Where Joshua Báez, Quinn Mathews Stand With Cardinals, Straight From Chaim Bloom

The St. Louis Cardinals have a few pieces down in Triple-A right now who could make the club better right now with a promotion.

One of them, Cardinals fans have already seen this season. That is young starter Quinn Mathews. The lefty has a 3.32 ERA down in Triple-A this season in 20 starts. He pitched well enough to earn the first big league promotion of his career on Aug. 1. That day, he pitched five solid innings against the Toronto Blue Jays and allowed just two earned runs while striking out three.

He was sent back down to Triple-A afterward, but don't worry, Cardinals fans, it sounds like he'll be back. Cardinals president of baseball operations Chaim Bloom joined KMOX Sports and said that Mathews is in the club's plans for the rest of the season.

"I do think that Quinn is going to be in our plans for the rest of this year," Bloom said. "Obviously, with wanting to give Hunter that starting opportunity we sent Quinn back down but he is very much in our plans. And we're looking for opportunities to incorporate him and help take the load of some other guys down the stretch."

The Cardinals Have A Few Young Guys Who Could Help Now

Feb 27, 2026; Jupiter, Florida, USA; St. Louis Cardinals starting pitcher Quinn Mathews (60) delivers a pitch against the New York Mets during the first inning at Roger Dean Chevrolet Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Sam Navarro-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

That's not all, though. Another player who could help the Cardinals right now is young outfielder Joshua Báez. Frankly, he should be on the big league roster right now, especially with Lars Nootbaar traded out of town to the Arizona Diamondbacks.

There's an opening in the outfield and Báez has 33 homers in Triple-A and is making the case for himself to get promoted. From a performance standpoint, he should be up. But there are also variables at hand right now, like rookie status for the 2027 season, that would be impacted by a promotion. That could change as soon as next week, though.

When it came to Báez, Bloom made it clear that his time is coming.

"Obviously Joshua, we've been talking about all summer," Bloom continued. "The impressive thing about this young man is his maturity, his work ethic and how he goes about his business. His time is coming."

Whenever the Cardinals make the call to bring Mathews and Báez up to the big leagues, they will immediately be better for it. In the rotation, Mathews would give St. Louis a better chance to win games right now than Matthew Liberatore. The lefty has a 5.15 ERA in 23 starts so far this season and arguably would be better in a long relief role for the organization. Things just haven't worked out so far this season for him. If the Cardinals want to get Mathews into the rotation, that would be the easiest way. Or, they could simply utilize a six-man rotation.

For Báez, there's clearly a hole with Nootbaar out of town. Báez has the production and should be up in the big leagues as fast as possible. He has done everything he can to make the case for himself this season

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