Ryan Helsley's misleading season thus far shouldn't discourage Cardinals fans

Ryan Helsley was nails in 2024. The closing pitcher for the St. Louis Cardinals set the team's single-season record for saves last year, with 49, and he owned a minuscule 2.04 ERA. Helsley hasn't been the fire-breathing dragon at the back of the bullpen this season the way he was in 2024, and his last three appearances have proven especially disheartening, as he failed to lock down the save in any of his outings.

Helsley's results as of late may have sent many Cardinals fans into a panic, but they should doubt him at their own risk, as his early-season performance and the past few games were not a reliable indicator of the kind of pitcher he still is.

In his first June appearance, Helsley entered the ninth inning with a 4-3 lead against the Kansas City Royals. After Helsley struck out Drew Waters, Michael Massey hit a line drive single to center field, and Kyle Isbel followed it with a seeing-eye single that found the gap between the first baseman and second baseman. That sent the pinch-runner, Nick Loftin, to third base, and Jonathan India hit a sacrifice fly to score Loftin.

Some ground balls are going to get through the infield; that just comes with the territory of a hitter making contact. But in Helsely's next appearance, on June 7 against the Los Angeles Dodgers, it was just a stroke of dumb luck for the Dodgers that led to his second blown save of the month.

With one out in the top of the ninth of a 1-0 Cardinals lead, Shohei Ohtani hit a grounder to second that looked to be a routine play for Brendan Donovan, but it bounced off of the second base bag, allowing him to reach first base. After a single by Mookie Betts, Helsley struck out Freddie Freeman, but a wild pitch on strike three allowed Ohtani to score and the Dodgers to tie the game.

The June 9 game against the Toronto Blue Jays was not a moment of bad luck, as Helsley surrendered a solo home run to Jonatan Clase to allow the Blue Jays to even up the game at four.

Helsley still has all the tools to be a shutdown closer for the Cardinals.

Derrick Goold wrote in an article for STLToday that near the conclusion of spring training, Helsley felt pain in his toe that led the team to place a protective object into his cleat. The discomfort from the object caused Helsley to alter his delivery, leading to less optimal results through the first few weeks of the season. Compounding those issues was that Helsley's appearances were few and far between, meaning he did not receive enough time on the mound to make the necessary adjustments.

Helsley's 10 outings in March and April inflated his ERA to 3.60, but in May, a month in which he converted all nine of his save chances, Helsley held a much more respectable 2.45 ERA. Helsley is clearly back to full health, and two of his past three outings easily could have swung in the other direction.

For fans who are on the train for the Cardinals to sell off their assets at the trade deadline, Helsley's 2025 campaign has likely taken the wind out of their sails as they conclude that he will not garner the return that the Cardinals would have gotten had they traded him prior to the season. That may be selling other teams short. The Milwaukee Brewers received an unimpressive return for former All-Star closer Devin Williams over the offseason, only receiving Nestor Cortes and Caleb Durbin from the New York Yankees. Relief pitchers are notably volatile from year to year, and most smart teams would have seen a regression from a historic season coming for Helsley.

Now 30 years old, Helsley will likely never reach his 2024 heights again, but even if his last three appearances didn't provide much indication of it on the surface, he has returned to being a capable weapon at the end of games,