Adam

Kloffenstein

Kloffenstein was the corresponding move for the activation of Giovanny Gallegos from the injured list. The 23-year-old right-hander will return to the minors after tossing a scoreless inning in his first major league appearance on Thursday.

Kloffenstein provides St. Louis with some extra long relief depth behind Thursday’s starter Andre Pallante. The 23-year-old righty earns his first promotion to the majors after compiling a respectable 3.97 ERA, 1.13 WHIP and 68/29 K/BB ratio over 77 innings (14 starts) this season for Triple-A Memphis.

The 23-year-old right-hander has posted a 3.97 ERA, 1.13 WHIP and a 68/29 K/BB ratio over 77 innings in 14 starts at Triple-A Memphis this season. It’s unclear if he’ll actually get an opportunity to start with the Cardinals, or will function as a long man out of their bullpen while he’s up. Either way, he’s unlikely to make a major impact for fantasy purposes.

Kloffenstein was always an extreme longshot to crack the Cardinals’ Opening Day rotation — even with the injury to Sonny Gray — so his demotion doesn’t come as a surprise. It also won’t be surprising to see him debut with the big league club at some point during the upcoming season, Kloffenstein registered a 3.16 ERA, 1.27 WHIP and a 140/55 K/BB ratio across 128 innings in 26 appearances (25 starts) between Double-A New Hampshire and Triple-A Memphis in 2023.

Kloffenstein was part of the Jordan Hicks trade with the Blue Jays a couple months ago, so there was no way the Cardinals were going to expose him in next month’s Rule 5 Draft. The 23-year-old righty could be ready to make it to the big leagues at some point in 2024.

The 22-year-old right-hander was the Jays’ third-round selection from the 2018 draft class. He had a couple of rough seasons in the minor leagues in 2021 and 2022 — but has rebounded with a 3.24 ERA and 1.27 WHIP over 89 innings at Double-A New Hampshire this season. He’ll add some much-needed pitching depth in the upper minors for the Cardinals.

The 22-year-old was a third-round draft pick of the Blue Jays in 2018. He has fallen in many evaluators’ eyes due to back-to-back poor seasons in 2021 and 2022. However, he has rebounded nicely this season at Double-A New Hampshire, posting a 3.24 ERA and 1.27 WHIP across 89 innings. He will add much-needed pitching depth to the Cardinals’ minor league system.

Kloffenstein, 18, did walk four, but he was able to work around those walks in large part because he was able to strike seven. A third-round pick by Toronto in 2018, Kloffenstein has pitched well in his eight starts with the Canadians in 2019 with an ERA of 2.27 and 33/15 K/BB mark. The walks are problematic right now, but he doesn’t turn 19 until August 25, and he’s still learning to repeat his delivery; which isn’t uncommon for young hurlers of that size. He gets his fastball up to 97 mph with sink, and he shows an above-average change and slider right around that grade, as well. If he can’t improve the command he’ll have to pitch in relief, but with that size and stuff, Kloffenstein could be a starter -- and a good one -- when he’s ready in the next three-to-four seasons.