Inside The Cardinals

Cardinals Insider Shares High Praise For St. Louis' Top Prospect

The Cardinals have a lot of pitching talent in the farm system this season.
Zach Pressnell|
Sep 17, 2018; Atlanta, GA, USA; Detailed view of a St. Louis Cardinals hat and glove in the dugout against the Atlanta Braves in the first inning at SunTrust Park. Mandatory Credit: Brett Davis-Imagn Images
Sep 17, 2018; Atlanta, GA, USA; Detailed view of a St. Louis Cardinals hat and glove in the dugout against the Atlanta Braves in the first inning at SunTrust Park. Mandatory Credit: Brett Davis-Imagn Images | Brett Davis-Imagn Images

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St. Louis Cardinals

The St. Louis Cardinals have quite a talented young core to build around. Their big league team has been led by young talent like Iván Herrera, Masyn Winn, and Victor Scott II.

But they have even more talent coming up the farm system.

Josh Jacobs of Redbird Rants recently shared some high praise of top pitching prospect Quinn Mathews, noting him as a prospect with "front-line upside."

"Mathews has front-line upside while also having the strength and endurance to be an innings-eater on the mound," Jacobs wrote. "He's only the second minor league pitcher since 2012 to strike out over 200 batters in a season, and a major reason for why is because of how many innings he was able to cover while dominating on the mound.

"The Cardinals have struggled to develop starting pitching for years now, and while the tide is turning in that department, Mathews blossoming at the Major League level would be a massive piece of truly changing the narrative."

Mathews is the team's top ranked pitching prospect for a reason. If it wasn't for the phenomenal JJ Wetherholt, Mathews would be the team's best prospect.

The southpaw starter has missed a lot of time with injuries this season, but he's slowing building back up at Single-A right now.

When he's healthy and firing on all cylinders, the lefty is a force to be reckoned with. Last season, he struck out 202 batters in under 150 innings split between four levels of the minor leagues. His continued dominance saw him fly up the minor league ladder in St. Louis' system.

If he can get healthy this season, there's no reason we won't see him in a Cardinals uniform before the year ends.

More MLB: MLB Insider Suggests Cardinals Star 'Building A Case' For All-Star Bid

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Zach Pressnell
ZACH PRESSNELL

Zach Pressnell has experience covering all major US sports at both the professional and collegiate levels. He’s produced content for FanSided, Blog Red Machine, The Game Haus, Bethany College Athletics and the Bethany College online newspaper, He graduated from Bethany College (WV) with a degree in Communications and Media Arts, specializing in Sports Journalism. Pressnell was also a four-year member of the baseball team where he earned himself All-PAC recognition as a pitcher (and a cool Tommy John surgery scar). Now, Pressnell specializes in NFL and MLB coverage for Sports Illustrated’s “On SI” network among others. For all business/marketing inquiries regarding "St. Louis Cardinals On SI," please reach out to Scott Neville: scott@wtfsports.org

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