Eight St. Louis Cardinals pitchers under 25 could all get a chance to be Major League starters in 2025. With the Cardinals shifting their focus to a rebuild after missing the playoffs for a second straight season, they will want to see which of their prospects could be starters of the future.
Several Young Pitchers Will Get Opportunities With The Cardinals Next Season
Opportunities Opening Up
The Cardinals will likely move on from veteran pitchers Lance Lynn and Kyle Gibson, both who have team options on their contracts for 2025. That leaves Sonny Gray, Andre Pallante, Steven Matz, Erick Fedde, and Miles Mikolas as starting pitchers from 2024 who are still under contract for next season.
Gray and Pallante are the only ones with contract status past 2025. However, Gray is a candidate to be traded as the Cardinals re-shift their focus to younger players. Matz, Fedde, and Mikolas all have one year left on their deals and are trade candidates.
The only player not on the trade radar this offseason from the Cardinals starting rotation is 26-year-old Pallante. The left-handed pitcher started 20 games in 2024, ending with an 8-7 record and a 3.56 ERA. He has presumably earned the chance to continue his starting role with the Cardinals going forward, as he is still on a rookie deal and has shown MLB promise.
The Cardinals are likely to clear a few spots this winter to make room for eight pitchers in their top 14 prospects.
A Myriad Of Potential MLB Pitchers
The Cardinals find themselves flush with young pitching talent with starting-level potential. Eight pitchers with starting experience rank highly on their top prospects list. No. 2 Tink Hence, No. 3 Quinn Mathews, No. 8 Cooper Hjerpe, No. 6 Tekoah Roby, No. 10 Michael McGreevy, No. 11 Gordon Graceffo, No. 12 Sem Robberse, and No. 14 Adam Kloffenstein.
All of those pitchers are under the age of 25. Six of them are right-handed pitchers, the only two left-handed pitchers on that list are Mathews and Hjerpe. Three of the pitchers got some Major League experience in 2024: McGreevy, Graceffo, and Kloffenstein. However, when Spring Training comes along, all eight of them should compete for a spot in the starting rotation or the bullpen.
The flush of young pitching talent allows the Cardinals to be aggressive in trying to move on from the veteran starters on the roster this Winter. It will also likely guide how aggressive the team will be with some of its bullpen pieces, most notably Ryan Helsley. Helsley set the team record for saves in a single season in 2024 but is entering the final year of his contract this season. Helsley is one of the Cardinals most attractive trade chips if they decide to move him.
Pitchers With A Taste Of The MLB In 2024
As far as MLB production goes, McGreevy is the most exciting prospect. McGreevy appeared in four games for the Cardinals in 2024, starting three of them. He pitched 23 innings, producing a 1.96 ERA and a 3-0 record. In his final start of the season against the San Francisco Giants, McGreevy pitched eight innings, allowing just one run. In Triple-A this season, McGreevy started 27 games, finishing with a 4.02 ERA and a 9-8 record.
Graceffo and Kloffenstein also saw time with the Cardinals last season, however, much less than McGreevy. Graceffo pitched 7.2 innings in the Majors with a 4.70 ERA. He made one start in which he pitched 3.1 innings and gave up three runs in that time. Graceffo started 26 games in Triple-A and finished with a 4.85 ERA. Kloffenstein pitched just one MLB inning in June, but it was scoreless. In Triple-A, Kloffenstein started 17 games and finished with a 4.74 ERA.
Highest Upside Pitchers
Two pitchers jump out as the ones with the most potential of the Cardinals prospects. Mathews has been the Cardinals fastest riser of late. He started in 2024 with the Cardinals low-A affiliate in Palm Beach and finished in Triple-A with the Memphis Redbirds. The left-handed pitcher had a strong college career at Stanford. He had a 2.76 ERA across 143.1 innings pitched with four teams in 2024. His strikeouts were the most exciting part. Mathews struck out 202 batters in the minors last year. He was just the second pitcher to reach 200 strikeouts in the minors since 2011, joining only Brandon Pfaadt’s 2022 season.
The strong showing in the minors earned him two MiLB season awards. He was named MiLB Pitching Prospect of the Year and Minor League Debut of the Year in MLB Network’s awards show.
Hence is the highest-ranked Cardinals prospect. He had a strong season in Double-A in 2024. Over 20 starts, he posted a 2.71 ERA with 109 strikeouts in 79.2 innings. He allowed just five home runs throughout the season. The season was good enough to earn him Texas League pitcher of the year in 2024.
Hence has struggled with injuries during his time in the minors, and he missed some time again in 2024. He has yet to crack 100 innings in any of his four professional seasons. However, it has some of the most electric stuff in the minor leagues when healthy.
Main Photo Credits: D. Ross Cameron-Imagn Images
