Top 5 St. Louis Cardinals with most to gain from the World Baseball Classic

4. Andre Pallante

Andre Pallante was a swiss army knife for the Cardinals' pitching staff last season. Marmol used him both as a starter and a reliever last year and excelled at just about everything he did in 2022.

Pallante makes the list not because he is in jeopardy of not making the opening-day roster, but because he has a chance to earn a high-leverage, late-inning role for the Cardinals this season.

In his rookie year, the 24-year-old netted a 6-5 record with 10 starts to his name, a 3.17 ERA, and 73 strikeouts in 108 innings of work. He was especially effective against lefties, holding them to a .246 batting average against.

With the decline of Jordan Hicks over the last two years, and the ascension of Giovanni Gallegos and Ryan Helsley, the Cardinals are in need of another dynamic arm late in games, and Pallante is the perfect in-house candidate for the role.

The righty's start to the World Baseball Classic has already been a positive one. In Team Italy's historic win over Team Cuba, Pallante notched two scoreless innings in relief of Matt Harvey.

With Italy splitting its first two games of the tournament, Pallante might have the chance of pitching in the quarterfinals, should they qualify. There is still work to be done against the rest of Group A, however.