Andre Pallante will be the Cardinals fifth starter, and you will like it

Yes, seriously. I think you're going to like it. Andre Pallante has the stuff to be a quality Major League fifth starter and he's starting to show it on a regular basis.

The Cardinals have struggled to develop homegrown quality pitching over the past few seasons (probably close to a decade now). The patience and impatience from the front office and fanbase on multiple occasions has been one cause of this. The start-stop-start-again nature of inserting a young arm into the rotation, only to pull him and put him in the pen, and then back to the rotation again has been one that has led to the Cardinals' continued search for a 5th starter after failing to pony up in the free agent market multiple times.

Some names that fit that bill are Zach Thompson, Matthew Liberatore, Jake Woodford, Jon Gant, Daniel Ponce de Leon, Dakota Hudson, Johan Oviedo
, Austin Gomber, and Packy Naughton. I'm sure there are more. Let me know who you think of! The point is, Andre Pallante might just be that guy.

Pallante's a throwback. He reminds me of Jason Marquis or Kyle Lohse. Woody Williams even. Why is that bad? Those guys are winners. I felt like I could always trust those pitchers to go out and give the Cardinals a Chance to win. That's what you want out of a fifth starter, right?

Bernie Miklasz wrote a wonderful piece that went into more detail and statistics but here's one that makes you think. Combining his 10 starts for the Cardinals in 2022, with his seven starts this season, Pallante has a 3.73 ERA in 89 and ⅔ innings. That's good for 3rd best for any Cardinal starting pitcher since the start of the 2022 season to make at least 17 starts.

Andre Pallante, 25, doesn't blow batters away. Instead, he gets outs on the ground. He's in the 97th percentile for groundballs as a pitcher in the entire MLB. He uses a four-pitch mix of a fastball, sinker, slider, and knuckle curve. Since being inserted into the rotation on May 29th Pallante has been clicking and truthfully, may have found his home. He has a better ERA than Zach Wheeler, Shota Imanaga, Aaron Nola, and Sonny Gray to name a few.

The two starts against Houston and San Fransisco are real and they were not his best, but take that away and he's got an ERA of under 0.75 in 5 starts against the Reds, Pirates, Cubs, and Rockies. Look that's impressive. Pallante doesn't dictate the schedule. He doesn't decide if he's in the bullpen or rotation really either, but he just goes out there and throws his left arm to the sky while racking up outs. His next assignment will be against an old friend in Michael Wacha and the Royals in the I-70 series at home

I don't think the Cardinals should trade for a fifth starter. I think they should trade for a 2nd, or 3rd starter. Leave Pallante where he is and move Lynn back to the bullpen to let it eat toward the end of games. Back where it all started for Lance.