Cardinals' Andre Pallante Showing Signs of Promise after Rough 2025

Pallante seems like a different pitcher in 2026.

Apr 24, 2026; St. Louis, Missouri, USA; St. Louis Cardinals starting pitcher Andre Pallante (53) pitches against the Seattle Mariners during the first inning at Busch Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Curry-Imagn Images | Jeff Curry-Imagn Images

The St. Louis Cardinals were let down by their pitching staff in 2025. Even Sonny Gray, who is now with the Boston Red Sox, had a difficult year on the mound, but perhaps no Cardinals starter struggled more than Andre Pallante.

The 27-year-old right-hander went 6-15 with a 5.31 ERA in 31 starts and 162 2/3 innings of work. Pallante is more of ground ball pitcher, but opponents managed to make contact with almost anything he threw last season.

However, Pallante appears to be showing some signs of promise this season. On Friday night, the right-hander allowed three runs over 5 1/3 innings against the Seattle Mariners, but recorded eight strikeouts.

Pallante showing signs of improvement

Apr 18, 2026; Houston, Texas, USA; St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Andre Pallante (53) delivers a pitch against the Houston Astros during the first inning at Daikin Park. Mandatory Credit: Erik Williams-Imagn Images | Erik Williams-Imagn Images

Pallante is 2-2 this season with a 4.26 ERA in five starts this season. The right-hander made his debut for St. Louis back in 2022.

After struggling in 2025, the right-hander is showing a lot of promising signs this season. More swing and miss certainly doesn't hurt, and the fact that he managed to record eight strikeouts against a very powerful Seattle Mariners lineup on Friday is a good sign.

The Cardinals need more of that from Pallante, even though he is more of a ground ball pitcher, though he has looked better in that regard as well. He has limited the damage in his past two starts and has only had one start this season that went sideways.

Minus a seven-run outing over five innings against the Boston Red Sox on April 12, he has not allowed more than three runs in his starts. He earned a win last week against the Houston Astros, going five innings and allowing just one run.

Houston is another powerful offensive club, so the fact that he has been able to limit the damage against two very strong offensive teams is something for fans to be excited about.

He may not be anything close to an ace, but he still is somebody that can take the ball for the Cardinals every fifth day and keep them in games against tough opponents. While the Cardinals are rebuilding, they are going to need starts like this from Pallante as they assess what they have on their roster and what their next core is going to look like in the future.

It will be interesting to see if Pallante can build off of his early-season success and become a solid member of the rotation again.