3 Cardinals prospects yet to debut who may soon follow Blaze Jordan to St. Louis

In the last week, St. Louis Cardinals president of baseball operations Chaim Bloom has made important roster decisions for his squad. Last week, Nathan Church was activated from the Injured List to replace the struggling Victor Scott II. On Friday, in a surprise move, rookie corner infielder Blaze Jordan made his debut at the sacrifice of Nolan Gorman.

Which prospects could be next on the debut train?

While the Cardinals don't have many spots on their roster as of now that need to be replaced immediately, their strong position in the playoff race could necessitate some moves and urgency from Chaim Bloom to maintain this level of success. A churning of MLB-ready prospects from Triple-A Memphis for struggling major leaguers has proven to be the impetus for the Cardinals to maintain their production this year.

After several years of restocking the farm, there are ample players at the highest level of the minors ready to contribute at any given moment. There are, however, three prospects in particular who are knocking at the door.

These 3 prospects could debut for the St. Louis Cardinals very soon.

OF Joshua Baez

Next to JJ Wetherholt, Joshua Baez has been the most anticipated debut of any Cardinals prospect this year. Baez has done everything he could have this year and then some to deserve a promotion.

Baez hit his 19th home run of the year Friday night. He now has a .923 OPS this year, and he's managed to bring his strikeout rate down to 31% from an early season high in the upper 30s. There's not much else Baez has to prove in the minors.

With Victor Scott II back in Memphis and Lars Nootbaar and Nathan Church back in the majors, it's a question as to how far down on the depth chart Baez is. If he's promoted, it'll be for an everyday starter role. Injuries or underperformance would be Baez's ticket to the majors. He's already on the 40-man roster, so the logistics behind a debut are pretty straightforward.

LHP Quinn Mathews

Quinn Mathews has now made 34 starts at Triple-A in his career. He's as ready as he'll ever be to test his stuff at the highest level of baseball. This year, Quinn has a 4.01 ERA across 51.2 innings. He's striking out 30.2% of hitters while walking only 15.8% of them.

Over Mathews' last three starts, he's thrown 16 innings, struck out 23 batters, and allowed only one earned run while walking five. Lines like that are exactly what the Cardinals want out of one of their top pitching prospects.

Brycen Mautz and Hunter Dobbins have already made their debuts, and both are on the 40-man roster. With an upcoming brutal stretch before the All-Star Break, reinforcements will be necessary. Quinn may not be the first option out of Memphis, but he could force Chaim Bloom's hand, especially if the Cardinals keep up their winning ways. He's slowly becoming exactly the pitcher we all thought he was after a superb 2024 season.

RHP Max Rajcic

Right-handed pitcher Max Rajcic was once the Cardinals Minor League Pitcher of the Year as recently as 2023, a year in which he made 23 starts between Low-A and High-A, posting a cumulative 2.48 ERA with 123 strikeouts in 123.1 innings pitched.

Since then, Rajcic's career has been anything but linear. He has been converted from a full-time starter to a reliever this year with the goal of maintaining his velocity upticks. This transition has given Rajcic stability and performance that he hasn't seen in three seasons.

The 24-year-old righty has a 3.03 ERA this year for Triple-A Memphis across 24 appearances and 38.2 innings pitched. He's struck out 44 batters and walked only 13 for some of the best strikeout and walk rates of his career. Rajcic has settled nicely into his relief role, and his sustained fastball velocity in the upper 90s is evidence of this.

The Cardinals could use a reliable bulk reliever, and Max Rajcic may be just the guy. He's gotten roughed up in his past couple of outings (3 IP, 6 ER, 3 home runs), but hopefully those are just blips on the radar by the end of the year. Rajcic could be valuable for the Cardinals down the stretch. He's not currently on the 40-man roster, but a corresponding move could easily be made.

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