Cardinals Claim Bailey Horn

The Cardinals announced that they have claimed left-handed reliever Bailey Horn off waivers from the Tigers. Detroit designated him for assignment last week. The Cardinals already have multiple open 40-man spots, so a corresponding move isn’t necessary.

The 26-year-old Horn has now ridden the waiver carousel from Boston, to Detroit to St. Lous in just over a month’s time. He made his big league debut with the Red Sox in 2024, pitching 18 innings and surrendering 13 runs on the strength of 22 hits and 10 walks with 13 strikeouts. The resulting 6.50 ERA isn’t much to look at, but Horn is a 2020 fifth-rounder (White Sox) who’s had some success in the upper minors and been involved in one trade of some note — when the Sox sent him crosstown to the Cubs in a 2021 deal for Ryan Tepera.

Last year with the Red Sox, who acquired him in April following another DFA, he tossed 29 1/3 innings in Triple-A and logged a minuscule 2.15 ERA with an impressive 29.2% strikeout rate. Horn’s 11.7% walk rate was too high, but those rate stats are generally representative of how he’s performed throughout his minor league career. He’s punched out 29% of his opponents in four minor league seasons but also issued a walk to nearly 13% of the batters he’s faced.

Horn still has a pair of minor league option years remaining, making him a flexible bullpen piece for the Cardinals in the short- or perhaps long-term. He sits just shy of 95 mph on his heater and misses bats at a high enough level to provide some intrigue for a Cards organization that’s light on bullpen certainty (particularly if closer Ryan Helsley is traded before Opening Day or prior to the summer trade deadline).

One thing St. Louis does have a fair bit of, however, is left-handed relief depth. Horn will join a mix including JoJo Romero, John King, Matthew Liberatore and Zack Thompson. They’re not all proven in the majors, but it’s a solid collection of southpaws all the same. Romero is only controlled through 2026, so if things go south for the Cards in the season’s first half, he could end up a summer trade chip himself, potentially opening the door even further for an opportunity for the newly acquired Horn.