Newest Cardinals pitchers set to debut at Spring Training next week

As the first Spring Training games come to a close for the St. Louis Cardinals, fans are getting their first look at many exciting players wearing the birds on the bat for the first time. We caught glimpses of Victor Scott II, Thomas Saggese, Won-Bin Cho, and many more in Saturday's split-squad action but there's still more to come in the following week.

According to The Athletic's Katie Woo, Tekoah Roby, Sonny Gray, Miles Mikolas, and Kyle Gibson will start the games from Monday through Thursday. All of these pitchers will be exciting watches as the Cardinals look to rebound from an abysmal 2023, especially from the starting pitching. Roby, who came over from the Rangers in the Jordan Montgomery trade last summer, will be making his first-ever appearance at Cardinals' Spring Training, and I'm excited to watch him as a potential starter of the future.

Of course, the big offseason acquisition Sonny Gray will probably be the most exciting debut this Spring, and we'll get to watch the 2023 AL Cy Young runner-up against a tough Red Sox lineup on Tuesday. Miles Mikolas, though not a debut appearance, has a lot to prove after signing his extension last Spring. If he can bounce back to his All-Star heights, the outlook for the Cardinals' rotation will be much better. And lastly, Kyle Gibson will hopefully ease Cardinal fans' concerns that the newly acquired backend starters won't completely crumble like they did last year.

It's important not to put too much stock into players' Spring Training performances and overreact to small sample numbers, but seeing strong performances from the newest Cardinal pitchers would be very encouraging after a tough 2023 season. Gray and Gibson especially are crucial to getting the organization back on track for a solid 2024 run.