This Cardinals bullpen option is poised for a potential breakout

The St. Louis Cardinals have a glaring issue with the current roster. The bullpen is ranked 26th in all of MLB in team ERA with a 4.80 ERA to go along with a 1.37 WHIP and 51 earned runs. The team has been held together by the very impressive efforts from Kyle Leahy and Phil Maton. The rest of the bullpen has been a major liability to the team and has cost the team wins late in ballgames on multiple occasions.

Recently, we have seen some changes, with Ryan Fernandez and Chris Roycroft being optioned to Memphis to figure out their issues. But with the majority struggling to produce at the Major League level, it is time to mix things up in the bullpen.

Riley O'Brien is ready to breakout in the Cardinals bullpen

Riley O'Brien is one of the next guys up to prove themselves in St. Louis. O'Brien was viewed as a candidate to make the opening day roster, but still showed underlying issues after his abysmal 2024 season. The organization decided to start him in Memphis for the 2025 season, and he has put himself back together. After seven innings pitched in Triple-A, he has posted a 3.86 ERA and 1.14 WHIP and struck out 14 batters. O'Brien struggles with finding the strike zone and keeping consistency, but he has a very unique strikeout repertoire that the big league club is in need of. This is shown under the hood when observing his Baseball Savant page with the limited data provided. If O'Brien gets the call back to the Major Leagues with his newfound production and high-end percentiles playing a factor into this, watch out.

The Cardinals are in a great spot to make this move. The team is struggling to stay in the NL Central race, which leads to the desire for more production. But the team is not far out of contention, so they still have a reason to remain competitive. If the organization is true to their word about creating runways for their young players, now is the time to put your money where your mouth is. The bullpen needs to be treated like a revolving door, and the next best man up needs to come up. Riley O'Brien is here to prove why he is the next best option for the bullpen.