5 players to receive considerable playing time in September

September call-ups are just ahead, and the St. Louis Cardinals have several players being given the stage to prove themselves.

New York Mets v St. Louis Cardinals
New York Mets v St. Louis Cardinals | Joe Puetz/GettyImages
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James Naile

Naile has had a weird season in 2023. He frequently gets called up, but it feels like he is getting fired every time he is demoted to AAA. His AAA performance has been solid, displaying a 2.70 ERA, 9.8 SO/9, 2.9 BB/9, and a 1.157 WHIP in 46.2 IP. Not bad for a Memphis Mafia guy. But his performance in the majors has not been so nice. He has a 9.64 ERA, 4.5 SO/9, 5.8 BB/9 and 2.500 WHIP in 14.0 IP. The sample size is much smaller, but that is enough work to show that he cannot figure out how to pitch at the next level.

His role on the team is simply to fill innings when needed at a low cost. But Naile is 30 years old with not much to show past AAA. If the Cardinals are fine paying a guy not developing any further to stay in AAA and take up a roster spot…then that's fine. But September is where they need to feed him innings to see if he can progress just a little bit to show his value to this roster going forward.

Many other players can be observed with this last month ahead of us. The 2024 roster will look much different than the current roster, and it all starts with this final stretch of the season. Who do you think will be playing consistently going forward? Tweet your thoughts at @FSRedBirdRants and let us know!

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