Cardinals' pitching pipeline revamp key to long-term success

When left-hander Brycen Mautz was called upon for his Major League debut against the Brewers in relief of starter Matthew Liberatore on Monday, the Cardinals needed innings. The three Mautz gave them meant more than the box score showed.

But Mautz’s appearance represented more than a short-term lift for the big league club. It was also another glimpse at the wave of young arms the Cardinals believe can shape the organization’s future.

During the first half of this decade, St. Louis' starting pitching pipeline dried up considerably, forcing the organization to look outside for rotation answers. From 2020-25, 66% of the club’s starts came from pitchers acquired through free agency or via trade. The result was one of baseball’s most expensive rotations, but not one of its most productive: Cardinals starters posted a 4.67 ERA during that span, ranking 20th in MLB.

There has been a noticeable shift this season, one that the Cardinals hope is just the beginning of a new crop of young arms who will lead their staff moving forward. Through the Cardinals' first 52 games, 81% of their starts have been made by arms who have yet to hit free agency, with the club spending just over $20 million on its five-man rotation.

The move toward younger arms from within their organization has already paid dividends. The Cardinals’ rotation ranks 13th in baseball with a 4.09 ERA, producing better results than any of their rotations since the 2022 season. This is only the beginning of the plan to revamp their pitching.

After the ‘24 season, St. Louis announced that Chaim Bloom would succeed John Mozeliak as president of baseball operations following the ‘25 campaign. In the meantime, Bloom was given latitude to begin reshaping the organization’s player development and performance infrastructure. Those changes began with the hiring of Rob Cerfolio, who came from the Guardians as St. Louis' new assistant general manager, player development and performance, and has led the charge alongside Bloom.

“Our goal is for all players to have a roadmap for growth, no matter the level -- Major Leagues and down,” Cerfolio said when discussing how they’ve made shifts to developing young arms. “That’s why we see player development as an all-levels initiative, not just the traditional Minor League approach.”

That approach, Cerfolio said, includes “owning each player’s individual strengths” and applying strategies such as pitch design, delivery work, performance resources and integration to help them improve at scale.

“There’s no secret sauce,” Cerfolio said. “Just partnering with our players on those details in an evidence-based manner.”

The impact this revamped player development group has made in just 20 months is substantial. The Cardinals have already seen improved results from young arms at the Major League level, and anyone who has kept up with the Cardinals’ farm system knows that is just the tip of the iceberg.

MLB Pipeline had the Cardinals’ system ranked fourth-best in baseball going into the season after it was ranked 20th the year prior. Lefty Liam Doyle, St. Louis' No. 1 prospect and the No. 23 prospect in baseball, per MLB Pipeline, is their headline arm. Beyond Doyle, names like Tanner Franklin, Jurrangelo Cijntje, Quinn Mathews and Mautz have given the Cardinals reason to believe more impact pitching is on the way.

Right-hander Jacob Odle, who has been the breakout arm of the system this year, entered the organization in 2023 and has experienced the transformation of this player development group firsthand.

“It’s all been really refreshing,” Odle told the Birds on the Farm Podcast. “As a pitcher in this organization right now, the strides that I’ve made personally, going from last year to this year … I think that I’ve been a really good representation of how much good this player development team is doing.”

Odle said the organization’s focus has been less about chasing results and more about helping pitchers meet specific developmental goals.

St. Louis has already found success on the field early in 2026, but for the organization to build the kind of sustainable contender they envision, maintaining a steady stream of impact pitching throughout the organization is going to be key to getting there.

“If we can be an organization known for a consistent pipeline of pitching production, that gives our leadership team a ton of optionality both short- and long-term when it comes to building winning teams,” Cerfolio said. “So the goal is to keep pushing our players and staff to consistently improve because a quality pipeline sets you up for depth, flexibility, roster optionality. All things you need to compete year in and out.”