The Cardinals have yet another pitching prospect exploding in the minors

The St. Louis Cardinals have another breakout pitching prospect on their hands. And, no, I’m not even talking about Doyle, Franklin, Henderson, Cijntje, Clarke, Fajardo, or Roby (among others!). 22-year-old 14th-round draft pick from 2023 Jacob Odle is having a certified eye-popping season for the Palm Beach Cardinals thus far. There are many steps and a lot of development to go, but it’s fantastic to see yet another pitcher taking off under the watchful eye of this revamped player development staff.

Odle has been on the radar for the Cardinals prospect community for some time but has really taken off with his performance thus far. On the Redbird Rundown podcast, the inimitable Kyle Reis waxed poetic about Odle’s stuff. Kyle seemingly manages to have all Cardinals minor league games intravenously fed to him, so don’t take my word for it — give the episode a listen! Apple and Spotify!

What’s powering Odle’s performance thus far for the Palm Beach Cardinals?

Odle’s defining feature in this Palm Beach breakout is his strikeout punch. He’s laying waste to A-ball while running a 32.4% K rate (12.77 K/9). Obviously, a high K rate is not a lone predictor of success, but ask yourself an important question: How many extra-base hits does an opposing batter get while striking out? LIke the three-point revolution in the NBA, MLB brain trusts have fully realized the multi-layered value of the strikeout and are watching for that trait to pop in prospects.

Combine Odle with the laundry list of exciting pitching prospects populating every level of the minor league system for the Cardinals, and you have an ecosystem teaming with a pitching philosophy we have not really seen before in St. Louis. The Mozeliak pitch-to-contact model will go the way of the dinosaurs in the next few years in St. Louis.

How has Odle amassed his 2.19 ERA so far? He’s riding an absolutely electric fastball that sits at 97 mph with a movement profile that sets it up as one of the most elite pitches in the minor leagues. Like most pitchers his age, the work, and determining factor for how far his career goes will come in the secondary pitches. He also throws a sinker, curve, cutter, slider, and changeup (six pitches!), with the changeup grading out as his next-best pitch thus far.

As we’ve seen recently with Liam Doyle, though, the Cardinals pitching team throughout the minors specializes in arsenal overhauls, so as Odle continues his career with the Cardinals, he’ll likely benefit from this kind of instruction. 

One word of caution on Odle

As Odle is a bit of a “late bloomer” (but really, what were you doing at 22 years old?), one word of caution needs to be sown. He’s the average age for a player at the Single-A level. In general, players like Odle receive far more interest and plaudits for their work if they are performing at a level of the minor leagues where most of the players are older than them. This is why the 19-year-old Rainiel Rodriguez is going to end up as one of the most exciting prospects in all of baseball if he continues mashing at AA.

I would expect Odle to be promoted soon. This will be quite telling. If he continues to have the same level of success in Peoria, where the average age of players will be older than him, he’ll start to pick up more eyeballs in the prospect community.

To me, the most important takeaway here is a larger philosophical one. Under Chaim Bloom, the Cardinals are cleary emphasizing strikeout stuff when developing pitching prospects. If you’ve seen the Pirates rotation and have been jealous (despite the fact that we somehow own Paul Skenes), stay patient, because Cardinals rotations moving forward in future years could look much more like our divisional rivals.

As I said, Odle has a long way to go, but looks absolutely dominant right now for the Palm Beach squad. It will be interesting to see his journey moving forward. Here’s hoping the best for him and all the other Cardinals prospects!

Thanks for reading!

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