5 bold predictions for the St. Louis Cardinals in 2025

Bold prediction #2: Pitchers under the age of 30 will throw more innings as starters than pitchers over the age of 30.

This feels bold simply because of who will be in the rotation to start the year. It's likely that Sonny Gray, Erick Fedde, Miles Mikolas, and Steven Matz open the year filling out four of the five spots in the rotation. That leaves just one spot for someone who isn't above the age of 32. Andre Pallante or Michael McGreevy will fill that void, but a six-man rotation, something the club is now considering, may open up space for both Pallante and McGreevy.

In 2024, starting pitchers over the age of 30 threw 713.1 innings for the team. Starting pitchers under the age of 30 threw only 167.2 innings. That's a massive discrepancy, one that needs to be fixed this year, especially considering the youth movement that the organization is pushing.

If the Cardinals really want to see what they have in their young players, that split needs to be at least 50/50 this year. That will be tough to achieve with four-fifths of the rotation being occupied by pitchers over 32 years old, but there are very clear paths for young pitchers to find time in the rotation.

Erick Fedde (trade), Miles Mikolas (underperformance), and Steven Matz (injury) could all find themselves out of the St. Louis Cardinals rotation by the end of the season. They could all be supplanted by Michael McGreevy, Matthew Liberatore, Gordon Graceffo, Quinn Mathews, Tekoah Roby, and Tink Hence at some point in the year.

I'm not worried about the youth movement in the bullpen, though. Ryan Helsley and Phil Maton are the most veteran pitchers there. JoJo Romero, Matthew Liberatore, Ryan Fernandez, Chris Roycroft, and Kyle Leahy are all well under 30 years old. There's plenty of opportunity for pitchers under 30 in the bullpen.

By June, we could be looking at an entirely different starting rotation. Veterans like Steven Matz, Erick Fedde, and Miles Mikolas could be replaced by Quinn Mathews, Michael McGreevy, and Tekoah Roby. The youth movement needs to occur in the rotation, and the sooner it starts, the better.