This story was excerpted from Will Leitch’s Cardinals Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox
The Cardinals remain, however improbably, in the NL Wild Card race. But no matter what happens with that, this team is keeping its collective eyes on the future. That means adding to its talent base in the Minor Leagues and also giving plenty of so-called runway to players trying to make their case to be part of that future.
Some Cardinals look certain to be key pieces on that next great Cardinals team, namely JJ Wetherholt and Jordan Walker. (You could make the argument for Iván Herrera, Masyn Winn and maybe even Alec Burleson as well.) But others need to use the last six weeks of the regular season -- whether the Cardinals are in contention or not -- to prove that they belong in that group.
Here’s a look at five players who have a chance to make their case … or break it.
RHP Hunter Dobbins
Dobbins, who came over in the Willson Contreras trade in the offseason, has shuttled back and forth between Triple-A Memphis and St. Louis for much of this season. An opening for a more permanent gig finally arrived when the Cardinals traded Dustin May to the Brewers at the Deadline, and in his first start as a rotation regular -- at Yankee Stadium, no less -- Dobbins tossed 6 1/3 innings and gave up just two runs. He now has a 3.40 ERA in 45 big league innings this year (nine games, six starts), and a 3.82 mark in 106 career innings.
Dobbins will have the next six weeks to try to assure himself a spot in next year’s rotation, and he may need to do well in them. He has Michael McGreevy, Andre Pallante and (probably) Kyle Leahy ahead of him for 2027, with Matthew Liberatore still potentially part of the Cardinals’ plans as well. (More on him in a moment.) Fellow former Red Sox righty Richard Fitts will be back next year, too.
Then there’s the young arms bubbling up through the farm system. Cardinals No. 8 prospect Quinn Mathews just made his debut, and Liam Doyle (No. 2), Tanner Franklin (No. 5) and Jurrangelo Cijntje (No. 9) may soon be pounding down the door as well.
The Cardinals are keeping Liberatore in the rotation for now, even after a perplexing season for the lefty continued on Saturday, when he allowed five earned runs on nine hits to the Rockies at Busch Stadium. (This immediately after Liberatore authored his best start of the season on Aug. 2 at Toronto.) He now has a 5.15 ERA in 23 starts this year -- even left-handed hitters are feasting against him (.926 OPS) -- and a difficult matchup against the Cubs awaits at Wrigley Field on Friday afternoon.
Mathews is waiting to take his spot, but the Cardinals would like to give Liberatore a few more chances to figure it out before potentially relegating him to the bullpen, something many fans have clamored for. Liberatore was this year’s Opening Day starter, and the Cardinals, who traded Randy Arozarena for him back in 2020, obviously have a lot invested in him. But the long-awaited breakout just has not come. If it stays like this for the next six weeks, Liberatore will be out of time.
There was much excitement when Crooks, one of the many promising Cardinals catching prospects, was called up on May 29 after hitting 13 homers with a .979 OPS at Triple-A Memphis. But for Crooks, who hit .133 in a cup of coffee late last season, it’s been more struggles at the big league level. He hit .167 with one homer in June and .176 with two homers in July. The underlying metrics pointed to better production than that, though, and we’ve seen a hint of that early in August.
That’s good, because Crooks may not have a lot of time to keep the organization’s catching prospects at bay. Rainel Rodriguez (MLB Pipeline’s No. 12 overall prospect), is mashing at Double-A Springfield, and more pressing for Crooks, Cardinals No. 6 prospect Leo Bernal has an .845 OPS at Memphis and is beloved throughout the organization for his defense. Bernal should be ready to reach St. Louis soon, and if Crooks is going to stay ahead of him on the organizational depth chart, he needs to pick up the pace.
3B Nolan Gorman
It’s fair to say many fans’ patience with Gorman has run out, and it’s not difficult to see why. Once a premium-power prospect, Gorman’s results have declined every season since his 27-homer 2023, and this year he was slugging .318 with a .194 average and an increasingly baffling approach at the plate before he was optioned to Triple-A on June 12.
The Cardinals sent him down to the lab in Jupiter, Fla., to fix his swing, similar to their past work with Walker, and while they didn’t see immediate results at Memphis, Gorman has started to come around. He has eight homers and a .672 SLG there since July 21, and his strikeout rate has ticked slightly down. The Cardinals still have a long-term opening at third base, and they’ve been hoping for a long time for Gorman to fill it. Assuming he gets a callup at some point down the stretch, it may be his final opportunity in St. Louis.
3B Blaze Jordan
Another player president of baseball operations Chaim Bloom acquired from Boston has taken over third base since Gorman was sent down, but his results haven’t been dramatically better. Jordan entered Tuesday with a .279 OBP and .651 OPS, with just one homer in 147 plate appearances.
However, Jordan’s defense has been considerably better than advertised, he hit .400 over his first seven games of August and Bloom clearly adores him. He has a real splits problem, though, with just a .565 OPS against right-handers, which makes you wonder if he and Gorman may platoon most of September. But if Jordan can keep up his August success, he has a chance to be the Opening Day third baseman in 2027.