3 Cardinals who definitely won't get traded before Opening Day and 3 who still could
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Andre Pallante will remain a key bullpen fixture in 2024 for St. Louis.
Andre Pallante has been putting in plenty of work this offseason. He has added a "death ball" to his repertoire, and recent videos show him working on a nasty sweeper. Pallante, twenty-five, has been mentioned by name to be in the back end of the Cardinals' bullpen for 2024.
Big League sweeper pitch design with Cardinals reliever Andre Pallante.
— Tread Athletics (@TreadHQ) January 19, 2024
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Andre Pallante was great in 2022; he pitched 108 innings (ten starts, forty-seven total appearances), and he finished the year with a 3.17 ERA, 3.98 FIP, 1.417 WHIP, and an ERA+ of 123, meaning he was 23% better than the average pitcher that year. Pallante could have been over worked in his debut, but he showed that he has the ability to pitch in both high-leverage situations and for multiple innings at a time.
Last year was a bit of a different story for the right-handed reliever. He was used solely out of the bullpen in sixty-two games, and he finished the year with a 4.76 ERA, 4.59 FIP, and 1.559 WHIP. His fastball usage increased, and batters began mashing his slider, formerly his best pitch, for a .341 batting average against.
By modifying his curveball to a death ball and adding a sweeper, Pallante hopes to solve the issues that his curveball and slider created for him last year. Andre Pallante is still quite young, and he looks to be a key player late in games for the Cardinals. Young, reliable relievers don't grow on trees; John Mozeliak should hold onto Andre Pallante for the time being.