Welcome to another “Cardinals’ Standouts of the Week!” Major League Baseball is officially at the All-Star Break. The St. Louis Cardinals are ready for the break after playing eight games this past week, going 3-5. They lost four of five against the Milwaukee Brewers, but ended the week on a better note by winning two of three from the Atlanta Braves. The Cardinals enter the break with a 50-45 record.
Before we jump into the excitement of the Home Run Derby and All-Star Game, it is time to identify the Cardinals’ standouts of the week.
Cardinals’ Standouts of the Week
This week’s Cardinals’ standouts will not feature individual players. Instead, we are going to look at trends that stood out over the course of the week.
Standout #3: The Long Ball
Eight games in seven days (double header on Tuesday) opened the door not just for Cardinals’ standouts, but also for home runs. The Cardinals hit eight home runs in their eight games. Furthermore, seven different players went deep, with Jordan Walker being the only one to hit multiple home runs.
What stands out about the Cardinals’ home run stretch is the ideal timing at which they were hit. In the first game of Tuesday’s doubleheader, Walker and Ivan Herrera hit early home runs to give the team the lead. In the second game, Nelson Velazquez‘s two-run home run pulled the Cardinals within one run after trailing early. Alec Burleson and Jose Fermin hit home runs Wednesday in a Cardinals’ win before Walker sent a long ball into Big Mac Land on Thursday.
JORDAN WALKER TO BIG MAC LAND! ? pic.twitter.com/L56sObtV5w
— St. Louis Cardinals (@Cardinals) July 10, 2026
Perhaps the biggest home runs of the week came over the weekend. In Friday’s game, which included a rain delay that lasted longer than the game itself, Jimmy Crooks hit a go-ahead home run in the bottom of the eighth in a 2-1 Cardinals’ win. On Saturday, Lars Nootbaar hit a three-run home run in the first inning to set the tone and give starter Matthew Liberatore an early lead to work with.
The Cardinals rank 20th in MLB with 107 home runs. Given the home run potential that is on the roster, it will be interesting to see if they hit more of them when the season resumes. Perhaps we will more long balls as future Cardinals’ standouts.
Standout #2: Exposed Middle Relief
Riley O’Brien and JoJo Romero have been great in the backend of games. However, their middle relief has been inconsistent. Some pitchers are effective for a few games, then struggle. Getting from the starter to Romero or O’Brien has been a struggle for manager Oliver Marmol.
The series against the Brewers really exposed the Cardinals’ middle relief. On Monday, Ryan Fernandez gave up four runs in the seventh inning as the Cardinals lost, 4-3. In the first game of Tuesday’s doubleheader, Ryne Stanek gave up the go-ahead run in the seventh inning in another 4-3 loss. Bruce Zimmerman also gave up three runs in five innings of relief, but he was the “bulk man” for a game in which the Cardinals used an opener, so we are not sure if we can necessarily call him a middle reliever.
On Thursday, the Cardinals clawed back into the game on Walker’s home run, but the bullpen immediately gave runs right back. Any momentum the Cardinals gained by the home run quickly evaporated.
The bullpen was better over the weekend, especially in Friday’s rain game. However, the middle relief poses a threat to the Cardinals’ success this season. If the Cardinals want to make the postseason, they need to consider upgrading the bullpen.
Standout #1: Starting Pitching
Thankfully, we can end this week’s Cardinals’ standouts on a positive note. Starting pitching was better more times than it was not this past week. There were some rough games, particularly on Tuesday and Thursday. However, there were two great performances that we need to highlight.
On his birthday, Michael McGreevy took the mound needing to give the Cardinals quality innings. He gave up just one run on five hits in 6.1 innings while striking out six. He managed to silence a Brewers’ lineup that had managed 18 runs in three games up to that point. If we were going to do a Cardinals’ standouts for the first half as a whole, McGreevy would definitely make the list. He has remained one of the team’s best pitchers and could have been an All-Star.
Matthew Liberatore gave the Cardinals an encouraging start on Saturday. He had not gone past the fifth inning since his May 31st start. That changed on Friday, when the lefty gave the Cardinals six innings of shutout baseball. It was a needed performance to help the bullpen after they had to pitch six innings after the rain delay.
Liberatore is slowly starting to look better on the mound. It will be interesting to see how he looks in his first start when the season resumes.
The Week Ahead
Walker is participating in the Home Run Derby on Monday before he, Marmol, O’Brien, and Herrera represent the Cardinals at the All-Star Game. All have made Cardinal Nation proud this season and will look to make an impact on the grand stage in Philadelphia. They are definitely Cardinals’ standouts.
The Cardinals will resume their season on Friday when they visit the Arizona Diamondbacks. Be sure to check in this time next Sunday to see who the next Cardinals’ standouts are.
Main Photo: Joe Puetz- Imagn Images
