Rookie left-hander Brycen Mautz, who made his MLB debut in Monday's loss in Milwaukee, was optioned back to Triple-A Memphis on Tuesday. Ryan Fernandez brings his strikeout stuff back to the Cardinals.
Five straight scoreless innings in the big leagues and an aggressive mindset that has him striking out more batters and walking fewer of them proved to be the road back to the Cardinals for right-handed reliever Ryan Fernandez.
Fernandez, 27, was promoted from Triple-A Memphis to the Cardinals on Tuesday and he will be available when St. Louis faces the surging Brewers tonight in Milwaukee.
Rookie left-hander Brycen Mautz, who made his MLB debut in Monday’s 5-1 loss to the Brewers, was optioned to Memphis where he will rejoin the starting staff there in Triple-A. Mautz, the Cardinals Minor League Pitcher of the Year in 2025, had started all 81 games he had appeared in professionally and was originally scheduled to start for the Cardinals in Cincinnati on Sunday before the game was postponed because of rain.
In three innings of work out of the bullpen on Monday, Mautz surrendered four hits and two earned runs. Right fielder Jordan Walker saved Mautz another earned run by throwing out a tagging Christian Yelich at the plate.
Fernandez has improved by staying in attack mode
Fernandez, a Rule 5 pick from the Red Sox organization in late 2023, had a stellar 2024 season with the Cardinals before struggling in 2025. He returned to the big-league club earlier this season and has allowed just one earned run over five outings. In 7 2/3 innings of work, he has struck out 13 while walking just two hitters. His whiff rate has climbed to 41.4 percent, while his strikeout rate is 40.5 percent. He’s lowered his walk rate (6.3 percent), while upping his ground ball rate (47.1 percent).
Fernandez was promoted on Saturday as the 27th roster player for a doubleheader against the Reds and he held Cincinnati scoreless of two innings of work in relief – a game the Cardinals tied in the ninth but later lost in the 11th inning.
“As far as different from last year, I’d say that last year I fell in a trap of giving the hitters too much credit and not giving myself enough credit,” Fernandez said recently. “On the mental side of things, I’ve overcome that. I wasn’t having that issue in 2024. That season I was success. But it’s easy to fall into that trap when you have early failures.
“Now, I’m giving myself more credit because I have the same (pitch arsenal) that I had in 2024, but I wasn’t attacking the zone enough. Then, I would just walk guys with noncompetitive pitches and making things worse. Overcoming that mental stuff, getting ahead early and putting guys away late has made a lot of difference for me.”
Fernandez’s work at Triple-A Memphis has also been stellar with him striking out 17 hitters and walking just three in 14 2/3 innings of work.
Fernandez has held big-league hitters to a .233 average this season by altering his pitch mix. In 2025, he threw 47 percent sliders and only 38 percent four-seam fastballs. This season, he’s leaned more on his fastball (43 percent), while still using his slider (42 percent) as his put-away pitch.
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