Evaluating 4 of the St. Louis Cardinals’ top prospects

Matthew Liberatore

Liberatore, who was formerly a top prospect in the Tampa Bay Rays organization, has proven to show why he was such a highly touted prospect.

Liberatore really caught my eye during spring training last year when throwing his curveball. It reminded me a lot of Adam Wainwright’s back in the early 2010’s and looked like he was throwing a wiffle ball. It’s very impressive to watch.

He didn’t exactly dominate in his major-league debut against the Pittsburgh Pirates. However, his stats in the minors showed that he was in fact ready to be given a chance in the majors. I believe that he deserves it as well.

Liberatore has the stuff to be a top pitcher in this rotation alongside Jack Flaherty, Dakota Hudson and Adam Wainwright. I also believe that with the veteran help of Wainwright, he could really be an ace for this team moving forward.

With his first outing in the majors stemming from Steven Matz going to the IL, he will have to perform in his one, maybe two starts. Even then, he may not have a chance to stay up in the majors but if he performs, he could be the first player that they call up.

Brendan Donovan

I haven’t mentioned Brendan Donovan’s name in this article yet, but we definetly need to talk about what he’s done since getting called up earlier this year.

So far, Donovan has played in 23 games with the Cardinals and is not only playing well but playing great. He is currently slashing .340/.484/.520 with a home run and eight runs batted in in 64 plate apperances to this point.

Similar to Nolan Gorman, Donovan gives Marmol and the Cardinals organization some positional flexability. Donovan has played in the outfield and infield and has done pretty well in both.

Donovan is likely to compete with Gorman for the chance to stay up in the majors once O’Neill comes back, but at this point in time, they have both done incredibly well for the Cardinals in their limited playing time.