Cardinals' rookie left-hander Quinn Mathews pitched well over nine MLB starts, but he isn't about to let himself get content with what has happened. Instead, he continues to be fueled by the doubters who never thought he'd make it this far in the first place.
Quinn Mathews pitched well enough in 2026 to land a spot on the Triple-A International League All-Star team and, more importantly, get him to the St. Louis Cardinals for his MLB debut. However, those feats likely won’t shrink the massive chip on his shoulder any time soon.
Despite notching two MLB wins and posting a respectable 3.83 ERA across nine starts, Mathews still talks about himself as is he is some of charity case and the Cardinals are doing him some sort of favor by rostering him as if he is in a “Make-A-Wish” program. Quietly, he still seethes about MLB scouts showing little excitement about him as a potential big leaguer when he was pitching big games at Stanford University and that he slipped to the fourth round and the 122nd pick of the MLB Draft in 2023.
Those are the thoughts he reminds himself of anytime he starts to feel comfortable or that he’s arrived as a big-league pitcher with a bright future in the Cardinals’ rotation.
“I appreciate all you guys (in the media), but the journalists and writers weren’t very high on me or very bullish on me and my abilities to ever get here,” Mathews reminded after a recent seven-inning start against the Washington Nationals. “I was just a left-handed pitcher who had a decent changeup. Basically, that was the report. It’s not the most conviction in a prospect ever.”
Ever the self-critic, Mathews can sometimes be too hard on himself – to the point that is makes him insufferable to be around when he’s struggling or destructive mid-game when he hits bumps in the road, catcher and close friend Jimmy Crooks has said. However, expecting more out of himself has helped Mathews defy the expectations set for him years ago and reach the game’s highest level. Still, he likes to remind himself of the doubters who have lined his journey to this point.
“The Cardinals were kind of just like, ‘Hey, you’re a senior sign in the fourth round,’” Mathews said of the moments after he was drafted in 2023. “I get a lot of mixed reactions when I call myself a senior sign.
“I think (the Cardinals) definitely had more belief in me than I did. But, like I said, being a senior sign is a driving, motivating factor.”
Whatever Mathews needs to tell himself, the Cardinals would like him to keep it up considering the way he pitched when he was at his best after being promoted to the big leagues the first time on Aug. 1. He was brought up for a couple of spot starts before sticking with the Cardinals for good on Aug. 22.
His first MLB win came on Aug. 28 when he limited the Pirates to five hits and one earned run over 5 2/3 innings on Aug. 28. A native of Mission Viejo, Calif., Mathews got the experience of a lifetime when he shut down the Dodgers to the tune of four hits and one earned run over five innings on Sept. 3. Five days later, while pitching in San Francisco and just a few miles away from his Stanford roots, Mathews was even sharper in a defeat as he allowed just two solo homers over six innings of work.
Then, on Sept. 14, he got his revenge on the Giants by working 6 2/3 innings deep in a Cardinals victory for his second MLB win.
Cardinals’ manager Oliver Marmol loved the mental toughness and competitive
fight that the left-hander showed all season, even though he thinks Mathews
should give himself a break from time to time.
“Sometimes, he gets in his own way,” Marmol said of Mathews’ criticisms of himself. “But I’d rather have it that way than somebody who doesn’t care enough.
“You have to remind yourself of the things that you do well and double down on those,” the manager added. “Then, just put an action plan together and make sure the other list (of shortcomings) gets shorter and shorter. But to live in that (negative) space? There are enough people that are going to tell you that you’re not good enough and you don’t belong, so you just can’t dwell on that stuff too long.”
Maybe recent history is to blame for Mathews refusing to buy into his success. He was the Cardinals’ Minor League Pitcher of the Year in 2024 when he breezed through four levels of the Minor League system and piled up 202 strikeouts. That success mostly eluded him in 2025 when he hurt his shoulder, struggled with his mechanics and got hit hard when he wasn’t walking hitters in droves.
He fixed all of that in 2026, and he had a stretch of 12 straight starts at Triple-A Memphis without a loss to earn his way to the big leagues. Despite likely securing a spot in the 2027 MLB rotation with how well he pitched this season, Mathews still has the voices of doubt pushing him to not get comfortable.
“There are a lot of guys that have had a ton of success in the Minor Leagues that either haven’t stuck in the big leagues or haven’t gotten over that final hurdle,” Mathews reminded. “So, to me, it’s like, ‘What if you are just one of those guys who burned out? Or crashed out?’”
