Cooper Hjerpe Watch Takes a Turn for Pitching-Needy Cardinals

The St. Louis Cardinals have been thin in the pitching department over the last few weeks. This has led to a wide range of chatter about potential options who could help in the majors.

One name that has come up is former first-round pick Cooper Hjerpe. The lefty is currently down in Triple-A and has been shining. He has made five starts for Triple-A Memphis and has a 0.95 ERA to show for it. With Hunter Dobbins and Andre Pallante both on the Injured List at the same time, Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch called Hjerpe a candidate to come up to the big league club in August.

Hjerpe hasn't been promoted just yet.

Is Cooper Hjerpe Coming Up To The Majors?

Feb 20, 2025; Jupiter, FL, USA; St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Cooper Hjerpe (84). Mandatory Credit: Jim Rassol-Imagn Images | USA TODAY Sports via Reuters Connect

On Friday, the Cardinals' rotation took a step in the right direction as Pallante returned and continued his bounce-back campaign by going five innings against the Colorado Rockies and allowing just one run. Still, the Cardinals could use another guy up in the majors to help eat up innings with Dobbins done for the season and Kyle Leahy's innings being monitored closely. So, Hjerpe watch is still on and it got a bit interesting on Friday night.

Hjerpe was scheduled to start for Triple-A Memphis but was a late scratch.

Cooper Hjerpe is a late scratch for Memphis tonight.

Combine that with a Bobby Olson promotion and we are officially on 👀 https://t.co/zJzafSRYt3
— Redbird Farmhands (@RedbirdFarmhand) September 4, 2026

As of writing, the Cardinals haven't had any sort of promotion or anything like that yet. But this is something to monitor. Leahy is scheduled to pitch on Sunday, but hasn't pitched more than four innings in an outing since Aug. 18. Leahy's last outing was just for three innings on Aug. 29 against the Pittsburgh Pirates. He looked good and allowed just one run, but, again, he is being monitored closely right now. Could Hjerpe be someone to piggyback off him?

After Sunday's series finale against the Rockies, the Cardinals will begin a three-game series against the San Francisco Giants and haven't announced their starters for the series just yet.

When it comes to Hjerpe, this could be a moot point. Maybe, the Cardinals just wanted to monitor his innings as well. This will be something to monitor over the next few days. It would be great if he did the call to the majors. The 25-year-old lefty has looked great in Triple-A and is someone who could be in the picture for the 2027 rotation. Getting a look at him now in the majors would help the evaluation process.

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