Breakout Cardinals and prospects from the 2022 season

Milwaukee Brewers v St. Louis Cardinals
Milwaukee Brewers v St. Louis Cardinals / Dilip Vishwanat/GettyImages
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Ryan Helsley

The Cardinals had legitimate concerns about their bullpen outside of Giovanny Gallegos going into 2022. Seemingly out of nowhere, Ryan Helsley stepped up and became one of the best three relievers in all of baseball

Consistently hitting 102 MPH and above on the radar gun, the 28-year-old finished the year with a 1.25 ERA and 13.1 strikeouts per nine innings across 64.2 innings of work. While Helsley has always had good stuff, his first 96 big league innings resulted in a 4.03 ERA and 8.3 strikeouts per nine, so he really figured some things out this last year.

It is still a bit odd that the Cardinals were willing to part with Helsley this off-season in a Danny Jansen trade, but now that the whole saga is over, fans can sleep easy knowing the Cardinals have one of the most dominant relievers in baseball in the back of their bullpen in 2023.