6 Cardinal prospects whose stocks have risen and 4 whose stocks have fallen

Quinn Mathews is quietly becoming one of the best pitching prospects in baseball.

When the Cardinals selected Quinn Mathews in the 4th round of last year's draft, most people only knew him as a guy who threw an absurd amount of pitches in the College World Series. The Cardinals must have seen much more in him at the time, as he's now mentioned with Tink Hence as the organization's best pitching prospect. In fact, national outlets are even starting to recognize his talent.

The southpaw stands at 6-foot-5 with great extension. His best pitch is by far his changeup, as it generates a crazy amount of whiffs. His fastball has also touched 98 MPH this year, though it normally sits around 95 MPH. He's done much better at limiting walks this year than he did in his college career.

Mathews has been utterly dominant all year no matter where he's pitched. He leads all of the minor leagues with 180 strikeouts in only 126.2 innings. He has a 2.27 ERA, a 0.85 WHIP, a 2.52 FIP, and batters are hitting just .165 against him. There are few minor league pitchers who have had a better year than Mathews, and one of them -- Paul Skenes -- is dominating in the majors right now.

Mathews's excellent rookie season has vaulted him into discussions for the Cardinals 2025 rotation. If he can stay healthy and continue to develop, he may be penned in by the end of the spring training next year. The Cardinals have been unable to develop a dominant starting pitching prospect recently, and Mathews may be just that guy.