Cardinals take a chance on independent ball strikeout machine with 1 glaring flaw

The St. Louis Cardinals just brought another electric arm into their farm system on Tuesday, as the club purchased the contract of RHP Andrew Schultz from the Lancaster Stormers, an independent ball team in the Atlantic League, who led the entire league with an eye-popping 17.4 K/9 this season.

Schultz, who will be assigned to Double-A Springfield to begin his time with the Cardinals, is 28 years old and spent 2019-2025 as a member of the Philadelphia Phillies organization, followed by brief stints in Mexico and the Venezuelan Winter League, which brought him to independent ball in 2026.

This season, Schultz posted a 1.69 ERA in his 16 games for Lancaster, striking out 31 batters in just 16 innings and allowing just four hits. The main red flag for Schultz was his walk rate, as he allowed 12 free passes in that short sample size, a recurring issue for Schultz in his professional career.

If the Cardinals can fix Andrew Schultz's walk issue, he could become a weapon for them

In 150.1 career minor league innings, Schultz struck out 192 batters (yay!) but allowed 112 free passes while hitting another 22 batters (yikes!). Between the walks, intentional walks, and hit batters, Schultz gave up a free pass to 19% of the batters he faced. And if you look at the number of wild pitches (35) and balks (2) he had as well, 24% of the batters he faced reached base via a walk or saw an erratic pitch/balk from him.

Now, that also means that 27% of the batters he faced went down on strikes, which is a very strong number as well. Schultz predominantly threw his high-80s slider and mid-90s heater, mixing in a change-up as well, and so it will be interesting to see how the Cardinals deploy his stuff now that he's returning to minor league baseball with them.

The Cardinals' revamped player development group has seen a ton of fruit already from how they approach pitching development since changes began to be made following the 2024 season. From transforming a struggling bullpen arm like George Soriano to seeing young arms blossom in the system, the Cardinals seem to be an organization that can help pitchers reach their potential. They've been willing to take flyers on arms this year, and while not all of them work out, more swings at high-upside arms give them more opportunities to hit.

If they can do the same for Schultz, he may quickly become a dynamic option for the Cardinals' relief core.

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