The Cardinals have agreed to a minor league contract with lefty Jared Shuster, reports MLB Network’s Jon Morosi. He’ll invited to major league camp next spring.
A first-round pick by Atlanta back in 2020, Shuster has pitched in parts of three big league seasons between the Braves and White Sox, combining to toss 141 2/3 frames. He’s been tagged for an ugly 5.27 ERA in that time. The 6’3″ southpaw has done a nice job avoiding hard contact to this point in his career (87.7 mph average exit velocity, 34% hard-hit rate) but doesn’t miss bats or limit walks at even average levels. He’s fanned only 15.5% of his opponents and issued walks at a 10.1% clip in the bigs.
Shuster, 27, sits 90-92 mph with his four-seamer as a starter and couples the pitch with a slider and changeup, both checking into the low 80s with their respective average velocities. He was averaging 92.6 mph on his fastball as a full-time reliever last year, but his results both in the majors and upper minors were rough.
The Cardinals have plenty of opportunity on the pitching staff, be it in the bullpen or the rotation. For now, the rotation figures to include Matthew Liberatore, Michael McGreevy, Dustin May and Kyle Leahy. Andre Pallante will be a candidate to make starts but has also pitched in relief.
Trade acquisitions Richard Fitts (Sonny Gray) and Hunter Dobbins (Willson Contreras) join prospects Quinn Mathews, Brycen Mautz and Tink Hence as possible 2026 rotation candidates. In the bullpen, veteran JoJo Romero and 30-year-old rookie Nick Raquet (who tossed his first two MLB frames in 2025) are the only options on the 40-man roster — and Romero is very likely to be traded prior to spring training.
Key piece in that Aaron Bummer trade.
FWIW, I don’t know how valuable of a piece he was. He was out of options, and they got more out of 1 year of Soroka. I thought CHW wanted to get out of Bummer’s deal and got a bunch of wild-cards from ATL whom were out of options (Nicky Lopez, Brendan Shewmake) — none of which are still with CHW. He really was a disappointing 1st rd pick.
Yeah, bummer sadly, as was the case for all 5 players the White Sox got for him in this deal.
But sometimes all it takes is a minor league contract, and there he has a chance!
LOL a key piece in a big rebuild
Chris Carpenter was too who was tagged for a 4.83 ERA through age 28 in Toronto. Cardinals also dont have Dave Duncan anymore. He averaged 90-93 MPH on his fastball before reaching 100 in his mid 30s. Anyone can find something others missed. Luke Weaver and his stupid fastball grip is a good example.
I like the idea but I don’t think Carp ever had that kind of velocity. I just remember Dunc teaching him the two-seam and the importance of pitching low in the zone.
He definitely relied on location and his curveball more than velocity. Was capable of hitting 97+ hed save those bullets and generally was 90-93. Couple of times in the playoffs I saw him hit 95+
Correct reliever strategy = throw as many as possible against the wall and see who sticks.
Long reliever / SP10.
Walks to many, strikes out way to few,
64-98 should be 30-130
If he was a 30-130, he probably wouldn’t have been traded… IMO
i think you meant that Romero and Raquet are the only other “left handed’ relief options on the 40 man roster.
I hope he invested his bonus well, some stocks have doubled since 2020
Jared Shuster received a $2,197,500 signing bonus from the Atlanta Braves after being selected 25th overall in the 2020 MLB Draft
Cardinal are seeking a pitcher with the surname “SIMON” to pair with Shuster. A book is planned.
As long as everyone reads a copy of The Cardinal Way…seems like Mo and some other folks lost the plot (player development) a few years ago, unfortunately.
I still get him confused with Patrick Schuster, the guy who pitched four straight HS no-hitters.
We won’t know how these small transactions turn out for a while, but at least you can see some logic in the dice rolls. Pedigree in this case, underlying metrics in some other recent signings. Hopefully their scouting and coaching upgrades pay off!