Inside The Cardinals

Cardinals Writer Has High Praise For Breakout Pitcher

One Cardinals writer shared some serious praise of one of the team's best young players.
Zach Pressnell|
May 6, 2025; St. Louis, Missouri, USA; St. Louis Cardinals starting pitcher Matthew Liberatore (52) celebrates with catcher Yohel Pozo (63) as they walk off the field after the seventh inning against the Pittsburgh Pirates at Busch Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Curry-Imagn Images
May 6, 2025; St. Louis, Missouri, USA; St. Louis Cardinals starting pitcher Matthew Liberatore (52) celebrates with catcher Yohel Pozo (63) as they walk off the field after the seventh inning against the Pittsburgh Pirates at Busch Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Curry-Imagn Images | Jeff Curry-Imagn Images

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St. Louis Cardinals

The St. Louis Cardinals have a strong young core that's been built over the last few years.

While there are star players like Masyn Wynn and Iván Herrera are getting a lot of the credit for being the center pieces of the Cardinals' young core, there are a few other names to not forget about.

Redbird Rants' Josh Jacobs recently shared some high praise for the Cardinals' new ace, youngster Matthew Liberatore.

"In eight starts for St. Louis so far, Liberatore has a 3.11 ERA with 42 strikeouts in 46.1 innings pitched to go along with a 1.01 WHIP," Jacobs wrote. "Liberatore has been masterful at limiting walks this year, ranking fourth in baseball in walks per nine while being in the top 30 in ERA, top 10 in xERA, and top five in FIP on the year.

"Part of Liberatore's success this year simply comes from the Cardinals' commitment to him. After an excellent spring training, the Cardinals named Liberatore as their fifth starter, stating they would be rolling with him for quite a while and wanted to see what he could do with that "runway" they talked about for other players. And boy, has it worked."

Liberatore has taken the move from the bullpen to the starting rotation and run with it.

The lefty has been excellent this season and seems to be the team's ace of the future. With Miles Mikolas and Erick Fedde on expiring contracts, there's going to be a lot of pressure on the young southpaw going forward.

If 2025 is any indication, he's more than ready to take over at the top of St. Louis' pitching rotation.

More MLB: Cardinals Insider Predicts St. Louis Will Cut Ties With $81 Million Star

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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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