Quinn

Mathews

Mathews walked three batters and only recorded one strikeout in his first regular-season start following an impressive spring performance in Cardinals camp. The 24-year-old southpaw is widely regarded as one of the top pitching prospects in baseball after last year’s velocity spike led to a surge in strikeouts. He’ll most likely be pushing for a midseason promotion to join St. Louis’ starting rotation mix.

Mathews was a long shot to make the St. Louis rotation out of spring training, but he is widely considered one of the top pitching prospects in the Cardinals’ system, and he has a good chance of making starts for the team before 2025 comes to a close.

Mathews averaged 94 mph with his four-seam fastball and got multiple whiffs on his elite changeup, including a strikeout of Vladmir Guerrero Jr. It was an impressive outing from Mathews, but the 24-year-old is not on the 40-man roster, and has only thrown 16 2/3 innings at Triple-A, so it seems highly unlikely he breaks camp with the Cardinals. It’s more likely that the Cardinals will start with Erick Fedde, Andre Pallante, and Steven Matz in the rotation and then maybe trade one or more of those guys to free up space for Mathews and Tink Hence over the summer.

Neither Wetherholt or Mathews have a real shot at breaking camp with the Cardinals, but the pair of top prospects will have an opportunity this spring to leave a lasting impression on the big-league club. Wetherholt was selected seventh overall in the 2024 MLB Draft and looked extremely impressive in his 29-game professional debut at Low-A Palm Beach, posting an .805 OPS with two homers and two steals. Mathews made arguably the biggest jump of any pitching prospect last year, turning an unexpected uptick in fastball velocity into a sparkling 2.76 ERA, 0.98 WHIP and 202/49 K/BB ratio across 143 1/3 innings (26 starts) across four levels to close the year at Triple-A Memphis.

Mathews will be in big-league camp next spring with a chance to leave a lasting impression on the Cardinals after a remarkable professional debut last year where he blazed through four minor league levels to close the year on the doorstep of the majors. The 24-year-old southpaw rode a velocity uptick to a stellar 2.76 ERA, 0.98 WHIP and 202/49 K/BB ratio across 143 1/3 innings (26 starts). That’s a 35 percent strikeout rate for those scoring at home. He’s going to make some noise for fantasy managers once he gets to the big leagues, which could be at some point during the 2025 campaign.

Mathews didn’t look completely untouchable for the first time in months as he made his highly-anticipated Triple-A debut on Friday evening, firing 89 pitches (54 strikes) over four frames. He was a bit all over the map from a control standpoint, handing out three free passes, but still managed to approach double-digit strikeouts. The 23-year-old southpaw has blazed through three minor league levels to reach the doorstep of the majors and looks like he’s going to miss enough bats to make a real impact for fantasy managers once he arrives in the big leagues.

Mathews’ meteoric rise continues as he receives a promotion to the doorstep of the majors after a dominant nine-start run at Double-A Springfield. The 23-year-old southpaw, who was selected in the fourth round of last year’s MLB Draft, has added a couple ticks of fastball velocity this season and been a windmill factory across three level this season in the minors, posting a surreal 2.27 ERA, 0.85 WHIP and 180/35 K/BB ratio across 126 2/3 innings (22 starts). It’s probably time for the Cardinals to see Mathews at the highest level, but considering they’re nearly 10 games out in the NL Wild Card race heading into September, that might not happen.

Here’s an oversimplification: Mathews has looked like one of the best pitching prospects in baseball for a couple months now, compiling a stellar 0.70 ERA, 0.58 WHIP and 40/4 K/BB ratio across four starts since August 6. The hard-throwing 23-year-old southpaw generated 24 swinging strikes and allowed just three baserunners while working into the eighth inning of this one. At this point, it’s probably worth it for the Cardinals to see how he fares at the highest level. He’s long gone in competitive dynasty leagues, but is worthy of a speculative stash in deeper re-draft formats.

Mathews has rapidly evolved into one of the top pitching prospects in baseball this season, thanks in large part to a massive uptick in velocity. The 23-year-old southpaw has been magnificent this season, compiling an absurd 2.52 ERA, 0.90 WHIP and 158/40 K/BB ratio across 124 2/3 innings (19 starts) across three minor league levels. It wouldn’t be surprising to see him get the call to Triple-A before the season wraps up.