St. Louis Cardinals Baby Birds: Three players that will debut this year

Of the three players on this list, Jake Woodford might be my pick for who will make their debut first. A first-round draft pick out of High School back in 2015, Woodford has made a steady climb up the minor league ladder currently leaving him at AAA at the ripe age of 22.

Woodford profiles as most likely a middle of the rotation arm and is a good contact pitcher who doesn’t have great velocity. With a curveball that has improved a lot, he has three pitches he can spot well and has improved a lot seemingly this year. Last year, as a 21-year-old in AAA Woodford was touched up for a 4.50 ERA over 64 innings. This year though, Woodford put in a lot of innings during Spring Training and has used that to jumpstart his AAA season.

With certain members of the starting rotation struggling, it wouldn’t be out of the question for the front office to look at Woodford’s 1.30 ERA over six starts to begin the year and plug him in the rotation should certain current members continue to not perform.

The best course of action for Woodford would probably be to get a few starts or bullpen appearances this September as he is not too far removed from being overmatched at AAA. It’s great to see him performing well but there isn’t really any reason to rush him at the age of 22, but some MLB experience this year would likely be good for the tall righty.