Not bad for a guy playing independent league ball to start 2017.

He has allowed seven runs since his promotion, four of them have been earned. Warner has struck out 13 batters thus far at the level. In his two starts prior to the promotion, Warner tossed a total of 13 shutout innings, giving up six hits and striking out a batter an inning.

Quickly Advance

Last season, Warner threw for three different teams. This season, the Redbirds are his third team. He began with Palm Beach and was extremely solid. Following that, he struggled in Springfield. As he figured things out at that level and found more success, he was brought up to Memphis.

His success is being noticed, and that is fantastic. If he can continue to show promise he will get his shot with the St. Louis Cardinals. Likely, it will not be this season. But it will come at some point. Warner might be able to wiggle his way into a September call-up, but that is extremely unlikely.