Ranking the 10 most valuable young players in the St. Louis Cardinals organization

#6 - Matthew Liberatore

You know what wasn't on my bingo card this year? Matthew Liberatore becoming the single most important young starter in the Cardinals organization. And yet, here we are!

For as much promise as Quinn Mathews, Tink Hence, Michael McGreevy, and Tekoah Roby have, it is Matthew Liberatore who is out there dealing for St. Louis right now, and he finally looks like the guy they thought they were getting when they traded Randy Arozarena for him back in 2019.

At the time of the deal, Liberatore was a top 50 prospect in baseball, a tall, flame-throwing left-handed pitcher who the Tampa Bay Rays selected in the first round of the 2018 MLB Draft under Chaim Bloom's leadership. He has had many bumps and hiccups on the road since then, but man, it'll all be worth it if 2025 is a sign of things to come.

In eight starts for St. Louis so far, Liberatore has a 3.11 ERA with 42 strikeouts in 46.1 innings pitched to go along with a 1.01 WHIP. Liberatore has been masterful at limiting walks this year, ranking fourth in baseball in walks per nine while being in the top 30 in ERA, top 10 in xERA, and top five in FIP on the year.

Part of Liberatore's success this year simply comes from the Cardinals' commitment to him. After an excellent spring training, the Cardinals named Liberatore as their fifth starter, stating they would be rolling with him for quite a while and wanted to see what he could do with that "runway" they talked about for other players. And boy, has it worked.

Liberatore had a rocky few starts to begin the season, but quickly settled into his role in the rotation. He has talked about how the certainty has been getting about remaining in the rotation has allowed him to get comfortable with his routines, work on things behind the scenes, and continue to optimize himself as a starter. We've seen Liberatore drop his curveball usage dramatically while implementing a hard slider with great success, and he's becoming much more confident in his fastball and choosing his spots with it wisely.

When Liberatore is on the mound, he is shut down against left-handed hitters and now is able to manage righties at a high enough level to turn in start after start of great baseball.

I'm not sure if Liberatore will be able to maintain this high level of run prevention going forward, but even a guy with a 3.80 ERA or lower this year would be a massive development for the organization. Just in the span of a year, they could go from having no young starters in their rotation to Liberatore and Pallante, along with McGreevy, Mathews, Hence, and Roby all knocking on the door.

With Liberatore set to hit arbitration this offseason, he's still four years away from free agency, making him an extremely valuable part of this Cardinals roster for years to come.