Thomas Saggese has the makings of a player Cardinals' fans will love

When Bally Sports Midwest's Jim Hayes began to ask the question, you could immediately see the emotion swelling in Thomas Saggese's face. Before the St. Louis Cardinals' rookie even answered the question, you knew just how much his mother, Wendy, had meant to him.

"That was really hard, that was really hard," Saggese said before pausing to wipe tears away from his eyes and press forward in the interview. "Yeah, really hard. I guess we were prepared for it as much as you could be. Just cause she had cancer for ten years, and we are thankful we got...cancer for ten years is kind of a rare thing, you know, people usually are gone before then. So we're thankful, especially with her type of cancer, we're thankful that we were able to get that long with her. Very tough though.

As the conversation continued on, Saggese shared more about how he thought of his late mother during his debut this week, and it is clear how deeply he still carries the memory of her and the impact she had on him

Family continued to be a major theme for Saggese during his debut series. Still searching for his first MLB hit going into the third game of the series, Saggese managed to flair a fastball high and inside to shallow right field for a single and went on to collect his second career hit and first RBI later in the game as well.

Any time Saggese did anything in this series, the camera crew seemed to find his family overjoyed at the sight of his hard work and dedication to the game leading to these moments against the Cincinnati Reds.

Even aside from his laid-back, joyous personality, Saggese's on-field presence brings back memories of Cardinals of old who captured fans' hearts, even if some of them weren't stars by any means. The most obvious call-back is the no-batting-gloves look that Saggese has each type he steps to the plate, something that just reminds everyone in the building of Matt Carpenter throughout the years.

I originally wrote this piece on Friday morning but rescheduled its debut to Saturday evening to make space for other content on the site. Instant regret. Here is my receipt to prove my Thomas Saggese hype prior to his big game on Friday night (you'll have to click on the tweet or just take the fact I put it in the story as evidence that it's real).

We have a long way to go in Saggese's career before we can truly know what he'll become. While expectations should be tempered quite a bit, I think it's easy to dream of Saggese being the next scrappy Cardinal utility man who fills in all over the diamond while making an impact offensively for the club.

The reps that Saggese is getting in St. Louis will be huge for the 2025 roster and his chances of being an impact player on it. With Masyn Winn, Nolan Arenado, Brendan Donovan, and Nolan Gorman all expected to have regular roles for the club next season, Saggese will need to find ways to impact the game in a variety of ways and be able to do so without an everyday job. I expect Saggese to play regularly for the Cardinals, but at least right now I don't expect him to be the "starting" second baseman.

That's actually a really nice thing for the Cardinals to have. Saggese brings more upside off the bench than a Brandon Crawford or Jose Fermin did this year, and his right-handed bat will be a helpful supplement to a left-handed heavy roster. Saggese may find himself playing every day down the line, but he'll need to earn that kind of role over the names I mentioned above.

Saggese seems like the kind of young player who is ready for that challenge. You don't hear ego in his voice when he speaks. Sure, he's extremely confident, but you need to be if you're going to reach the heights he already has. Saggese seems to be the kind of player you want in your clubhouse and who is going to soak up everything he can from the guys who've been there longer than he has.

The future of Cardinals baseball is really uncertain at the moment, but adding a guy like Saggese to the mix should remind fans of how this organization has always had a knack for introducing us to new fan favorites as the years and generations go on.

Who will Saggese be as a big leaguer? We'll have to wait and see. But I'm not afraid to go out on a limb and say he'll be someone Cardinals fans root heavily for in the coming years.