Cardinals potentially foreshadow strategy with Kyle Leahy following Andre Pallante move

August 21 was a tough day on all fronts for the St. Louis Cardinals and it could be the day we look back to at the end of the year. In addition to blowing multiple leads in game one against the Phillies, the St. Louis pitching staff received nothing but bad news. Hunter Dobbins left his start early with a forearm issue, just hours after Andre Pallante hit the injured list for the first time as a big leaguer. Of the two injuries, Dobbins' looks to be the more concerning since Pallante's placement was backdated three days.

With all of the talk of innings limits and workload concerns, the timing of Pallante's injury, especially with no previously reported issue, looks to be a strategy to ironically keep the team's win leader healthy. Pallante was able to throw over 160 innings last season and is on pace to surpass that number, and still could be if he misses just one or two starts. Since there is a lack of concern about his long-term health, I would not be surprised if Kyle Leahy is next to hit the "phantom IL".

Cardinals could limit Kyle Leahy's workload while also giving prospects their taste of the big leagues

Manager Oliver Marmol has already started the workload management strategy for Kyle Leahy with the reliever-turned-starter not surpassing five innings in any of his last three starts. After working a career-high 88 innings last season, Leahy has worked an extremely effective 122.1 frames so far in the 2026 season. A typical industry innings limit hovers around the 150 mark, but that usually relates to young players getting their first taste of the bigs or arms working back from injuries.

Leahy is neither one of those, being a 29-year-old without an IL placement since becoming a big leaguer in 2023. Coming into his weekend start against the Phillies, Leahy is 10-4 with a 3.24 ERA and solid walk and strikeout rates for a starter. His progress this season has been a great story, especially after his early struggles called for fans to unfairly remove him from the rotation in a fact-finding season without many better options knocking on the door.

With the Cardinals hanging around the postseason months longer than expected, the opportunity for Marmol to skip Leahy's starts have rarely happened. This weekend series against the Phillies could go a long way in forecasting for the rest of the season. Depending on the outcome of the three-game set and those in front of the Cardinals in the standings, those opportunities could now show up. The IL placement of Pallante has already opened the door for Quinn Mathews to stick around the big league rotation and another move for Leahy would create more.

The Dobbins' injury may delay any move with Leahy for a week or so and allow the Cardinals to wait for rosters to expand in September. Now that Mathews is up, the pitchers in Memphis deserving of a call-up has been thinned out. In previous instances of spot starts, the Cardinals turned to veterans like Bruce Zimmermann and Jared Shuster to cover innings. With those two gone, Bloom and Marmol may have to turn to more prospects like Brycen Mautz or potentially Cooper Hjerpe for a month-long tryout for next year's rotation.

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