PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. – Cardinals left-hander Matthew Liberatore is ready to pitch on Opening Day against the Rays next Thursday afternoon. He made his last start of the spring and pitched five shutout innings in a 4-3 victory over the Mets on Friday.
What made Liberatore’s spring so impressive was that he walked only two batters in 15 innings. One should have heard Liberatore’s reaction when he was given that stat.
“It’s two too many,” he said.
The man affectionately known as Libby said he learned to avoid walks after he was put in the bullpen full-time in 2024. When he pitched in high-leverage innings, it was important to throw strikes.
“It’s a nice note to end on in the spring. I couldn’t be more excited going into Opening Day,” Liberatore said. “The race to two strikes – the difference in numbers between 0-1 and 1-0 [is] pretty drastic. The more that I feel I could put hitters on defense by getting ahead in the count early, the easier it makes my job.”
Last season was Liberatore’s first full year as a starter. He had a nice run early in the season, limiting opposing teams to two runs or fewer in eight consecutive starts from April 13 to May 24. He ended the season by winning eight games with a 4.21 ERA.
Walker has nice game: Cardinals right fielder Jordan Walker has been in a slump for most of the spring, and he hopes Friday marks the beginning of good things to come in the batter’s box. He went 1-for-3 with a walk against the Mets.
His first two plate appearances were his best. Walker walked in the first inning against right-hander Tobias Myers before singling to left field against left-hander Brooks Raley three innings later. Even in his last at-bat in the eighth inning, he lined out to Mets center fielder Tyrone Taylor.
Walker has been working in the Cardinals’ hitting lab, which is located in the back fields at Roger Dean Chevrolet Stadium. Walker was going through swing changes in order to see the ball better out of the pitcher’s hand. On Friday, however, Walker decided to do something different.
“For me, it’s mental. … What’s best is to just hit the ball,” Walker said. “Today, I told myself, ‘Whatever happens, go swing at the ball,' and it happened to be my best day. Today, I saw the ball [better] than my other at-bats because I think it’s best just to shut my brain off and just react to whatever is thrown at me. Today was a reaction day and I liked where I was.”
Doyle wants to get better: Left-hander Liam Doyle, the Cardinals’ No. 2 prospect and the No. 34 overall prospect according to MLB Pipeline, started the Spring Breakout Game on Thursday and was roughed up, allowing four runs in an inning plus in a 9-8 victory over the Nationals’ prospects.
“It wasn’t my best outing, but it’s something to build off of,” Doyle said.
However, the Cardinals were not concerned about Doyle’s outing because he is still a work in progress. While he has an electric fastball, Doyle, 21, is still working on his secondary pitches like the slider and changeup.
“It’s something I’ve been working on for the past couple of weeks,” Doyle said. “I’m throwing it as much as I can, especially in games. It’s always huge. This is spring practice. You want to go out there and succeed no matter what the circumstances are.”
Doyle was the fifth overall pick in last year’s Draft and saw action in the Minor Leagues, pitching a game apiece for Single-A Palm Beach and Double-A Springfield.
“With Liam, he is working on a different grip on his breaking ball and he is practicing it everyday in the backfields,” said former Major Leaguer Jason Isringhausen -- now the Cardinals’ special advisor and roving pitching instructor. “He has one speed and one speed only. That comes with experience as you know. … This is his first time on TV and you have the adrenaline going, trying to impress everybody. This is the first step into hopefully 10 years, and get back [to work] in the backfields.”