Cardinals' newest bullpen addition could have a sizable role in 2025

Fans of the St. Louis Cardinals are growing irritated, as the team has officially received the title as the least active organization for the current offseason. Their most recent addition comes in the form of a minor league deal for 32-year-old righty reliever Zack Weiss, who spent parts of three seasons in the majors.

Does Zack Weiss have a chance for a bullpen role for the 2025 Cardinals?

Weiss was a sixth-round draft pick of the Pittsburgh Pirates in 2013 and made an extremely truncated Major League debut in 2018. That call-up was short-lived, as he pitched in one game but did not record an out, as he gave up two homers, two walks, and four runs in that one appearance. It would be unfair to judge Weiss and his overall ability from that one showing, so looking at his minor league track record can paint a better picture of his strengths as a pitcher.

Over his 10 minor league seasons, Weiss has thrown 409 innings and has put up a well-above-average 11.3 K/9 but a mediocre 3.8 BB/9. Walks and homers have bitten the righty in his short major league stints, as his walk-rate increased to 4.9 BB/9, and he has allowed 8 home runs in his 27.1 big league innings. In 2022, Weiss received major league work with the Angels, where he threw 13.1 innings for LA. The results improved this time around (he recorded an out!), and he notched 18 strikeouts, but he still had trouble finding the strike zone consistently, with seven walks in his appearances. 2023 saw the righty work with the Angels and the Boston Red Sox for another 14 innings between the two organizations. A big shift from 2022 to 2023 was that Weiss scrapped his sinker and featured a three-pitch mix with a 94mph fastball, 88mph cutter, and 84mph slider. The results of the revamped repertoire were increased chase and whiff rates, along with slightly better command.

In 2024, Weiss was with the Minnesota Twins organization and spent the entire season in their minor league system, mostly with Triple-A St. Paul. His season was again mediocre, as he threw 29 total innings with 34 strikeouts but allowed another 13 walks and 37 hits to players five years younger than him on average.

Understanding the need to work on his overall stuff, Weiss has worked this past offseason with Tread Athletics in North Carolina. Recent video shows that Weiss appears to be shelving his cutter and turning that into a new "gyro slider," which has more break but the same speed as his previous offering.

At the time of his signing, the reliever was not added to the 40-man roster or invited to Major League Spring Training, so the Cardinals will want to see his ability to compete on the mound against lesser competition. If he can show that his offseason work has increased his command and his new gyro slider can become a go-to pitch, it is possible Weiss sees a call to the majors at some point during the season. The current bullpen configuration is yet to have defined roles outside of closer Ryan Helsley and setup man JoJo Romero. With the loss of workhorse Andrew Kittredge, there are plenty of innings to be filled, and Weiss could be a candidate to jump in as needed.

The St. Louis Cardinals still have not made an addition to their major league roster and appear content to head to Jupiter with their current personnel. The team is in need of late-inning help, or just reliever consistency in general, and 32-year-old Zack Weiss could enter into that conversation with a strong start to the 2025 season.