9 Cardinals who have been on fire the first month of the 2024 season, 9 who are cold

Ice cold: Steven Matz

One guy who is truly in danger of losing his rotation spot sooner rather than later is left-handed pitcher Steven Matz.

If you remember, Matz struggled big time out of the gates for St. Louis in 2023 and was demoted to a role in the bullpen for a few months. After his stint out of the rotation, Matz returned to his starting duties later in the season and was excellent during that stretch before landing on the injured list for the rest of the season.

Well, to begin 2024, Matz is struggling once again, this time to the tune of a 6.18 ERA in his 6 starts thus far. Matz has been unable to go deep into ball games and is consistently putting the club in a tough position with the amount of damage he's allowing in his short stints.

Manager Oli Marmol revealed after Matz's start on Tuesday against the Tigers was impacted by a lower back issue, which caused him to pitch poorly when the Cardinals really needed innings again. I would not be surprised to see Matz land on the injured list

I've defended Matz a lot in recent months, not because I think he's been an excellent pitcher for the Cardinals thus far, but because you can make an argument that if he had remained healthy the last two years, his good performances would have far outweighed the bad. But this is now the third season of Matz's tenure with the Cardinals, and the story sounds awfully familiar again.

Matz's leash with the club may not be much longer, and if they believe one of their options in Memphis may be ready for a chance in the rotation, then Matz may be moving to the bullpen very soon.