Cardinals reliever on the verge of being DFA'd just saved the bullpen in June

To say that the start of Justin Bruihl's tenure with the St. Louis Cardinals was disastrous would have been an understatement. The veteran southpaw opened the campaign with a 5.63 ERA across 16 innings in March and April, allowing opponents to reach base at a cataclysmic level (.370 opponent's on-base percentage).

He slowly climbed his way out of that hole the following month, recording a 3.60 ERA in lower-leverage duty. However, he was still letting batters reach base at a 39% clip, which is simply untenable for a reliever. By the end of May, Bruihl was working with a 5.56 ERA in 25 appearances and looking like an obvious DFA candidate during a surprisingly competitive season.

Then the calendar flipped to June and everything changed. He tossed 11 innings during that 30-day stretch and recorded a 1.64 ERA, mostly thanks to far better traffic control on the basepaths (.292 opponent OBP). He's gone from replacement watch to bullpen fixture in record time, emerging as yet another reliable option for Oli Marmol.

Justin Bruihl has gone from problem to solution in Cardinals' needy bullpen

It's a bit cliché, but the name of the game as a pitcher is tossing strikes, a revelation Bruihl clearly had in June.

Justin Bruihl strike percentage by month, 2026
March/April: 58.5%
May: 64.9%
June: 70.8%

Naturally, the walks that tormented him in the season's first month (11 allowed) completely dissipated in June (one allowed), and he even avoided hitting a batter after plunking six through the end of May. Fewer baserunners means fewer scoring opportunities, hence why Bruihl's numbers improved so thoroughly.

He's certainly not in the same tier of dependability as JoJo Romero or Riley O'Brien, but his summer emergence does mean the Cardinals no longer need to debate whether or not they should try to find a second left-handed reliever. Instead, they can focus on adding another leverage option to the 'pen without mortgaging the future.

That's not to say Bruihl is perfect -- left-handed batters own a .282/.346/.338 slash line against him this year. Their .309 wOBA is technically below average, but just barely. With Romero posting reverse splits, it wouldn't be the worst idea in the world to add insurance in case Bruihl's command starts to betray him yet again.

Of course, sell-side trades could throw a wrench into all of this, though hopefully the 44-38 Cardinals won't take a sledgehammer to a bullpen that needs more help than its 4.37 ERA suggests. If nothing else, Bruihl has turned himself into a solution rather than a problem, which is the kind of development a surprise contender needs to celebrate when it gets the chance.

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