Top prospect Quinn Mathews looked excellent for the Cardinals against Pittsburgh as well.
On Thursday, we wrote about how St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Dustin May turned heads with 97 mph-plus velocity in his Grapefruit League debut against the Pittsburgh Pirates.
However, May wasn't the only Cardinals pitcher to gain attention: Prospect Quinn Mathews did as well.
The left-hander, who is likely to make his major league debut this season, did give up two earned runs over 2.2 innings, but he walked none and struck out seven, tossing 31 of his 50 pitches for strikes.
As noted by Cardinals Player Development on "X," Mathews also induced 12 swinging strikes, which is an incredibly impressive number in just 2.2 innings.
About Mathews
Ranked as the No. 7 prospect in the Cardinals burgeoning farm system, he was a fourth-round pick in the 2023 draft out of Stanford. He made one start each at Rookie Ball and Single-A last season, but spent 22 games at Triple-A, going 4-7 with a 3.93 ERA. He struck out 107 batters in 94.0 innings
He's just one of multiple Cardinals pitching prospects that could debut this season, including switch-pitcher Jurrangelo Cijtnje and left-hander Liam Doyle, who is the No. 2 prospect in the organization.
What MLB Pipeline is saying
The following comes from a portion of his MLB.com prospect profile:
His tight mid-80s slider is a decent weapon against lefties, and he’ll work it down and in against righties too. His 80-83 mph changeup gets the most empty swings, running away from opposite-side bats with tremendous velo separation, and he’ll flip in an occasional mid-70s curveball.
St. Louis Cardinals starting pitcher Quinn Mathews (60) delivers a pitch against the New York Mets during the first inning at Roger Dean Chevrolet Stadium. Sam Navarro-Imagn ImagesHow the rotation battles shape up
May, Andre Pallante and Matthew Liberatore figure to be in the starting rotation, while Kyle Leahy, Richard Fitts and Hunter Dobbins will all battle for spots with Mathews.
It seems likely that Mathews will start the season at Triple-A again, but his number could get called very early in the campaign.
Elsewhere in the news for the Cardinals
--ESPN MLB researcher Paul Hembekides recently called Ivan Herrera perhaps the most "underrated player in ball." He even drew comparisons to Shohei Ohanti and Aaron Judge.
--The new MLB Pipeline Top 30 prospects for each team are out. Here's where the recently-acquired prospects stack up for St. Louis, including Cijntje, who came over from the Seattle Mariners in the Brendan Donovan trade.
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