Latest spring training stuff rankings show Cardinals pitcher has big hill to climb

Spring Training is in full swing, and it is now time for fans to pick and choose which storylines best fit their agenda. This usually revolves around pitch velocity, spring batting averages, and the eye test, but for the St. Louis Cardinals, a newer metric called proStuff+ may put one of their longest-tenured members of the staff in early jeopardy for a job.

Andre Pallante has to improve his "stuff" if he is going to be an effective member of the Cardinals rotation.

Pitch Profiler has been advancing pitching analytics since 2019, and one stat that seems to have been popping up more is proStuff+. This measure is the same basic idea as advanced hitting stats like wRC+ and OPS+, where 100 is average in comparison to the rest of the league. This pitching analytics looks at what pitches are thrown by the pitcher and then rates those offerings based on the average metrics of said pitch. In a small sample size of 2026 Spring Training, Andre Pallante is already on the wrong side of 100, with his "stuff" checking in at fifth-worst in baseball thus far.

As always, Spring Training is a time when guys, especially pitchers, are working on new pitches, mechanical changes, and getting back in the routine of a big league season. Many discussions on social media have been about what actually matters while the team is in Jupiter, and we jumped on that conversation in our first-ever Redbird Rundown Patreon episode, which is unlocked and ready for you to see what we actually spend our time focusing on in Spring. Without getting too much into it, we talked batting average, eye test, and pitch velocity for what we are or are not focused on. Unfortunately for Andre Pallante, baseball fans are starving for content as Opening Day approaches, and Pitch Profiler is not very high on what Pallante has offered from the mound thus far in Florida.

With or without these pitching analytics, it was clear that the second half of Pallante's 2025 campaign was a struggle. Even as we disregard pitch shapes and velocity, the righty went 6-15 last season with a 5.31 ERA, with only one win after the All-Star break and an ERA approaching seven. The command got increasingly bad throughout the campaign, and even though his fastball sits in the mid-90s, it was very hittable, especially when his breaking stuff was ineffective. That seems to have continued in Jupiter, as Pitch Profiler has Pallante's stuff near the bottom of the league.

Those numbers might not improve too much as Pallante struggled in his latest spring start on Monday. In his first inning, he allowed three balls that were hit 94mph or harder before allowing two hits and a run in the second inning. In his final frame of work, Pallante set the side down in order, but the last his last out was recorded on a 107mph groundout to JJ Wetherholt.

Coming into the offseason, even with his down year, Pallante looked like he was penciled into the starting five for this season. Now, with the additions of other big league arms and with other prospects moving up the ladder, Pallante will have to right the ship fast if he plans to stick in the starting rotation beyond Spring Training.