Quinn Mathews' duel with future Hall of Famer has Cardinals fans ready for the future

We are only a few days into spring training, and the St. Louis Cardinals' top prospects can't help themselves from stealing the show early on in Florida.

Just the other day, JJ Wetherholt, the Cardinals' consensus top prospect, was mashing his way into the hearts of Cardinals fans, causing many to dream and speculate on how soon we could see him in St. Louis. Well, the Cardinals' number two prospect in their system took the mound on Tuesday, and his stuff was as electric as fans had heard it was all last season in the minor leagues.

Quinn Mathews was tasked with navigating the Toronto Blue Jays lineup that featured MVP candidate Vladimir Guerrero Jr. while future Hall of Famer Max Scherzer got on the mound to oppose him, and Mathews looked like a seasoned veteran in that matchup.

In two innings of work, Mathews allowed no runs on two hits and a walk but struck out three batters in the process. One of those strikeouts was of Guerrero Jr. on a nasty change-up that made him look silly, and another came with the bases loaded to get him out of the jam.

Quinn Mathews' first start of spring training continued the hype we saw from his 2024 campaign.

Mathews, in his first professional season last year, jumped four minor league levels while striking out over 200 batters, earning him Minor League Pitcher of the Year honors from most prospect outlets. The Cardinals clearly want to see what Mathews can do this spring, and while they'd have to make some room for him in their rotation if they did want to go to him right away, he'll certainly be positioned to slide into that group soon into the season if he can't make the roster out of camp.

I don't think it is a coincidence that we are now hearing chatter about the potential of Erick Fedde being traded during camp as we see names like Mathews, Tekoah Roby, Gordon Graceffo, and Cooper Hjerpe impress on the mound thus far. Tomorrow we'll see Michael McGreevy make his first start, and at some point, we should see Tink Hence as well.

Mathews is the highest-rated of the bunch, and for good reason. While McGreevy likely has the edge in the pecking order due to his experience in St. Louis last year, Mathews' upside and incredible production so far in his young professional career have the Cardinals dreaming about what he could mean for their rotation moving forward.

While Wetherholt is clearly the Cardinals' best prospect, he is not going to be making an impact in St. Louis for a least a little while. Mathews, on the other hand, can force the Cardinals' hand if he keeps things up, which would be a real revelation for this club.

In my own rankings of the most important Cardinals for the 2025 season, I aggressively ranked Mathews #2 out of every player on the roster and near the MLB level. No, I don't say that to put too much pressure on him; my point is that if Mathews is who we think he can be this year, that has a massive impact on what the Cardinals can be in 2025. Now you'd have two dynamic arms in a rotation in Mathews and Sonny Gray, paired with Andre Pallante and whatever other starters make up that rotation.

Mathews' starts are going to be must-watch television the rest of spring training. If he can stack some more performances like this, I'm not sure the Cardinals will be able to keep him off their Opening Day roster.