6 Cardinals' prospects who could make their MLB debut in 2024

Adam Kloffenstein

Adam Kloffenstein is a former third-round draft pick of the Toronto Blue Jays who was signed out of high school. Kloff's slider is his calling card, but he is decent at commanding his pitches, and he also has a deep pitch repertoire on the whole. He also throws a four-seam fastball, a curveball, a cutter, and a changeup. St. Louis placed him in AAA Memphis after being traded to the Cardinals this past deadline for Jordan Hicks. Altogether, he made 26 appearances last year as a starting pitcher.

Kloffenstein, 23, stands 6-foot-5. He doesn't allow many hits, as batters only hit .209 against him in Memphis last year, and his 1.28 WHIP is strong as well. His strikeout and walk numbers have fluctuated dramatically during his career, and his walk rate was 12.7% in Memphis last year after walking only 8.9% of batters at Toronto's AA affiliate. If he can manage his walks better next year while having a K rate of around 22%, Kloffenstein could find a spot in the majors.

The most eye-opening stat to me for the right-handed starting pitcher is his left-on-base percentage last year with Memphis. For all of the struggles he had with walks in 39 innings with the Redbirds, Kloffenstein was just as good at preventing those runners from scoring. He ended his tenure in Memphis last year with a 90.1% left-on-base percentage. While we may prefer our pitchers to not let runners on in the first place, an ability to preclude them from scoring is vital as well.

I could see Adam Kloffenstein seeing time in the bullpen at some point next year. He can pitch multiple innings, he has a deep pitch mix, and he excelled at limiting damage last year. His strikeout and walk numbers are concerning, but he has the potential to make his debut as a back-end starting pitcher or reliever.