Cardinals' second MLB debut of weekend creates fascinating pitching questions

Doubleheaders can present roster construction headaches, and with the St. Louis Cardinals' rotation getting thrown off its schedule this weekend, the club has tabbed Brycen Mautz to start on Sunday and make his MLB debut in order to get the rotation back in rhythm.

This will be the second MLB debut for the Cardinals this weekend, as utility man Bryan Torres made his on Saturday.

Mautz, 24, was drafted by the Cardinals in the second round of the 2022 MLB Draft out of the University of San Diego and was the Cardinals' minor league pitcher of the year in 2025. He will be making a spot start for the club in order to buy extra rest for their starters and solve the dilemma of having two starters go on Saturday.

Hunter Dobbins, who made his own spot start earlier this year for St. Louis, just pitched on Wednesday, making Mautz the clear choice to turn to after he was added to the Cardinals' 40-man roster this offseason. Mautz has been extremely effective for Triple-A Memphis this year, posting a 2.90 ERA with 43 strikeouts in 40.1 innings of work, though his FIP (4.77) and xFIP (5.35) are not favorable.

Still, Mautz has generated a 30.6 Whiff% in his nine starts this year and has done a nice job of limiting hard contact from opposing hitters. He does have a bit of a walk issue (13.6 BB%), so he'll need to bring his best command to avoid putting free ducks on the pond in the hitter-friendly Great American Ballpark.

Mautz came on the Birds on the Farm podcast during the offseason to chat about his growth as a prospect, and I highly encourage you to check out that interview here.

While Mautz's debut is exciting, it does seem to spell some specific roster moves on the horizon for St. Louis, and then open up other questions that Mautz could be part of the solution for eventually.

The Cardinals have multiple clear decisions to make with their bullpen as well

With Mautz making his debut on Sunday, the Cardinals need to make two roster moves after bringing up Ryan Fernandez as the 27th man for the doubleheader on Sunday. Because of doubleheader rules, Fernandez can be immediately recalled even if he is sent down on Sunday, so he will likely be optioned to Memphis and then recalled on Monday to replace Mautz after his spot start.

That leaves one other move the Cardinals must make, which would likely be optioning Matt Svanson to Memphis after he threw 60 pitches over the last four days. Svanson has had a rough year so far, posting an 8.77 ERA in 24 appearances, so a reset in Triple-A makes a ton of sense.

The Cardinals could potentially designate Justin Bruihl for an assignment, as he's thrown 52 pitches since Wednesday and has also been bad this year with a 5.56 ERA, including giving up three runs in his two outings.

Since Svanson can be optioned to Memphis, my guess is we see that move tomorrow instead, but Bruihl shouldn't have much of a leash left on his roster spot, and Mautz could even be a factor for his role.

Already on the 40-man, Mautz has been very good against lefties this year, allowing just a .163 batting average attacking them with an effective sinker/slider combo. With other starting pitching depth in Dobbins, Quinn Mathews, and Bruce Zimmerman currently available, they could see this as an opportunity to upgrade their bullpen later this summer if Mautz shows them things they like in this outing.

We'll see how this all plays out, but for now, it's fun to see another young Cardinal make his MLB debut.

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