6 Cardinals pitchers who dominated Spring Training but faded away in the regular season

Mike Mayers

Spring Training (2015-2019): 38.2 innings, 2.09 ERA 33 Ks, 11 walks

Cardinals Regular Season Career: 80 innings, 7.03 ERA, 70Ks, 33 walks

Mayers, a third-round pick in 2013, made his big league camp debut just two seasons later when he cracked the organization's top 30 prospects list as a 25-year-old. The righty was quickly reassigned to minor league camp, and multiple injured list spots hampered his development in 2015. He was not invited to major league camp in 2016 and spent the season bouncing between Springfield and Memphis. Mayers was named to the Texas League All-Star roster after putting up a 2.39 ERA between the levels.

The Cardinals called up Mayers a month later and made history in the wrong way. In his major league debut, the righty gave up nine runs in just 1.1 innings. Mayers gave up six in the first inning but was desperately needed to cover innings, but he was unable to get through the second frame. He spent the rest of the season until September in Memphis and worked exclusively as a starter. Mayers would get his second chance in the bigs as a September call-up and had a clean eighth inning and picked up his first career win. The success was short-lived, however, as he gave up six runs in just one inning of work two days later. Mayers ended his first major league season with a 27.00 ERA.

2017 needed to be a bounce-back for Mayers, and he got another 11 innings to prove himself in Jupiter. He again performed well, with a 1.64 ERA, but started the season in Triple-A. He put things together through June and entered the Minor League break with a 3.71 ERA over 80 quality innings. He went up and down three separate times during the season and gave up a total of eight runs (six earned) in 4.2 innings, which actually lowered his career ERA to 19.80. Next offseason, Mayers knew he had to make an adjustment, and that Spring Training saw a new and improved pitcher.

Mayers, with something to prove, dominated his first 11 innings in Jupiter, allowing no runs and no walks to go with his 11 strikeouts. By the end of March, he had just given up one run throughout the spring and increased his strikeout rate. He ended up making the opening day roster, but so began another tiring season riding the Memphis shuttle. Mayers notched his first major league save with a solid three inning performance against the Reds and followed it up with two wins in May, despite the righty going up and down six times in the month. His overall numbers were solid despite the constant jostling of roles and ballparks, and it semed to catch up with Mayers after the All-Star break. In the season's final three months, Mayers took the ball 23 times to the tune of a 6.10 ERA over 20.2 innings. He gave up a concerning 27 hits and 8 walks over that stretch. He did end up spending two separate stints on the injured list in August and September, so that may have attributed to some of his struggles.

2019 was more of the same for Mayers, as he had another strong spring as he worked to show his health but ended up spending time on the injured list due to his right shoulder causing issues again. After getting hurt in mid-April, Mayers needed more time and was transferred to the 60-day IL in June before heading out on a rehab assignment with Memphis in late July. He made it back to the active roster but struggled in the final three months, allowing nine earned runs over his last 10.1 innings before the Cardinals finally decided to move along from the righty at the end of the season.

The Angels took a chance on the reliever, but he continued to struggle to stay healthy and was DFAd again before being signed by the Royals on a minor league deal at the end of the 2023 Spring Training season. He came back to the major league level in May, where he dominated over 13.1 innings and only gave up two runs while adding 14 strikeouts. He still allowed too many hits and walks, which came back to bite him in June, as he had an 11.08 ERA before yet another DFA and was traded to the White Sox in July. More struggles limited his innings, and he elected free agency after the season. He signed a minor league deal with Toronto and did not see any major league innings for the first time since 2016.

Mayers was released at the end of the 2024 season and remains a free agent.