Surprise surgery for new Cardinals prospect may solve his puzzling issue

The St. Louis Cardinals have been stockpiling prospects and young assets this offseason, taking risks on higher-upside arms than in the past that come with their own share of injury histories and risk of future ailments.

Richard Fitts and Hunter Dobbins both experienced injuries in 2025, and Dustin May has had a long list of setbacks during his own career. But the arm fans should probably be most concerned with the long-term health of that the Cardinals acquired this offseason is left-hander Brandon Clarke, and he recently went under the knife again after being acquired by St. Louis in the Sonny Gray trade.

Per Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch's reporting this morning, Clarke, whom Baseball America has as the Cardinals' sixth-ranked prospect and just outside their top 100 prospects in the game, underwent a procedure this offseason in order to fix the issues he has had with numbness in his fingers and recurring blisters. After working with the Cardinals' medical staff, they "got some answers," and the procedure addressed an aneurysm in his left arm by going through his armpit to do so.

New Cardinals prospect Brandon Clarke found answers to recurring injury issue thanks to training staff and recent procedure.

The good news is that Clarke has already found relief after having the surgery and has begun his rehab process, with the expectation that he will ease into a throwing program this spring. While this may put a bit of a delay in his on-field work and development this year, the procedure does not sound too significant and hopefully solves an issue that could have plagued Clarke for years to come.

Clarke, who was the centerpiece of the Gray trade to Boston and was only able to be acquired because the Cardinals were willing to eat a significant amount of money on Gray's deal, may have the highest upside of any pitching prospect in the Cardinals' system, and it really is paramount that the Cardinals find out how to keep him healthy long term. Clarke is still at least a year, if not a few, from being someone the Cardinals would be giving big-league action to, so focusing on his arm health and building him up as a starter is far more important than being 100% game-ready when camp arrives.

The 22-year-old posted a 4.03 ERA and 14.21 K/9 in his first year of professional baseball, but his blister issues kept him from throwing more than 38 innings. Before those blisters popped up, Clarke was virtually unhittable, and Baseball America moved him into their top 100 prospects in the game because of how elite his slider and sweeper are, paired with a fastball that gets over 100 MPH.

We'll continue to monitor Clarke's recovery and provide updates along the way. While you never want to see a prospect undergo surgery, in this case, this may end up being a positive development for Clarke's long-term health and trajectory.