Ranking the 5 most disappointing Cardinals so far in 2024

4. Andre Pallante

Pallante is only 25 years old but has already been relied on quite a bit in high-leverage situations out of the bullpen, but it has been a difficult couple of seasons in the big leagues since his rookie year. 2022 was an excellent year for Pallante both in the bullpen and in the rotation as he made 10 starts that year, he had a 3.17 ERA, and 123 ERA+, and was a ground ball machine.

2023 saw some challenges for Pallante, I wrote about this towards the end of last season. Pallante actually saw an increase in ground ball rate but he was giving up a lot of hits, likely due to the defensive shift ban that started last season, and batters hit over .300 against both his slider and his curveball.

We saw film of Pallante working on a " death pitch " during the off-season, which is basically a curveball that has more velocity and a downward bite. Baseball savant shows here that he has not thrown the " death pitch " all that much as he was relying on his fastball approximately 58% of the time, but his struggles with getting outs on breaking balls have continued as batters are 4 for 8 on his breaking pitches this year.

In 9 appearances with the big club, Pallante had a 6.30 ERA, his FIP, WHIP, H/9, and BB/9 are all the highest in his career, which led to a demotion to Memphis. With the Redbirds in Triple-A, 4 of his 3 appearances have been starts and he has a 2.20 ERA, but he has struggled with control, walking 13 batters in over 16 innings. Maybe starting is the answer for Pallante to find success in the big leagues again, but two straight seasons struggling in the big leagues is disappointing for a guy who has so much potential.