Cardinals' top pitching prospect set to return to action

The St. Louis Cardinals are in the middle of an extraordinary run, winning nine games in a row and sitting within one game of first place in the NL Central. They are doing this with an amazing stretch from their starting pitchers, a group that was thought to be holding the team back after the organization refused to deal from their veteran rotation pieces.

If the team actually went full reset and decided to pull the trigger on a deal involving any of Miles Mikolas, Erick Fedde, Steven Matz, or Sonny Gray, they would need someone to step up from Memphis to fill those innings that would be left vacant. The most likely scenario coming into 2025 would be that the organization's Pitcher of the Year last season, Quinn Mathews, would be the first man up after his stellar 2024 campaign. The lefty from Stanford is ranked as the team's #2 prospect and the 40th-best prospect in all of baseball.

He appeared to be pushing for that rotation spot when he was in Major League camp this spring, and he had an impressive showing in his first outing with the big league squad. However, Mathews was quickly reassigned to minor league camp, where he spent the majority of the rest of camp, save for one appearance near the end of spring. Mathews slotted right into the front of the Memphis rotation alongside Michael McGreevy, but he did not look like himself early on. After leading all of the minor leagues in strikeouts last season, Mathews struck out a total of seven batters in 10.1 innings while also issuing an extremely concerning 15 walks and two wild pitches. Also of concern was his velocity being down into the low 90s, which led to Mathews' start on April 14 being scratched and him being placed on the injured list with what the team labeled as shoulder discomfort.

Quinn Mathews appears ready to pitch in game action this week

Since hitting the shelf in mid-April, there was not much news on the injury outside of being mostly precautionary in nature as the team reworked Mathews' mechanics to take extra strain off of his balky left shoulder. Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch provided a positive update on Mathews as the top pitching prospect nears his return to the mound. Mathews got back to his throwing program in late April as he began to rebuild strength and stamina while working on his new motion.

The team has not provided any additional timeline on Mathews' return to Memphis, as they will want to see how his first outing in exactly a month goes and then see how well he recovers. While the Cardinals have consistently pointed out that they do not have quality starting pitching depth in Memphis thanks to injuries to Tink Hence and Cooper Hjerpe, there is no need to rush Mathews back to the rotation. The shoulder setback and recent solid stretch from the current starters also limit the potential for Mathews to hit the majors this year, as McGreevy is also now positioned above him on the depth chart. Unless there is a shift in the current big league starting staff, it is possible that Mathews spends another entire season in Triple-A and gets his shot at his debut next year when the Cardinals move on from their expiring pitching contracts.