Zach Plesac is back in affiliated ball. The Cardinals announced that they’ve signed the righty to a minor league deal and assigned him to Triple-A Memphis. Plesac had spent the past couple months pitching in the Atlantic League for the Long Island Ducks.
Plesac pitched well in the independent ranks. He turned in a 2.84 ERA with a 22% strikeout rate over seven starts. His stuff was sharp enough for the Cardinals to view him as a viable depth starter. Plesac needed to pitch his way back to affiliated ball after a rough 2024 season with the Angels. He only made three MLB starts and was blitzed for 11 runs across 12 innings. Things didn’t go much better in Triple-A, where he allowed a 5.69 ERA through 99 2/3 frames spanning 18 appearances.
It has been a while since Plesac was an effective starter. He was brilliant for Cleveland during the shortened 2020 season, turning in a 2.28 ERA over eight outings. That came against a generally weak slate of lineups with teams playing a limited schedule, though, and the former 12th-round pick wasn’t able to build off it. He owns a 4.86 ERA in 58 MLB appearances since that season.
St. Louis has had the best rotation health of any team this year. They’ve only used six starters. Sonny Gray, Miles Mikolas, Matthew Liberatore, Andre Pallante and Erick Fedde have each taken all 12 turns. Steven Matz briefly joined the group when they used a six-man rotation to navigate a busy part of the schedule. He started twice and is now back in the bullpen.
They have another hectic stretch coming up, as they only have one off day (on June 16) for the remainder of the month. That could lead them to go back to a six-man rotation. Liberatore also left yesterday’s outing a little early with general fatigue, though there’s no indication it’ll impact his ability to make his next start. John Denton of MLB.com suggested this week that pitching prospect Michael McGreevy could be recalled as soon as this Sunday to fill out the staff — presumably with Matz staying in the bullpen. If that’s how things play out, Plesac can backfill the Triple-A rotation.
Here’s hope that’s a good signing. It never hurts to have backup pitching.
angels have only used five starters, dont ask how good they are, that is all
Better than the Mariners tonight.
Actually the starters have been mostly… good. It’s the offense and the bullpen that’s been awful.
McGreevy has been very solid in AAA and each chance he has been called up. Really deserves a shot.
I really don’t know how John Moziliak keeps pulling off all these high profile signings for the Cardinals.
I wish the Cardinals would do more of this.
They used to scout and grab these guys and had a knack for striking gold. That was one of the things that made them successful for so long.
Who does uncle Dan know in the Cardinals front office…
I’ve had a feeling this would happen, for quite a while.
Always Worth a gamble on guys like this this who have been in other leagues refining themselves. Maybe he made some adjustments in the Atlantic League and can return to someone that contributes someday