Andre Pallante's comments signal further disarray with the Cardinals' pitching development

The St. Louis Cardinals signed veteran right-handed pitcher Kyle Gibson to eat innings. Now they might as well let him serve as the pitching coach after pitcher Andre Pallante made some hair-raising comments to Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

According to Goold's article on STL Today (paid subscription required), Pallante, who earned the win in a stellar June 9 start against the Colorado Rockies, said that he was throwing his entire repertoire in the bullpen without a specific plan in mind until Gibson came over and instructed Pallante on the correct way to throw a bullpen session. Gibson said that Pallante should work on specific pitches that might need more refinement and focus on those.

The fact that pitching coach Dusty Blake was unable to correct this and another pitcher had to step in is alarming, as is the Cardinals' inability to home in on the little things. Manager Oli Marmol mentioned the need for the team to focus on the details when it comes to shoring up its defense, but the Cardinals are also clearly lacking in this attribute on the pitching side.

Pitching development has been a sore spot for the Cardinals for years. Pallante reaching the major leagues without receiving proper bullpen instruction indicates a colossal failure within the organization regarding communication, which former players have hinted at in the past.

The Cardinals need to remember one simple fact: Most players who are being developed in the minor leagues were the standouts in every amateur level they played at. They are not used to playing against equal or even superior competition; they've been able to get by on their natural talent all of their lives. For this reason, these players may not have received essential instruction at younger ages because they didn't require it to be successful, and the Cardinals have taken it for granted that the players will automatically know something they were never taught.

There's little doubt that the consistency problems of the Cardinals' recent young arms spurn from development woes that plague every rung of the system. Perhaps by taking in this information that the Cardinals brass failed to provide him and potentially others, Pallante can develop into a consistent starter with St. Louis.