The St. Louis Cardinals have been focusing on high-velocity right-handed pitchers since Chaim Bloom took over, but they also have a wealth of other talented pitchers in the upper minors who could soon make an impact at the big league level. One such player who generated a lot of buzz around this time last year was Quinn Mathews, who had just won the Cardinals' minor league Pitcher of the Year award and was near the top of the organization's prospect list. Mathews' success led to an invite to big league Spring Training, where he even started against a Toronto Blue Jays lineup featuring their superstar hitters. Despite pitching well, he was the first pitcher reassigned to minor league camp, spending the rest of the time working with the player development staff.
Mathews shared his learning experiences from last year's struggles. Last year, he started the year in Memphis with high expectations, with many hoping to see him debut in St. Louis. During an interview at Winter Warm-Up, Mathews was asked how he handled the injury issues with his shoulder and decline in command. He admitted that he had to adjust his thinking when evaluating his performance, shifting from using the word 'pessimistic' to 'realist'. He referenced Tyler Glasnow's definition of 'mound traumas' and used those for growth. Mathews realized that if people were considering his 2025 campaign a disappointment, it was because he performed so well the season before. He compared last year to his sophomore year of college, where he experienced more of those mound traumas, so he feels as if he is going to be able to bounce back in 2026.
Interestingly, rotation 'veteran' Michael McGreevy was asked about Mathews' self-evaluation, and he agreed that the lefty was too hard on himself at times. McGreevy, with his 91 days of Major League service time, says he is Mathews' voice of reason at times because of how critical Mathews can be of his own performance. '[Quinn} will be like, 'oh dude Greevy, I suck' and I'm like 'Quinn you just struck out 12 guys' and he's like 'Yeah but I walked two'.' Michael McGreevy on Quinn Mathews.
After learning a lot from jettisoned veteran Sonny Gray last year, Mathews is excited to come into this major league camp fully healthy and looking to move past last season. With a seemingly sarcastic goal of going from the first pitcher sent out of camp to making it at least to the second, Mathews has a real shot to stick around the big league facility for much of spring. The rotation has options but is largely unsettled behind the first three of Dustin May, Matthew Liberatore, and Michael McGreevy. The back of the staff figures to be a mostly wide-open competition, with favorites Kyle Leahy and Andre Pallante likely holding down spots for now, but newcomers Hunter Dobbins and Richard Fitts can easily be in competition with them, Mathews, and others.
