Cardinals News: Donovan All-MLB recognition, prospects rehabbing, stadium upgrades

The St. Louis Cardinals look to finish out an amazing May that saw them pushed back into playoff contention and back in the national media in a positive light. Currently sitting in second place in the NL Central behind the Chicago Cubs, the Cardinals have received some encouraging news around the organization.

Brendan Donovan voted All-MLB Second Team

After a scorching first month of the season, utility man Brendan Donovan has kept hitting in May. While filling in at three different positions for the Cardinals, Donovan is leading the National League with 65 hits, third in the NL with a .328 batting average, and slots in at ninth with a .390 on-base percentage. While he only has three homers on the year, he has made up for that lack of power with a league-leading 18 doubles, which is also second in all of baseball, just two behind Royals superstar Bobby Witt Jr.

Donovan's performance on both sides of the ball has earned him recognition on All-MLB Team predictions as voted on by the MLB.com panel of experts. The clutch-hitting lefty was surpassed in the votes by Diamondbacks second baseman Ketel Marte, whom the Cardinals just got to see when Arizona traveled to Busch Stadium. Donovan has been a major part of the Cardinals' huge month as he has hit over .300 with an on-base percentage approaching .400 over the past 30 games. The former utility Gold Glove award winner has only made one error this year while filling in at second, short, and left field.

Quinn Mathews and Tink Hence progressing well

After an uncharacteristic start to Quinn Mathews' season that saw the lefty walk twice as many hitters as he struck out, the Cardinals opted to place Mathews on the minor league injured list with some shoulder soreness. The time off did the 2024 Minor League Pitcher of the Year wonders, as he has bounced back with two effective, yet short, performances while on a rehab stint with the FCL Cardinals and the Palm Beach Cardinals. In those two starts, Mathews has thrown a total of five innings and has not walked a batter while only giving up three hits. He is also back to his pre-injury strikeout rate, striking out eight batters over those two starts. He only threw 45 pitches in his last outing with Palm Beach, so he will need to keep pushing his pitch count up without any additional setbacks before he is expected to be back in Memphis.

Tink Hence, who was knocked off of the top-100 prospect list after failing to stay healthy again, is on a rehab assignment of his own after starting the year on the 60-day injured list thanks to a rib cage strain. After a solid first rehab outing, Hence received another start with Palm Beach on Tuesday. In his second start, he was not as sharp but was still effective. Hence worked through 2.1 innings and allowed three hits and two walks while striking out one batter. He built his workload up to 42 pitches in his outing, as it looks like the Cardinals will continue to work Hence as a starter.

Fan experience upgrades around Busch Stadium

The lack of fans that have passed through the Busch Stadium gates over the past season-plus has not gone unnoticed by ownership. In order to combat the low attendance numbers despite the winning team, ownership has decided to invest the money saved by trimming payroll and allocated those funds into some Busch Stadium upgrades. While fans would no doubt prefer to see money being spent on major league talent, they will have to wait until at least the upcoming offseason when Chaim Bloom takes over the baseball operations.

In an attempt to get more fans through the turnstiles, Katie Woo of The Athletic noted the changes in a subscription-only piece. Among those changes are $5 Fridays and live music to turn the game more into a social event. The music theme continued with the Cardinals announcing multiple post-game concerts where fans who come for the game can stay for live music by some current stars. For the fans who prefer more baseball-centric upgrades, the scoreboards have been updated to show more advanced stats like exit velocity, defensive shifts, and spray charts.

Ultimately, the Cardinals realize that a competitive product on the baseball field will drive more fans to the ballpark, but it does not hurt to try to entice fans with a little more entertainment before, during, and after the game to go along with many of the great promotions like bobbleheads and jerseys.