Cardinals Designate Southpaw For Assignment Amid Notable Roster Turnover

The St. Louis Cardinals are shedding ties with a starting pitcher that would best described as organizational depth.

The Cardinals were forced to make some tough decisions in order to protect prospects from the upcoming Major League Baseball Rule 5 Draft.

St. Louis added right-handers Adam Kloffstein and Sem Robberse as well as catcher Pedro Pagés to the 40-man roster, the club announced.

To make room, the Cardinals designated left-handed pitcher Connor Thomas for assignment.

The 25-year-old starter posted a 5.53 ERA with a 69-to-31 strikeout-to-walk ratio, .335 batting average against and 1.75 WHIP in 94 1/3 innings for Triple-A Memphis in 2023.

It's unclear if Thomas will be brought back should he clear waivers but it certainly made sense to protect the aforementioned top trio -- all of which are top 30 Cardinals prospects according to the MLB Pipeline -- over the struggling southpaw.

Thomas has a career 4.66 ERA with a 331-to-114 strikeout-to-walk ratio, .300 batting average against and 1.51 WHIP in 90 career minor league appearances. It's fair to call the former fifth-round pick a potential spot-start candidate down the road but his lack of swing-and-miss stuff makes him an unappealing prospect.

The Cardinals would likely be best to move on from Thomas as his underlying stats are far from encouraging.

More MLB: Cardinals One Of Two Clubs Reportedly 'Showing Early Interest' In Star Pitcher

Published Nov 14, 2023

SCOTT NEVILLE

Scott Neville covers the St. Louis Cardinals for FanNation's "Inside The Cardinals" on Sports Illustrated. Before starting "Inside The Cardinals", Neville attended Merrimack College, where he earned his Bachelor’s Degree in Communication and Media with a minor in Marketing. Neville spent all four years with Merrimack's radio station WMCK, where he grew as a radio/podcast host and producer. His propensity for being in front of a microphone eventually expanded to film, where he produced multiple short films alongside his then-roommate and current co-worker Stephen Mottram. On a journey that began as a way to receive easy credits via film classes, he received a call from "It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia" star Charlie Day. Day advised him to make a feature-length film, which he completed his senior year. While writing the film, Neville completed an internship for United Way as part of their NFL Partnership Program. Neville ran the blog for a team of interns and hosted an internet show called "United Way's NFL Partnership Series" where he interviewed NFL alumni. After college Neville wrote for SB Nation's "Over The Monster," a Red Sox sister site of the flagship brand. His work would eventually lead him to a job as a content producer with NESN, where he would cover all sports. After developing as a writer with the top regional network in the world, he was given the opportunity to join FanNation and the Sports Illustrated Media Group as the publisher of "Inside The Red Sox." After a few months as the top Major League Baseball site in the program, Neville sought expansion and pitched "Inside The Cardinals," one of the newest additions to FanNation and the Sports Illustrated Media Group. The successful launch and quick rise of "Inside The Cardinals" led to Neville joining the Baseball Essential ownership group, a national baseball site under SIMG. Follow him on Twitter: @ScottNeville46 Email: nevilles@merrimack.edu

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