4 St. Louis Cardinals players who may not be long for the roster come June 1

As the baseball season reaches Memorial Day, teams are beginning to get a good idea of their long-term outlook, and it's becoming clearer which players' hot starts were real and which ones were aberrations. The St. Louis Cardinals roster has remained mostly stagnant to this point on the year, but with certain players enduring long stretches of ineffectiveness, it's fair to wonder how long that will last.

These four Cardinals should be on the active roster's chopping block by the start of June

Thomas Saggese

Probably the most obvious candidate on this list to receive a demotion to Memphis, Saggese is in dire need of a reset. The Cardinals clearly agree, as they had just sent him down before Ramon Urias landed on the injured list and necessitated Saggese's immediate return to the majors. Saggese is hitting just .159 on the year and has an OPS of .405.

On May 21, there was an announcement that the Cardinals were promoting outfielder Bryan Torres, but that piece of news was retracted a few hours later. It was never revealed who would be sent down in the corresponding move, but it was likely that the Cardinals were ready to kick Saggese down to Memphis again.

Saggese had gone 0-for-28 with 13 strikeouts and zero walks from April 12 through May 15 and was the owner of the longest hitless drought in the league after the Seattle Mariners' Cal Raleigh found his first hit in 38 at-bats on May 11. The Cardinals would be doing the team and Saggese a favor by giving him time to rediscover his swing.

Matt Svanson

The Cardinals and fans had high hopes for Svanson to slot in as the closer this year after a strong rookie season in 2025, where he held a 1.94 ERA in 60.1 innings out of the bullpen. Unfortunately, Svanson has struggled from the word go in 2026, as he's allowed a grotesque 25 runs in 23.1 innings.

Relief pitchers are a volatile bunch, and Svanson's precipitous drop is similar to that of Ryan Fernandez from 2024 to 2025, and, ironically, Fernandez could be the player to receive the call should the Cardinals demote Svanson to Triple-A Memphis. Fernandez has a 3.07 ERA in the minor leagues this season and has walked only three hitters in 14.2 innings while striking out 17.

Svanson's issues are stemming from a sinker that has lost all of its effectiveness this year. In 2025, opponents hit just .157 and slugged .250 against the pitch, but in 2026, hitters have tattooed it for a .379 average and a .603 slugging percentage. Nothing in his stats say that this is a result of bad luck, so something has clearly changed in Svanson's delivery or pitch shape. He desperately needs to find a way to induce outs with his sinker if he wants to become a viable reliever in the major leagues again.

Cesar Prieto

The last man standing on the Cardinals roster from the Jack Flaherty trade after the Cardinals cut ties with Drew Rom and Zack Showalter, Prieto is 0-for-12 on the season and might never hit enough to be more than an emergency call-up in his career. He did, however, nearly carry out a defining moment in his brief major league career in the Cardinals' 7-0 loss against the Pittsburgh Pirates on May 20 when he laced a shot into right field with the bases loaded and two outs in the sixth inning. Unfortunately, Jake Mangum was there to make the catch on the ball, which had a hit probability of 80%, and squash what would be the Cardinals' best chance to come through on the night.

Unlike the other names on this list, Prieto has only received a cup of coffee with the big league club in 2026. The Cardinals called him up from Memphis when Urias hit the injured list, but even if Urias remains out for an extended period, Prieto's time on the active roster could be coming to an end. Lars Nootbaar is set to return to the Cardinals within the next week or two after spending the entire season on the injured list recovering from heel surgery, and with another spot in the outfield taken up, Jose Fermin is likely to return to the infield and take over Prieto's spot.

Yohel Pozo

Cardinals fans have been screaming for Jimmy Crooks to ascend to the major leagues and take the spot of either Pozo or Pedro Pages. Pozo has received scant playing time on the year, as he has just 27 plate appearances in 14 games, and he has seven hits on the campaign. Pozo's free-swinging tendencies will prevent him from playing a major role for the team, and as the Cardinals insist on carrying three catchers, they could swap him out for Crooks, who has knocked the stuffing out of the ball in Memphis and has recently shown improved plate discipline, which might have been a factor holding him back from a promotion.

Cardinals manager Oli Marmol said he is happy where the team is currently at regarding its catchers, so Pozo's removal from the roster appears less likely than the others on this list, and the Cardinals may also want to continue giving Crooks time in Memphis to see if he can continue to work walks. All bets are off at the trade deadline, though, where the Cardinals might look to shop Pages. If they get a deal done, expect Crooks to be the first catcher to earn the call to Busch Stadium.

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