MLB selects two electric Cardinals arms to the All-Star Futures Game

The All-Star Futures Game is a yearly event where baseball's most promising up-and-coming future stars get to display their skills in an exhibition game. Many of baseball's premier players, such as Mike Trout and Jose Altuve, got their start in the Futures Games. For the St. Louis Cardinals, many fans will remember Masyn Winn's triple-digit throw in the event a few years prior.

This year, two Cardinals prospects were selected to participate in the event, pitchers Tink Hence and Quinn Mathews. This will be Hence's second time appearing in the Futures Game, this time as the number 1 ranked prospect in the Cardinals' system and the 43rd in all of baseball, according to MLB.com. He's having a fantastic season in Double-A, recording a 3.29 ERA in 12 starts. He's been giving the Cardinals more length recently, though a recent injury that resulted in him being prematurely taken out of a game is cause for concern.

Perhaps more exciting is Quinn Mathews, a prospect who has soared through the lower levels of the Minor Leagues and is now a teammate of Hence in Double-A Springfield. Drafted out of Stanford with a low 90 fastball, Mathews has increased his velocity significantly, reaching 98 mph in his most recent start. As the number 2 ranked prospect in the Cardinals' system and just squeaking into MLB.com's top 100, the fourth-round pick of the 2023 draft could pay huge dividends for St. Louis.

The Cardinals have a well-documented history of top pitching prospects never panning out. Jack Flaherty, Alex Reyes, Shelby Miller, and many others never reached their full potential, but now St. Louis can try again. With other promising pitchers in the system, such as Cooper Hjerpe and Tekoah Roby, the future of Cardinals pitching is bright. If the Cardinals can properly develop homegrown starters, they can truly move into contention with a very promising position player core already at the Major League level.