Cardinals Option Victor Scott II
June 9th: The Cards have made it official, announcing that Church has been reinstated and Scott optioned.
June 8th: The Cardinals are optioning center fielder Victor Scott II to Triple-A Memphis today, as first reported by KMOV’s Tamar Sher. Fellow outfielder Nathan Church will return from the 10-day IL today and take Scott’s roster spot, per Jeff Jones of the Belleville News-Democrat. Church will presumably see the bulk of action in center field.
It’s the first time that Scott, 25, has been optioned since the 2024 season. He spent all of 2025 in the majors and has been a regular player in 2026 despite nonexistent offensive output. He’s hitting .194/.276/.258 (57 wRC+) through 184 turns at the plate thus far. Scott only has six extra-base hits (two homers, four doubles).
Scott has swiped nine bases but been caught four times; that’s already as many times as he was caught stealing in all of ’25, when he swiped a total of 34 bags. His 29.7 ft/sec sprint speed is still elite, sitting in the 98th percentile of big leaguers, but it’s down half a foot from last year’s 30.2 ft/sec, which tied him for tops in the game. Scott’s 8.7% walk rate is almost average, and his 23.9% strikeout rate isn’t egregious, but he has the sixth-worst hard-hit rate among the 235 players to tally at least 150 plate appearances this season.
Defensively, Scott still grades out quite well, though not to the same extent as in 2025. Last year, he was credited with 12 Defensive Runs Saved and 16 Outs Above Average in 1087 innings. This year, through 471 innings in center, OAA has credited Scott as a positive but not elite defender (3), while DRS has dinged him at -2.
If Scott stays in the minors for at least 20 days, this will burn the second of his three minor league option years. It’s unlikely to impact his potential free-agent and arbitration timelines, as he’s already less than three weeks from reaching two years of MLB service time. If Scott spends the rest of the season in Triple-A, he wouldn’t reach two years of service, thus giving St. Louis an extra season of club control, but it feels likely that he’ll be back at some point, whether because he hits his way onto the roster or because the Cardinals incur an injury in the big league outfield mix.
Church, also 25, has struggled at the plate in his own right, but not to the same extent. He’s taken 156 plate appearances and turned in a .247/.282/.390 slash (88 wRC+) with five homers, six doubles, a 3.8% walk rate and a 21.2% strikeout rate. He’s also making hard contact at lower-than-average levels, but not quite at the same bottom-of-the-scale levels as Scott. Church also has the more productive Triple-A track record; he slashed .335/.400/.521 in 242 plate appearances there last year. Scott’s only Triple-A work came back in 2024, when he hit .210/.294/.303 (58 wRC+) in 362 trips to the plate.
The rest of the Cardinals’ outfield mix seems largely set. Lars Nootbaar is back after missing the first couple months of the season and should see regular action in left, plus occasional time in center. Jordan Walker, in the midst of a full-fledged breakout, is entrenched in right field. (Nootbaar could play right field if the Cards give Walker a day off or a DH breather.) Nelson Velazquez, Jose Fermin and Bryan Torres can all mix in occasionally. Fermin and Torres have minimal opportunities in an infield with Alec Burleson, JJ Wetherholt, Masyn Winn and Nolan Gorman getting regular work (though Gorman isn’t hitting enough to justify regular at-bats for the remainder of the season).
Cardinals Notes: Dobbins, Six-Man Rotation, Urías
Cardinals right-hander Hunter Dobbins will serve as a traditional starter in his next appearance, per Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Dobbins has worked as a bulk reliever in two appearances since being recalled one week ago. With his move to the rotation, Goold adds that St. Louis will adopt a six-man rotation for the time being.
Dobbins allowed a single earned run in 3 2/3 innings on May 31st. He followed that with five scoreless innings behind Kyle Leahy on Friday, earning the win in that game. Dobbins started 11 of his 13 appearances for the Red Sox last year, in addition to starting all but three of his career appearances in the minors. His long-term future is undoubtedly in the Cardinals’ rotation, so the six-man arrangement will help to ease Dobbins’ workload as a starter after his still-recent right ACL reconstructive surgery.
The change also benefits the Cardinals’ other starters beyond Dobbins. St. Louis has an off day tomorrow, followed by 32 games in 34 days from June 9th until the All-Star break. Cardinals’ starters have been surprisingly healthy in 2026, with Dustin May, Matthew Liberatore, Michael McGreevy, Andre Pallante, and Leahy all making at least 12 starts. That said, major league clubs rarely survive the entire season with just five starters. May, who leads the group with 1.4 fWAR, has an extensive injury history, including a lost 2024 (flexor tendon surgery) and season-ending right elbow neuritis in 2025.
Ideally, using six starters will keep Dobbins, May, and the others healthy during a busy stretch of the schedule. The Cardinals will also be hoping for improved performances from the group. Liberatore has a 4.48 ERA and an expected mark over 5.00, while McGreevy’s 2.98 ERA is nearly three runs below his 5.68 xERA. Leahy is in a similar spot, with an expected figure over 6.50. On the flip side, May has a 4.59 ERA but a 3.36 FIP, so he could be due for regression. Pallante’s 3.96 ERA is decent and right in line with his expected numbers.
It’s unclear from Goold’s report how long the six-man rotation will last. The Cardinals have more frequent off-days in late July and August, so they may only need five starters at that point. In any event, continued health and improved performance out of the rotation will be critical to the team’s playoff hopes. St. Louis is second behind the Brewers in the NL Central, and the Redbirds currently hold the top NL Wild Card spot. The lineup’s 102 wRC+ is middle-of-the-pack, while the rotation and bullpen both rank 20th in the Majors by fWAR. By that measure, the pitching staff is the clear area for improvement.
In other Cardinals news, rehabbing infielder Ramón Urías is now dealing with a left elbow issue, according to Brenden Schaeffer of MLB.com. Urías landed on the 15-day injured list on May 5th with a case of right elbow lateral epicondylitis (tennis elbow). This new issue is similar to that injury, per Schaeffer, so Urías figures to be out for longer than expected, pending further evaluation in St. Louis.
Urías joined the Cardinals on a modest $2MM deal during spring training. He struggled in a small sample of 68 plate appearances before the right elbow injury, batting .158/.279/.316 with a 74 wRC+. That followed an 87 wRC+ in 391 plate appearances in 2025, which Urías split between the Orioles and Astros. He was average or better at the plate for Baltimore from 2021-24.
When he returns, Urías will factor in as a backup infielder. José Fermín can technically play the infield, but he’s mostly been used in left field this year. Fermín is also out of options. In contrast, Bryan Torres has three options remaining and could be sent down if needed. That would leave Urías as a backup infielder and Fermín and the out-of-options Nelson Velázquez as backup outfielders.
Photo courtesy of Jeff Curry, Imagn Images
Cardinals Activate Lars Nootbaar
June 5th: Nootbaar has been officially reinstated, with Saggese optioned out as the corresponding move.
June 3rd: The Cardinals will activate Lars Nootbaar from the 60-day injured list for Friday’s series opener against the Reds, manager Oli Marmol told reporters (including Jeff Jones of The Belleville News-Democrat). St. Louis will need to make an active roster move. They already have an opening on the 40-man roster after returning Rule 5 pick Matt Pushard to the Marlins.
Nootbaar will make his season debut after a two-month plus absence. He underwent surgery to shave down bones on both heels last October. Nootbaar has appeared in 11 minor league rehab games, hitting .233 with a pair of home runs while gradually building up to Triple-A Memphis.
The injuries seemed to impact the 28-year-old outfielder last season. Nootbaar had a career-worst .234/.325/.361 slash over 583 plate appearances. His 13 home runs were similar to the totals he posted in less playing time over the prior three seasons. Nootbaar’s rate production was down from the .246/.351/.426 line he managed from 2022-24.
If he’d been healthy, Nootbaar may well have been traded over the offseason. He’s down to his final two years of arbitration control. The Cards committed to a retool in dealing a lot of shorter-term pieces. That included Brendan Donovan, who is also in his penultimate arbitration season. The Cardinals would’ve been accepting pennies on the dollar to move Nootbaar, so it made sense for them to hold him as a deadline trade chip.
That calculus may have changed with the team’s surprising start. St. Louis has won 32 of their first 60 games, putting them firmly in a muddled Wild Card picture. They’ve been a league average offense and one of the league’s better defensive teams, helping paper over a pitching staff that still doesn’t miss many bats.
While the position player group has been solid, the Cards have had one of the weaker left field situations in the National League. The lefty-hitting Nathan Church has mostly operated in a platoon with one of José Fermín or Thomas Saggese. Church is out with a minor shoulder strain but expected to begin a rehab stint tomorrow. He has a middling .247/.282/.390 batting line across 156 plate appearances. Saggese and Fermín haven’t been any better. Recent call-ups Bryan Torres and Nelson Velázquez have gotten some work over the past week.
Velázquez and Fermín are out of options and would need to be designated for assignment if taken off the MLB roster. The Cardinals probably wouldn’t have selected Velázquez’s contract on Friday if they anticipated dropping him that quickly. Torres and Saggese each have options — as does Church if the Cardinals don’t want to open an MLB spot once he’s back from injury.
Cardinals Return Rule 5 Pick Matt Pushard To Marlins
The Cardinals returned Rule 5 draftee Matt Pushard to the Marlins, relays Jeff Jones of The Belleville News-Democrat. St. Louis designated the righty for assignment over the weekend.
Pushard didn’t get much of an opportunity to establish himself. He landed on the injured list almost immediately due to patellar tendinitis in his right knee. That kept him on the shelf for six weeks. The 28-year-old righty pitched pretty well after coming off the injured list, tossing scoreless appearances in each of his first four outings. He labored through 28 pitches in a mop-up appearance against the Cubs on Saturday, however, leading the Cards to swap him out for Hunter Dobbins after the game.
Rule 5 picks can’t be optioned. The Cardinals needed to designate him for assignment and run him through outright waivers. After he cleared, they offered him back to the Marlins for $50K. Miami accepted and will presumably assign him back to Triple-A Jacksonville, where he spent the entire 2025 season.
An undrafted free agent out of the University of Maine in 2022, Pushard has been a pure reliever throughout his minor league career. He worked 62 1/3 innings of 3.61 ERA ball with the Jumbo Shrimp last season, striking out 28.5% of opposing hitters. He’ll be eligible for the Rule 5 draft again next offseason if he doesn’t earn a spot on Miami’s 40-man roster before then. Their bullpen has a little above average this season.
Cardinals Designate Matt Pushard, Recall Hunter Dobbins
The Cardinals are designating reliever Matt Pushard for assignment, according to Jeff Jones of the Belleville News-Democrat. Pushard was a Rule 5 pick and will need to be offered back to the Marlins if he goes unclaimed on waivers. Hunter Dobbins is being recalled from Triple-A in Pushard’s place. The team’s 40-man roster is now at 39.
Pushard, 28, made his big league debut on March 29th, allowing three earned runs on 31 pitches. He then spent a month and a half on the injured list with right knee patellar tendinitis. Since being activated on May 16th, Pushard has made five more appearances, allowing a single earned run in six innings. That brings Pushard’s total output with the Cardinals to a 5.14 ERA in seven innings, plus six strikeouts against four walks.
It’s hard to analyze that small of a sample, but Pushard’s raw stuff may nonetheless be intriguing to other clubs. He uses a mid-90s four-seamer 45.0% of the time, and Pushard’s upper-80s slider and low-80s cutter give him decent secondary options. The Cardinals are in third place in the NL Central with a 30-26 record and have a 22.7% chance of making the playoffs, according to FanGraphs. Their bullpen is a clear area for improvement, as Cardinals relievers have combined for -0.1 fWAR and a 4.26 ERA.
In the end, Pushard may have been too much of an unknown to keep on the roster, especially if St. Louis adds to the bullpen as the season goes on. Now that he’s designated, Pushard will be offered up to other clubs on the waiver wire. If he is claimed, he would need to remain on that club’s active roster or big league IL through the end of the season. At any point, Pushard can be offered back to the Marlins for a $50k fee. If the Marlins decline, he could be outrighted to the minors instead.
Meanwhile, Dobbins returns to the Majors after spending a month at Triple-A on optional assignment. He arrived in St. Louis alongside Yhoiker Fajardo and Blake Aita via trade in December, with Willson Contreras heading to Boston. Dobbins missed the first month of the season recovering from last year’s season-ending ACL tear. He made one start for the Cardinals on April 30th before being optioned, allowing three earned runs in 4 1/3 innings. If he sticks in the Majors, Dobbins can be controlled via arbitration through the 2031 season.
As with their bullpen, the Cardinals’ rotation is a Bottom-10 unit this year. The group has a 4.17 ERA, and their 4.90 expected ERA suggests a bit of luck in that output. Cardinals starters have struck out just 19.3% of opposing hitters, ranking fourth-worst in the league in that regard. Michael McGreevy‘s 2.98 ERA comes with a 5.63 expected figure. Dustin May, Andre Pallante, and Matthew Liberatore have been serviceable at best. Dobbins won’t be a game-changer by any means, but he had a 3.94 xERA in 13 appearances (11 starts) last year with Boston and holds long-term promise. Per Jones, Dobbins is available out of the ‘pen today in a bulk role and figures to join the rotation if he doesn’t get used.
Photo courtesy of Jeff Le, Imagn Images
MLB Announces One-Game Suspension For Abner Uribe
Major League Baseball announced that right-hander Abner Uribe has been given a one-game suspension and an undisclosed fine for his inappropriate actions towards the Cardinals’ dugout during the top of the eighth inning of Tuesday’s game at American Family Field. Uribe is appealing, so the suspension is held in abeyance until the appeals process is complete.
The incident occurred after Uribe struck out Alec Burleson, as seen in this footage from MLB.com, which also includes comments from manager Pat Murphy and Uribe himself. After striking out Burleson, Uribe turned towards the away dugout and performed a gesture that will be familiar to wrestling fans of a certain era.
Murphy was visibly unpleased at the time and later called the situation unacceptable. Uribe, through a Spanish-language translator, apologized to various people with the Brewers. But he didn’t apologize to the Cardinals and actually condemned St. Louis manager Oli Marmol, implying Marmol had threatened Milwaukee hitters with bean balls.
It’s not the first time Uribe has been suspended for an on-field situation. The Brewers and Rays got into a brawl in 2024, with Uribe and Jose Siri at the center of it. Uribe received a six-game suspension for that, though it was later reduced to four games on appeal.
When a player is suspended for an on-field infraction, the team cannot replace him on the roster. If Uribe’s suspension is upheld or he drops his appeal, the Brewers will have to play a man short for one game. For a suspension this short, it’s possible that Uribe will drop the appeal prior to a game that he wasn’t going to be available for regardless, perhaps after pitching a few days in a row.
Photo courtesy of Michael McLoone, Imagn Images
Cardinals Select Nelson Velázquez, Recall Jimmy Crooks
The Cardinals announced that they have selected the contract of outfielder Nelson Velázquez and recalled catcher Jimmy Crooks. The 40-man roster has had a vacancy since left-hander Jared Shuster was designated for assignment a couple of weeks ago, so Velázquez fills that spot. In terms of the active roster, infielder César Prieto and catcher Yohel Pozo have been optioned to Triple-A Memphis.
Velázquez, 27, signed a minor league deal with the Cards in the offseason. He put up a monster .357/.449/.667 line during spring training but nonetheless got sent to Memphis to begin the year. His production in the minors has been more human than what he showed in camp. His 13.5% walk rate is quite good but he has also been striking out at a 29.4% clip while hitting seven home runs. He has a .232/.344/.420 line and 101 wRC+ on the year, indicating he has been barely above average.
That minor league performance is a close match for his big league track record. He has a solid 8.5% walk rate and 31 home runs in 615 plate appearances but a big 28.8% strikeout rate. That has led to a .212/.286/.433 line and 98 wRC+.
There’s clearly some power but also some swing and miss. Since he’s not a strong defender, he really needs to hit to provide value. The uneven performance has led to Velázquez exhausting his option years. He was passed through waivers last year and had to settle for a minor league deal coming into 2026.
It’s possible Velázquez will be filling a complementary role with the Cards. He hasn’t played center field since 2023. Jordan Walker is having a breakout season in right and isn’t in jeopardy of losing playing time. In left, Bryan Torres just got called up and has a .316/.381/.579 line so far. But Velázquez is a righty and both Torres and center fielder Victor Scott II are both lefties. Velázquez only has modest splits in his career but could nonetheless help the Cards play some matchups.
It’s also worth considering the designated hitter spot, as Velázquez is in there tonight against left-hander Shota Imanaga. The Cards have been giving a decent amount of DH time to catcher Iván Herrera, which is why they have been running a three-catcher system. Alongside Herrera, they have also had Pozo and Pedro Pagés on the roster. It’s unclear what their plan is with swapping in Crooks for Pozo today. Pozo has a dismal .242/.242/.273 line on the year but has only received 33 plate appearances in over two months on the roster.
Crooks is one of the club’s best prospects and has a huge .262/.412/.567 line in Triple-A this year but has presumably been held down because there hasn’t been a lot of big league playing time for him. Herrera has a .264/.390/.423 line and is going to be the lineup most days, either behind the plate or at designated hitter. Perhaps the recall of Crooks signals reduced playing time for Pagés, who is hitting just .219/.262/.360 on the year.
Photo courtesy of Sam Navarro, Imagn Images
The Fall And Rise Of Jordan Walker
The Cardinals thought they had a future star on their hands during outfielder Jordan Walker‘s first couple of years in the organization. Drafted 21st overall out of high school in 2020, the former third baseman tore through the Single-A, High-A and Double-A levels with a combined .310/.388/.525 line through 2022.
Widely considered one of the game’s five best prospects entering 2023, Walker cracked the Cardinals’ Opening Day roster as a 20-year-old and avoided Triple-A time. That may have been too aggressive on the Cardinals’ part, as Walker’s career has not gone smoothly. However, now in his fourth season in St. Louis, signs are pointing to Walker finally living up to the hype at age 24.
With Nolan Arenado entrenched as the Cardinals’ third baseman three years ago, they shifted Walker to right field. He got the lion’s share of playing time there during the initial few weeks of his rookie campaign and turned heads during a career-opening 12-game hitting streak. Although Walker batted a respectable .279/.329/.412 with two home runs in his first 20 games in the bigs, it was discouraging that he drew just three walks against 20 strikeouts. With Walker also struggling to adjust to a different position, the Cardinals sent him to Triple-A Memphis for the first time in late April.
Walker mustered a subpar .239/.349/.398 line in 135 plate appearances during what amounted to a 29-game trip to Memphis, but his walk, strikeout and ground-ball rates all trended in the right direction. The Cardinals saw enough progress to summon the 6-foot-6, 250-pounder back to the majors at the beginning of June. He held his own from then on and finished a 117-game, 465-plate appearance first season in St. Louis with a strong .277/.346/.455 line (116 wRC+), 16 homers, and walk (8.0%) and strikeout (22.4%) rates that hovered around league average. He drew negative marks in right (minus-7 Defensive Runs Saved, minus-7 Outs Above Average, minus-6 Fielding Run Value), but that didn’t come as a surprise for a young player transitioning to a new spot.
The Cardinals and Walker likely went into his second season with the expectation they would never again send him to the minors for performance-based reasons. It didn’t work out that way. Walker’s offensive production plummeted in 2024, during which the Cardinals optioned him twice, and didn’t recover last year. He played in exactly 162 major league games from 2024-25 and hit a dreadful .211/.270/.324 with 11 homers, a 30.7% strikeout rate and a 6.8% walk rate over 574 plate appearances. Among 291 hitters who amassed at least 550 trips to the plate during that two-year span, Walker ranked last in fWAR (minus-1.9) and seventh from the bottom in wRC+ (68). He didn’t make up for it in the field, where he continued to receive poor grades (minus-15 DRS, minus-12 FRV, minus-8 OAA).
Last September, a few weeks before a miserable year for Walker and the Cardinals ended, hitting coach Brant Brown and manager Oliver Marmol asked for more from the former prized prospect. Brown said Walker would “have to devote more focus on preparation.” Meanwhile, Marmol called for “a sense of urgency” from Walker, though he made sure to note, “I’m nowhere close to giving up on Jordan Walker.”
John Mozeliak, who drafted Walker, stepped down as the Cardinals’ president of baseball operations after last season. Former Red Sox chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom then assumed the reins in St. Louis. Bloom has been a member of the Cardinals’ front office since 2024, meaning he witnessed Walker’s severe two-year slump firsthand. But Bloom, like Marmol, was not ready to wave the white flag on Walker coming into this season.
When Bill Ladson of MLB.com asked Bloom about Walker’s woes in March, the executive answered: “We all know that ultimately this is a results business, but we get to the results by having a great process. Jordan’s process this offseason is as good as I’ve seen since I’ve been in this organization.”
Bloom added he had “a lot of optimism” about Walker turning his career around, though it looked like more of the same in spring training. Walker took 47 trips to the plate in 14 exhibition games and batted a meek .205/.255/.273 with one homer, 16 strikeouts and three walks. He nonetheless entered 2026 as the Cardinals’ starting right fielder. If you were expecting another rough season from Walker, odds are you had plenty of company. But roughly a third of the way through, Walker has been a revelation. His performance has been a key factor in a surprising 29-23 start for the Cardinals, who hold a wild-card spot as June nears. FanGraphs gave the Cardinals a measly 8.5% chance to make the playoffs before the season began in late March. Now at 27.6%, those odds have more than tripled two months later.
The Cardinals’ offense has gotten significant contributions from stud rookie second baseman JJ Wetherholt, DH/catcher Iván Herrera and first baseman Alec Burleson, but Walker has easily been their greatest threat. Across 51 games and 218 plate appearances, Walker has slashed .297/.367/.585 with improved strikeout and walk percentages of 25.7 and 9.2, respectively. He sits fourth in the majors in wRC+ (168), seventh in ISO (.287), tied for seventh in HRs (15) and tied for 14th in fWAR (2.2). Same-handed pitchers were especially tough on the righty-swinging Walker from 2024-25, but he has put up a matching 168 wRC+ against them and lefties this year. While inconsistency was another glaring problem for Walker in previous years, there have been no drawn-out slumps so far. The season is 62 days old, and Walker’s OPS has been .900-plus for 57 of them.
Diving deeper, this looks more like a true breakout than a fluke. Over his first three seasons, Walker paired a 47.9% ground-ball rate with a 37.5% fly ball percentage. That prevented him from tapping into his power potential and taking advantage of his elite bat speed. He is now hitting grounders at a 39.3% clip and fly balls 44.3% of the time. That bodes well for someone whose bat speed ranks in the 100th percentile. He boasted 99th percentile bat speed last year, but that was one of the few red marks on a Baseball Savant page that featured far too much blue. It is draped in red this year, as Walker is also close to the top of the league in expected batting average (81st percentile), expected weighted on-base average (90th) and expected slugging percentage (93rd). Those are just a few Statcast categories that support his offensive explosion.
If you’re looking for a potential cause of negative regression, it is easy to point to Walker’s .344 batting average on balls in play. He’s a fast runner whose sprint speed falls into the 92nd percentile, but fewer than 10 players typically sustain that high of a BABIP in a given season. Even if that comes down, it may not be a drastic fall for a player who came into 2026 with an above-average lifetime BABIP of .310 (the league mean is .286). Less BABIP luck would damage Walker’s .412 wOBA, which is fifth-best in the game, but his .383 xwOBA isn’t indicative of someone whose numbers are going to careen off a cliff.
Turning to the defensive side, Walker has started 49 of the Cardinals’ 52 games in right field. The reviews have been mixed, which is a step up from the across-the-board negatives he earned in prior seasons. Walker has been worth 6 DRS, which is tied for sixth among outfielders. His 99th percentile arm strength was on full display when he threw out the Brewers’ Christian Yelich on a play at the plate on Memorial Day. That was one of Walker’s league-high five outfield assists. Despite the positive developments, OAA and FRV (minus-2 apiece) remain bearish on his work in the grass.
While Walker’s defensive metrics vary, there is no debating that he has been among the fiercest sluggers in the game two months into 2026. As the six-year anniversary of the 2020 draft approaches, it looks as if Walker has finally blossomed into a cornerstone player for the Cardinals. He is due to make his first of three potential trips through arbitration over the winter, but Walker may soon emerge as a priority extension candidate for Bloom if he continues terrorizing opposing pitchers.
Cardinals Promote Brycen Mautz For Debut
10:15am: The promotion is now official. St. Louis optioned right-hander Matt Svanson to Triple-A to clear a spot for Mautz.
9:45am: Cardinals left-hander Brycen Mautz will be called up for his MLB debut on Sunday, relays Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. He’ll slide into the rotation with St. Louis coming off a doubleheader on Saturday.
It’ll be the second straight day with a big-league debut for the Cardinals, who promoted infielder/outfielder Bryan Torres on Friday. The longtime minor leaguer didn’t get into the first game against the Reds, but started both matchups of Saturday’s twin bill. Torres recorded three hits across the two games.
Mautz has delivered a sub-3.00 ERA across nine starts at Triple-A this season. He’s striking out more than a batter per inning, but his 13.5% walk rate is a career-worst mark. The 24-year-old is not among the upper tier of prospects in the St. Louis system, but he’s generally among the top 20 in the organization. FanGraphs‘ James Fegan ranked Mautz at No. 17 heading into the season, while MLB Pipeline had him at 20th.
The Cardinals selected Mautz in the second round of the 2022 draft out of the University of San Diego. The lefty posted decent results in his first pro season, recording a sub-4.00 ERA at Single-A. He took a step back in High-A the following year, with a 5.18 ERA to go with a 4.86 FIP. Mautz came through with a breakout season in 2025. He cruised to a 2.98 ERA with a career-best 28.6% strikeout rate in 25 starts at Double-A. Mautz was named the organization’s minor league pitcher of the year last season.
This could be a brief stint for Mautz, as the Cardinals don’t have a clear hole in the rotation. The group has remained healthy and generally provided decent results. Veterans Dustin May, Matthew Liberatore, and Andre Pallante haven’t excelled on a per-inning basis, but they’re offering length each time they take the ball. Michael McGreevy is off to a strong start. Kyle Leahy‘s transition to the rotation has gone reasonably well.
Photo courtesy of Jim Rassol, Imagn Images
Cardinals Recall Bryan Torres For MLB Debut
May 22: These moves have now been formally announced by the club. Church was diagnosed with a left shoulder strain. A timetable for his return is not yet clear.
May 21: The Cardinals will promote second baseman/outfielder Bryan Torres for their weekend series in Cincinnati, reports former big leaguer Carlos Baerga. Jeff Jones of The Belleville News-Democrat reports that outfielder Nathan Church will land on the 10-day injured list in a corresponding move. Church was scratched from this afternoon’s lineup with an undisclosed issue and will miss at least the next week and a half.
St. Louis added Torres to their 40-man roster in November, so they won’t need any further transactions. The 28-year-old would otherwise have qualified for minor league free agency. Torres was coming off an excellent .308/.441/.464 season with Triple-A Memphis.
A native of Puerto Rico, Torres joined the professional ranks more than a decade ago. He signed with the Brewers as an undrafted free agent in 2015. Torres never made it out of rookie ball in the Milwaukee system. He had a brief stop in the Giants organization and was playing in the independent ranks as recently as 2023. The Cardinals evidently liked what they saw, as they added Torres on a minor league deal going into the ’24 season. He spent that year in Double-A and climbed to Triple-A a season ago.
Baseball America ranked Torres the #27 prospect in the St. Louis system over the offseason. They credit him with an above-average hit tool and average speed. Torres has minimal power but offers a bit of defensive flexibility and an OBP-oriented skillset off the bench. He’s out to an even better start in Memphis this year, running a .336/.454/.477 slash with more walks than strikeouts in 166 trips. He very rarely chases off the plate and makes a lot of contact, and he’s 10-12 in stolen base tries.
Torres is nearing his 29th birthday, so he’s not a traditional prospect. He’s in the top five among International League hitters in on-base percentage and doesn’t have much more to show versus minor league pitching. He can replace Church as the left-handed side of a left field platoon with José Fermín and Thomas Saggese for the time being.