Cardinals claim former top 100 prospect Chase Hampton in first move of the offseason

As the St. Louis Cardinals watch the postseason from their couches, the front office has gotten a head start on the offseason. After watching the poorly constructed bullpen and pitching staff stand in the way of a winning record, Chaim Bloom has hit the waiver wire to find his next reclamation project. Even though the actual offseason does not kick off until after the World Series, Bloom took advantage of the DFA limbo and claimed pitcher Chase Hampton from the Washington Nationals.

Cardinals claim Chase Hampton in early effort to fill innings need

A career minor leaguer to this point, right-hander Chase Hampton was available on waivers after the Washington Nationals designated the 25-year-old for assignment at the end of the season. This DFA was the second of the season for Hampton, who the Nationals grabbed from the Yankees earlier in September. Hampton will now be a member of his third major league organization but is still waiting for his first call to the bigs.

The 2026 season is going to be one to forget for the righty, who closed the book on his third professional campaign with an 0-6 record and an 8.18 ERA in 17 games, all as a starter. In those games, he covered 55 innings and struck out more than a batter per frame, but had some massive command issues. Hampton missed the entire 2025 season with an elbow strain, so some rust was to be expected upon his return to the mound. By the end of the year, Hampton had a 15.6% walk rate and never got into a groove with the Yankees or Nats.

With numbers like that, it is a fair question to ask for why the Cardinals decided to use one of their 40-man roster spots on the young righty. Looking deeper into Hampton, he was a sixth-round draft pick in 2022 out of Texas Tech, using his high-powered fastball to capture the attention of scouts after a bout of salmonella cut short his 2021 season. He sat out the rest of the season after being selected before making it all the way to Double-A in his first professional season in 2023. However, it was there that he ran into his first major injury as elbow issues caused him to miss three months of work of the 2024 season.

Hampton was able to bounceback in 2024 was named the MLB Pipeline's top 100 prospect list, checking in at 92 on the list. At the time, Hampton was being applauded for his command and three-pitch mix that had him profiling as a middle-of-the-rotation arm by the time he was ready for his promotion. However, the arm issues popped up and cut his season short and caused him to miss the 2025 year. While the overall numbers in 2026 left plenty to be desired, the Cardinals believe there is enough there to give him a shot.

This is not the first time the Cardinals have taken a flier on a former top prospect, giving Everson Pereira a shot after running out of opportunities with the White Sox. The Cardinals are in a different spot than other contending teams, which allows them to provide chances for guys that are cast away from their previous employers. This could be the opportunity that Hampton needs, especially since the Cardinals have plenty of innings available that need to be covered. With his previous starting experience, Hampton enters directly into the rotation competition that figures to include a handful of internal candidates.

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