Graduated from Mountain Ridge High School in Glendale, Ariz....Signed his letter of intent to the University of Arizona...2018 Arizona High School Gatorade Player of the Year and finalist for Gatorade National Player of the Year...Posted marks of 8-1 with an 0.93 ERA and 104 strikeouts in 60.1 innings during his senior year (15.51 K/9 IP)...Was a childhood teammate and friend of Cardinals infielder Nolan Gorman...Both Liberatore and Gorman played in the American Youth Baseball Hall of Fame tournament at Cooperstown Dreams Park in 2012 and on the same World Cup team in 2017, winning the Gold Medal in Canada...Ranked by Baseball America as the No. 2 overall player in the 2018 Major League Baseball Draft...Originally selected by the Rays in the first round (16th overall) of the 2018 MLB Draft, making him the highest-drafted high school player in Rays franchise history...Threw 12 scoreless innings against Korea to win the Gold Medal Game in the 18U World Cup Championship...Was a member of Mountain Ridge’s two State Runner-Up teams in 2016 and 2018...Lost to Nolan Gorman and Sandra Day O’Connor HS in the 2018 championship but did not pitch in the game...Helped lead Mountain Ridge to the Arizona Division 1 (now Class 6A) State Runner-Up in 2016 before they were defeated by Hamilton HS led by pitcher Cole Bellinger (brother of Cody Bellinger), which came out of the elimination bracket...Defeated O’Connor High School, led by Nolan Gorman, in the Opening Game...Grew up idolizing Hall of Fame pitcher Sandy Koufax...Resides in Punta Gorda, Fla. with his wife Natalie. The couple was married this off-season (12/14/2024).
2024
Spent the entire season on the Major League roster, his first season on the Opening Day roster and first full season in the Majors...Appeared in a career-high 60 games, making six starts...Ranked fifth on the Cardinals staff in appearances and T-15th among National League left-handers...Set Major League career-highs in innings pitched (86.1), strikeouts (76) and tied with three wins...Made 12 relief appearances to begin the season before his first spot start vs. CWS (5/5), tossing 3.2 innings, allowing one run, in a game the Cardinals lost 5-1...Pitched a season-high six scoreless innings of two-hit ball in a start vs. ATL (6/26-Game 2), striking out a career-high eight batters in a 4-1 win...The six scoreless innings was part of a run of a career-best 11 scoreless innings, fifth-longest streak of the season for the Cardinals...He was notified that he was starting on the day of the game in two of his starts: at MIA (6/19) and vs. ATL (6/26-Game 2)...Made a team-high 14 appearances in August, T-2nd among NL pitchers and the most in a month in his career...Led the Cardinals and ranked seventh in the N.L. with 25 appearances after the trade deadline (8/1)...Pitched a season-high three innings in relief twice (4/28 at NYM & 8/9 at KC)...Earned the win at KC as the Cardinals rallied from a 5-3 deficit to an 8-5 win facing one over the minimum (walk)...Went nine consecutive appearances (4/4-5/5) without allowing a hit against a left-handed batter (0-for-19, one walk)...Recorded a career-high seven Holds...Ranked T-2nd among Cardinals relievers with John King with 33 inherited runners, trailing only JoJo Romero (34).
2023
Began the season with Memphis (AAA) and was called up on May 17 to make his first start vs. MIL (5/17) tossing 5.0 scoreless innings for the win...Made 22 appearances in St. Louis with 11 starts...Established Major League single-season highs in wins (three), appearances, starts, innings pitched (61.2) and strikeouts (46)...Pitched arguably his finest career outing against his original drafting organization (Rays) at Tropicana Field vs. TB (8/10) firing 8.0 scoreless innings of two-hit ball with a season-high seven strikeouts in a 5-2 win...Was the starting pitcher in the Cardinals win over the Cubs at London Stadium on June 25, 2023 when Jack Flaherty was scratched less than 24 hours prior to the start...Pitched 2.1 innings allowing four unearned runs in a no-decision as the Cardinals rallied for a 7-5 victory...Started vs. NYY (7/1) in Game 2 of the doubleheader, the first Cardinals rookie to start against the Yankees since Al Brazle in the 1943 World Series...Did not allow an earned run to an N.L. Central opponent during the 2023 season over seven appearances and 12.2 innings pitched...Held opposition to a .170 opponent batting average while recording a 1.18 WHIP...Joined teammate Ryan Helsley as the only two Cardinals pitchers to throw 10.0 or more innings with seven or more appearances to record an 0.00 ERA against N.L. Central opponents during the 2023 season...Cardinals Minor League Pitcher of the Month for April, his third career monthly award...Was 3-1 with a 2.14 ERA and 45 strikeouts over 33.2 innings in his first six starts...Included three scoreless starts...International League Pitcher of the Month for April.
2022
Began the season on the Memphis (AAA) roster before having his contract selected on May 20. Made 22 starts in Memphis (AAA), ranking 2nd on the club behind Connor Thomas....Made his Major League debut at Pittsburgh (5/21) and threw 4.2 innings in a no-decision as the Cardinals won 5-4....Earned his first Major League win vs. Milwaukee (5/28) in his second career start and his first home start, with 5.0 scoreless innings of three-hit ball and six strikeouts....Became the first Cardinals left-handed pitcher to strike out six or more batters in his home debut since Joe Magrane in 1987....Closed out the final 2.2 innings allowing three runs in the second game of a doubleheader at Chicago Cubs (8/23)....Was recalled as the 27th roster player twice during the season (vs. Pittsburgh 6/14 & at Chicago Cubs 8/23)....Had three scoreless starts on the season of 4.0 innings or more of his seven total starts....Five of his seven starts were on the road. Had extreme home/road splits posting a 2-0 record with 2.19 ERA in three home appearances and 0-2 with an 8.06 ERA in six road outings....Held his opposition to a .171 batting average (6-35) with runners in scoring position....Only allowed one extra-base hit to left-handed batters during the season, Yoshi Tsutsugo (5/21 at Pittsburgh), his second left-handed batter faced. Then allowed only seven singles to his next 38 left-handed batters faced the rest of the season....Started the final game of the season at Pittsburgh (10/5) and took the loss allowing five runs over 5.0 innings....Led Memphis with 116 strikeouts and ranked eighth among International League pitchers....Struck out a season-high 10 batters at Jacksonville (8/7) over 6.0 innings....Made four scoreless starts in Memphis, all over 6.0 innings....International League Pitcher of the Week (4/18-24).
2021
In his first season of play in the Cardinals organization, set career highs and led the Cardinals organization in wins (9), innings pitched (124.2), and strikeouts (123)... Also set career highs in starts (18), appearances (22)... Struck out 123 batters against only 33 walks (3.73 SO/ BB ratio)... Finished among Triple-A East leaders in ERA (4.04), strikeouts (3rd), innings pitched (3rd), average against (.257, 8th), WHIP (1.25, 5th), GO/AO ratio (0.93, 7th), opp. OBP (.309, 5th), SLG (.431, 7th), and opp. OPS (.740)... Opened the season as the 4th-youngest player in the Triple-A East Division behind Wander Franco, Luis Garcia, and Gabriel Arias... Pitched 6.0 innings or longer in 10 starts (eight quality starts)... Invited to Major League Spring Training for the second consecutive year, both seasons entering as the Cardinals youngest pitcher in camp... Two-time winner of the Cardinals Minor League Pitcher of the Month award for June and August... In June, went 3-1 with a 3.42 ERA (23.2 IP) with 24 strikeouts and a 1.01 WHIP in four starts. Pitched a career-high 8.0 innings vs. Jacksonville (AAA-Marlins) on 6/30... In August, was 2-2 with a 2.84 ERA (25.1 IP) with 24 strikeouts and .240 average against in four starts. Threw three consecutive 7.0 inning starts while throwing a 68.2 percent strike rate to finish August... Started for the National League in the SiriusXM All-Star Futures Game at Coors Field. Worked a perfect first frame on 13 pitches, retiring a trio of top 10 prospects in Bobby Witt Jr., Jarred Kelenic and Julio Rodríguez... Missed two weeks of the regular season while helping USA Baseball during the qualifying round of the delayed 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Allowed two runs across two starts (9.2 IP) with eight strikeouts... All four of his relief outings followed injury rehabilitation assignments by Daniel Ponce de Leon, Justin Miller, and Jordan Hicks (2)... Following the season, rated as having the "Best Control" in the Triple-A East in Baseball America's Best Tools Survey by league managers.
2020
Did not pitch during the season, but was at the Alternate Training Site in Springfield...Made two relief appearances for St. Louis at Major League Spring Training as a 20-year old.
2019
Made 16 appearances and 15 starts while at Bowling Green (A) in his first full professional season...Was placed on the 7-day minor league injured list with back tightness (8/6-8/20)...Struck out a career-high 10 batters over 7.0 innings allowing an unearned run in a complete game effort vs. Great Lakes (6/28)...Made one relief appearance vs. Lansing (8/5) allowing an unearned run with two strikeouts in 2.0 innings...Ran off a streak of 19.0 scoreless innings (6/9-21) including back-to-back scoreless starts vs. West Michigan (6/9) and at Lansing (6/15)...Held the opposition to one earned run or less in 10 of 15 starts...Named Rays Minor League Pitcher of the Month for June, posting a 4-1 record and 0.55 ERA in the month over five starts fanning 33 batters in 33.0 innings. Tied for the Single-A lead with four wins in the month...Surrendered just two home runs the entire season, coming to left-hander Nick Ward vs. Beloit (7/11) and left-hander Miles Gordon at Dayton (7/30)...Threw 3.0 scoreless innings in a relief appearance at South Bend (9/4), as Bowling Green fell to South Bend 2-1 in Game One of the Midwest League quarter-finals...Following the season, ranked as the Midwest League's No. 2 overall prospect by Baseball America.
2018
Made nine starts in his first professional season with eight coming for the Gulf Coast League Rays before finishing the season with the Princeton Rays (R) of the Appalachian League...Named Rays Minor League Pitcher of the Month for August posting a 2-1 record with 0.79 ERA over five starts...Did not allow an earned run (3 UER) over his final five starts in the Gulf Coast League totaling 21.2 innings...• Struck out a season-high eight batters over 5.0 scoreless innings vs. GCL Twins (8/20) in his final start in the Gulf Coast League...Was promoted to the Appalachian League and threw 5.0 innings allowing two runs on five hits for a win vs. Danville (8/26)...Threw 4.1 scoreless innings in a no decision, as Princeton won vs. Bluefield (9/1) in Game 2 of the Appalachian League playoff semi-finals. Scattered five hits, walked two and struck out five...Following the season, ranked as the Gulf Coast League's No. 3 overall prospect by Baseball America.
