Rainiel Rodrirguez, the top prospect in the Cardinals organization, homered two times for the second straight game, while No. 2 prospect Liam Doyle pitched 5 1/3 scoreless innings with six strikeouts. Josiah Ragsdale, acquired in the Lars Nootbaar trade, also homered on Tuesday.
On a forgettable Tuesday night for the Cardinals, one where starting pitcher Matthew Liberatore was shelled for two towering homers and eight earned runs and the offense generated just one run in a 13-1 defeat, the organization got more positive signs that some high-powered help could be on the way for 2027.
Top prospect Rainiel Rodriguez continued to be the hottest hitter in the Minor Leagues by following up his two-homer game on Sunday with another two long balls on Tuesday in Double-A Springfield’s 8-0 win over San Antonio. Potentially primed for a promotion to Triple-A Memphis, the 19-year-old Rodriguez has destroyed Double-A pitching in August to the tune of a .452/.475/.918/1.393 slash line with 10 doubles, eight homers and 19 RBI.
Rodriguez, who doesn’t turn 20 until January, is the second-youngest position player in Double-A and he recently became just the sixth teenager with at least 15 home runs at Double-A baseball in the past 20 seasons, joining MLB standouts Giancarlo Stanton, Fernando Tatis Jr., Jackson Chourio and Samuel Basallo and No. 2 overall prospect Leo De Vries (Athletics), per MLB Pipeline’s Jesse Borek. Rodriguez, who was signed out of the Dominican Republic as a third baseman, has split his time in 2026 at catcher and first base.
Liam Doyle, the No. 2 ranked prospect in the Cardinals’ system, made Springfield’s 8-0 victory standup with 5 1/3 innings of stellar baseball. He allowed just four hits and a walk in his scoreless run, while striking out six. Doyle exited after throwing 87 pitches – 58 for strikes.
Like Rodriguez, Doyle has been at his best late in the season. The 22-year-old left-hander, who was the No. 5 pick in the 2025 MLB Draft, posted a 1.74 ERA over four July starts and he is 3-0 with a 1.31 ERA in four August starts. He’s allowed two earned runs or fewer in each of his last nine starts.
For the season, the hard-throwing Doyle is 5-7 with a 3.90 ERA in the hitter-friendly Texas League over his 21 starts. He struck out 121 and walked just 50 in 92 1/3 innings of work.
Outfielder Josiah Ragsdale and lefty reliever Sandro Santana, two of the four prospects acquired by the Cardinals at the MLB Trade Deadline in deals involving Dustin May and Lars Nootbaar, also played key roles in Springfield’s victory on Tuesday night.
Ragsdale followed Rodriguez’s first homer in the first inning with his 22nd long ball of the season. The 22-year-old Ragsdale, ranked as the Cardinals’ No. 11 prospect by MLB Pipeline, went 3 for 4 with three runs scored and the first-inning solo homer. He has three homers, two doubles, a triple, six RBI and two stolen bases in 16 games with Springfield. While splitting his time between High-A Wisconsin, Double-A Biloxi and Double-A Springfield, the New Jersey native has eclipsed the 20/20/20 plateaus in homers (22), doubles (23) and stolen bases (33 in 36 tries).
Santana, another product of the Dominican Republic, lowered his ERA to 0.77 in seven games with Springfield with a scoreless inning of work on Tuesday. In 7 2/3 innings of work with the Cardinals, the left-hander with the frisbee-like sweeper has compiled two saves and has struck out 16 and walked just two. This season, left-handed hitters are batting just .115 against him and they have struck out four times as often (40) as they have walked (nine).
