ST. LOUIS – Just when it appeared that Cardinals’ Minor League reliever Packy Naughty was close to a return to the big leagues – following two major elbow injuries, three-plus years away and even a brief stint as a realtor in Palm Beach, Fla. – disaster appeared to have struck again on Wednesday night.

Naughton, 29, appeared to have regained the zip on his fastball and the biting break on his slider in Spring Training when he appeared in seven games with the Cardinals and allowed just one earned run while striking out eight and walking none. That success carried over to Triple-A where the Boston native was 1-0 with a 3.86 ERA over 2 1/3 innings pitched in two games.

Then, the left-handed pitcher who has endured two devastating injuries to his elbow appeared to have the unthinkable happen again on his third pitch of the night for Triple-A Memphis in Chalotte on Wednesday.

As his fastball was sailing to the plate high and wide of the strike zone, Naughton immediately started grabbing at his elbow and he doubled over near the mound in pain. An MRI to examine the damage in the elbow was scheduled for later this week and the Cardinals placed Naughton on the seven-day Injury Liston on Thursday, per president of baseball operations Chaim Bloom. Soon, the team is expected to determine the severity of the injury suffered by Naughton, who left the field with a trainer after injuring his arm again.   

Could it be another devastating injury for a pitcher who hoped to make it back to the big leagues in 2026 and potentially fortify a Cardinals bullpen that has been overworked and shaky so far this season? The Cardinals believed in Naughton’s ability and toughness so much that they signed him to a two-year Minor League deal before the 2025 season even though he was scheduled to miss that entire year while rehabilitating his elbow following Tommy John surgery to repair a torn flexor tendon and the ulnar collateral ligament.  

Naughton, a ninth-round pick by the Reds in 2017 out of Virginia Tech, made it to the big leagues with the Angels in 2021 where he was mostly miscast as a starter and went 0-4 with a 6.35 ERA. Designated for assignment in 2022, the Cardinals converted Naughton into a short-burst reliever where he thrived against left-handed hitters.

One of the biggest moments of his career came on July 5 of the 2022 season when he pitched a scoreless 2 1/3 innings in a win against the Braves. While longer outings usually tend to result in demotions to the Minor Leagues so that fresh arms can be sent to fortify the MLB team’s bullpen, Naughton told manager Oliver Marmol that he was willing to work the longer-than-usual stint that night for the good of the franchise.

Naughton appeared in a career-most 26 games in 2023 and he made the Opening Day roster in 2024 before disaster first struck in his fourth appearance in Milwaukee. Naughton left the field doubled over in pain after partially tearing the flexor tendon in his left forearm – an injury the Cardinals attempted to treat with rest and therapy. Then, on June 11 in his first outing as part of a rehab assignment with Triple-A Memphis, Naughton suffered a complete tear of the flexor tendon.

While working his way back from the injury, and progressing through the Complex League, Class A and reaching Triple-A again, Naughton again store the flexor tendon and also severed the UCL in his left elbow, resulting in Tommy John surgery that knocked him out of the 2025 season.

Out of baseball and trying to find ways to compete again, Naughton sought out an avenue to become a real estate agent after enjoying the process when he bought his first home in Jupiter, Fla., in 2022. Soon after, Naughton waded through the 63-hour course to prep him for the real estate exam, one he passed to receive his license. Becoming a relator, Naughton said, was a way to distract himself from the pain of being out of baseball.

“I knew I was going to be down here for a full year rehabbing, and I wanted to do something else,” Naughton told Rob Rains of STLStportsPage.com. “I figured I would try my hand at this, and it’s turned out great and I love it.

“The hustle is still there and the drive to want to be really good at something is still there; it’s just a little different in terms of how you get there.”

Naughton appeared ready to get back to the big leagues with the electrifying way the ball was coming out of his hands this spring. He, once again, started to resemble the pitcher from 2023 who had a strikeout rate 29.4 percent and an expected ERA of 2.73 – numbers that had him in MLB’s top 80th percentile early that season.

Now, a clearly devastated Naughton and the Cardinals wait to learn his fate following what could be a third major injury to his powerful left arm.

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