Now that we’ve gotten the “greatest debut of all time,” the only logical question I have is: who’s next? Cardinals fans have gotten to see NINE MLB debuts this season. Those are JJ Wetherholt, Matt Pushard, Bryan Torres, Brycen Mautz, Blaze Jordan, Max Rajcic, Luis Gastelum, Quinn Mathews, and Joshua Baez. PoBo Chaim Bloom took over in September of 2025. This was a focal point of his plan to resurrect the National League goliath that once existed. The Cardinals wanted to immerse themselves in the draft and development process and use that as the bedrock on which they intended to reclaim their rightful place at the top. Bloom posited that “at their best this franchise sets the standard.” Most 3rd party outlets have the Cardinals in the top 5 of their farm system rankings, including Baseball America, which has put them at #2 in all of baseball. While we’ve seen a significant infusion of young talent to pair with the young, experienced talent that already existed on the roster. There is much, much more where that came from and will be arriving for years to come. But for the here and now, as the Cardinals continue to insist that they will not concede this season, Manager Oliver Marmol mentioned on the “Gashouse Gang” on KMOX that he’d really like for this group to experience playoff baseball and feel what that push is like as they hope to establish a new foundation of winning. The Cardinals have managed to stabilize themselves after their ugly stretch out of the All-Star break. Having won 4 straight series against the Yankees, Rockies, Phillies, and Cubs and are in the midst of an 8-4 stretch as they continue this 5-game series against the Cincinnati Reds. The Cardinals could benefit, like all major league teams, from a little extra firepower out of their bullpen down the stretch. While Jimmy Crooks and Pedro Pages are solid receivers and game callers, they leave a lot to be desired from an offensive perspective, and while Ivan Herrera’s bat has rebounded, his throwing arm continues to be a hindrance and would be a serious flaw for any playoff team to take advantage of when margins are tightest as baseball comes down to its final stretch. Here are 3 players who are deserving of a promotion to St. Louis and could be that additional marginal impact to fully push them ahead of the rest of the pack at the back end of the Wild Card picture.
RHP Cade Winquest
After being selected in the Rule 5 draft by the New York Yankees and being returned to the Cardinals earlier this season. Cade Winquest is putting together a nice season at AAA. Never mind the 5.09 ERA this season. His FIP is 3.53, and he has a staggering 49 strikeouts in 35.1 IP. That’s a 34.8 K%, and traditionally, high strikeout guys will also carry a high walk rate. That’s not the case with Winquest, as he has walked only 6% of batters. Winquest does have a bit of an issue with occasional hard contact, allowing a .197 ISO and .425 SLG against. Considering Winquest will be pitching in front of one of the best defenses in baseball, and he will pitch his home games at Busch, that surpresses power better than any park in MLB, would theoretically help suffocate some of the HR concerns he may come with early in his big league time. Winquest features a 6-pitch mix with a 4-seam, Sinker, Cutter, Curveball, Sweeper, and Changeup. The need for more strikeout punch would be a welcome boost, potentially in September, as the Cardinals try to accomplish what seemed like the impossible heading into the season, and Winquest has that ability in spades in his toolbelt.
RHP Hancel Rincon
Following the theme of Winquest and K’s. Hancel Rincon makes his hay with his slider, and getting chase and swing, and miss. A 34% chase percentage, along with a 29.4 K% and a 30.2 whiff%, means that batters will chase around Rincon’s stuff like a cartoon cat chasing a mouse. Maybe to a higher degree than Winquest does, Rincon struggles with some hard contact against. But the same caveat is that he will have a stronger defense and a more power-suppressing park to pitch in, which should allow him to have more success. It’s only a 3-pitch mix for Rincon between 4-seam, Slider, and Changeup. He might remind some of an Andre Granillo-type approach against an opponent. Both Winquest and Rincon will need to be added to the 40-man roster this offseason to protect against being selected in a potential Rule 5 draft. The Cardinals could get a jump on that process and see what they have in either of the young righties to see if they could factor into the near-term plans.
C Leonardo Bernal
The Cardinals have some real high-profile catching talent coming up through their system, and while Jimmy Crooks came with a lot of fanfare has been largely a disappointment from both an offensive and defensive standpoint. Pedro Pages is an ideal backup catcher and does a lot of what you’d like to see from that role and position. However, in this organization, a traditional backup catcher has no real place, as the catching-rich Cardinals have another ready to make his mark on “las grandes ligas” (the big leagues). Ivan Herrera has made strides behind the plate this year from a game-calling and receiving standpoint, but the throwing game is a major deficiency in his game that may ultimately hinder his long-term future behind the plate. Bernal, A 4-tool catcher, is not fleet of foot, but what catcher is? He has the ability to impact so many different areas of the game and will be the most complete catcher to debut for the Cardinals in a really long time. A minor league Gold Glove Award winner and has a slash of .283/.366/.475 -> .841 OPS and a .192 ISO and 117 wRC+ coming into sunday’s action. With the addition of Joshua Baez, the Cardinals have added another bat to their lineup to help give them more length and more legitimacy to their claim that they intend to push for the playoffs. Bernal, already owning a 40-man spot, would be a simple paper transaction, should the Cardinals deem the opportunity to see him at the big-league level a worthwhile one. Further lengthening that imposing order and making it more playoff-caliber.
If you’re someone like me, who, at the beginning of the season, thought the Cardinals were a sure-fire 90-loss team as they stood at the precipice of a multi-year rebuild, has shifted your opinion to now believe it’s more likely this team steals that final wild card spot and sneaks their way into October baseball. The Cardinals have stabilized, are back to playing loose and dangerous, and seem to be embracing the challenge of proving the league wrong once more and could continue to benefit from a fruitful pipeline that has provided so much to this young team already. What a long, wild season it has been. -thanks for reading