Cardinals to give Cade Winquest a chance to provide much-needed support to taxed pitching staff

The St. Louis Cardinals pitching staff has taken a beating over the past week and is in dire need of someone to step up. Over the past six games, Cardinals pitchers have given up a total of 55 runs, making it difficult for any offense to compete. This stretch comes at a bad time since 18 of the Cardinals' 21 games were against teams under .500, so this could be their last chance to make one last push towards October.

To show had bad it has gotten, catcher Pedro Pages has made two relief appearances over the last two series. The fewest runs the Cardinals have given up in one over the past week is six runs, and that creates a huge hole for the bats, especially in a lineup that has plenty of struggling hitters. With the handful of beatdowns, the Cardinals need fresh bodies and are promoting right-hander Cade Winquest for Thursday's series finale against the Orioles. In a corresponding move, Peter Strzelecki hits the IL with extensor inflammation.

Cade Winquest can provide the Cardinals with innings after riding the Rule 5 shuttle this season

Winquest has had a mini rollercoaster of a 2026 season beginning back in the winter. As the Rule 5 draft approached, the Cardinals opted to keep Winquest off of the 40-man roster, exposing him to the winter selection process. St. Louis was hoping for the righty to go undrafted, but the New York Yankees swooped in, forcing them to add him to their 26-man roster. Despite the selection, the Yankees never used Winquest in a game and eventually returned to the Cardinals.

Since returning to Memphis, Winquest has been used out of the bullpen and has stretched out to two innings as a max workload. The results have been solid for the righty, as he has struck out 57 hitters in just 39.2 innings. His command has been fine as well, having walked just 14 batters, but his four homers allowed have been a major reason for his inflated 4.54 ERA. When he makes his debut for St. Louis, manager Oliver Marmol is hoping for Winquest to keep the ball in the ballpark while bringing strikeout potential the rest of the staff is sorely missing.

The Cardinals bullpen is currently averaging 7.89 K/9 with 4.13 BB/9, rates that Winquest easily surpasses. As we saw when Luis Gastelum was promoted, there is likely to be a learning curve for Winquest but the fact he has not faced big league hitters could work to his advantage at the start of his big league career. Armed with a fastball that sits in the mid-90s, Winquest also works with a cutter, curveball, and the occassional sweeper and changeup. With that arsenal, the Cardinals may try to push the rookie beyond just one or two innings at a time.

If and when Winquest is successful in a multi-inning role out of the pen, he could enter into the conversation to be the 2027 version of Kyle Leahy. Assuming Winquest sticks in the bigs for the rest of the season, the Cardinals could attempt to give him a couple starts at the end of the year similar to how Leahy received the ball in the 2025 season finale. Winquest was a starter in the minor leagues before being moved to a relief role this year.

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