ST. LOUIS -- Amid a dreary stretch for the Cardinals that has seen the club’s postseason aspirations take a considerable hit comes the latest beacon of hope for a bright future.
The Cardinals will promote left-hander Quinn Mathews, their No. 7 prospect, from Triple-A Memphis to start on Saturday in Toronto, per manager Oliver Marmol. In addition to finding a place on the 26-man active roster, Mathews will need to be added to the 40-man roster to accommodate his MLB debut against the Blue Jays.
COMPLETE CARDINALS PROSPECT COVERAGE
Following a rugged start to the season for the 25-year-old southpaw, Mathews has refined his results month over month to earn the opportunity for this promotion. After posting a 5.85 ERA in May for Memphis, Mathews trimmed his mark to 2.05 across five starts in June.
July has treated the 2023 fourth-round Draft pick out of Stanford even more favorably, with Mathews posting a miniscule 1.04 ERA over four starts this month. In this stretch of dominance, he has demonstrated the type of longevity within his starts that the Cardinals will be eager to deploy, traversing six or more innings in each of his past four outings.
On the season, Mathews has flashed tantalizing swing-and-miss stuff, racking up 111 strikeouts in 92 innings with Memphis.
There are no other immediate adjustments expected for the Cardinals' rotation at this stage. Mathews isn’t positioned at this point to replace an existing starter, but rather to join the group for this turn through the rotation.
Parachuting Mathews into the mix this weekend gives the Cardinals the flexibility to push back the rest of the rotation by one day. The club avoids a scenario where Dustin May -- whose dugout hugs with Cardinals teammates after his five scoreless innings Wednesday seemed to indicate an understanding of his role in growing trade rumors -- would be scheduled to pitch on the day of Monday’s 5 p.m. CT Trade Deadline.
Marmol has also reiterated this week the club’s intention to keep Matthew Liberatore in the rotation for his next turn.
So the long-term fit for Mathews following his anticipated debut is yet to be determined. But with the Cardinals expected to be active in a Trade Deadline environment that could benefit teams with pitching to sell, it would seem unlikely that Saturday’s start would end up as the only big league chance for Mathews this season.