St. Louis Cardinals pencil in starting pitching rotation, pick their closer
Cardinals manager Mike Shildt has stared back at many of the same faces via teleconference every day for nearly three consecutive weeks now, so he knows how to tease his audience and allow information to land with maximum impact.
“I’m ready to make a few announcements you may or may not be interested in, but I’d be surprised if you weren’t,” Shildt said Monday, drawing out something he knew would open the floodgates to a torrent of questions.
Some of those questions were immediately answered, as Shildt announced that Dakota Hudson, Miles Mikolas and Carlos Martínez would join the previously announced Jack Flaherty and Adam Wainwright in the Cardinals’ pitching rotation to start the season.
As a consequence of those five spots being filled, Kwang Hyun Kim will transition to the bullpen and begin the season as the team’s closer.
For Kim, it’s a new job in his first season in his new league. For Martínez, it’s an acknowledgement of his accomplishments in returning to a spot from which he was twice an All-Star.
In 2017, Martínez faced more batters than any other pitcher in the National League. By the break in 2018, he was out of the rotation entirely, felled by a vaguely weakened shoulder and consequent hesitance.
“He earned it,” Shildt emphasized. “He’s communicated, understandably, having been a starter in the past, and a highly effective starter in this league with multiple All-Star appearances, that he was wanting to start.
“The results bore witness to what he did in spring training. His recovery of what he did was really good. He was able to recover, he was able to build up. He was very intentional about his results in the weight room, what it looked like in the training room, to be able to recover better, to be able to take care of the load that we expect a starter to have.”
Shildt explained that Kim was an attractive candidate for the back end of the bullpen because, in part, he had at least some experience in the role while pitching in South Korea.
While 276 of his 298 career appearances for SK Wyverns in the Korean Baseball Organization were as a starter, he has, on occasion, pitched out of the bullpen in the postseason and while representing his country in international competition.
“Experienced guy in KK’s situation. Low walks, higher ground ball against both sides,” Shildt said. “Got pitches for righties and lefties. Ball moves. Experienced high-leverage situations. So all those factors come into play and gives us a lot of confidence in putting him in that role.”
Kim’s pitch mix has helped to keep both his teammates and, in spring, opposing hitters off balance. With limited exposure to his particular skill set, major league hitters may take a longer time to adjust if they’re not able to face Kim multiple times in a single outing. And with centralized video rooms off limits due to social distancing restrictions, there may also be less chance for revealing video study to catch up with the lefthander.
Shildt also confirmed that lefty Austin Gomber and righty Daniel Ponce de Leon had each been told that they’d made their first opening day rosters.
The two organizational stalwarts also primarily have experience as starters, but they’ve been two of the team’s most electric pitchers in summer camp. There was little room to find a reason to leave them off the team.
“That’s one of the best things you can do is tell a guy he’s going to be on the big league club for the St. Louis Cardinals on opening day,” Shildt said with a smile. “I know both were excited about it, and they both more than earned it.”
“They’ve been built up so they can throw in multiple inning roles. With the expanded rosters I don’t feel like we have to have necessarily a long man, but both of them could fill that role if necessary.”
Shildt was reluctant to announce his full roster makeup, at least in part because some decisions are yet to be made.
Giovanny Gallegos, who just arrived in camp on Sunday, may pitch in either Tuesday’s intrasquad or Wednesday’s exhibition game against the Kansas City Royals. His readiness will have ripples further down the line, perhaps defining whether pitchers like Kodi Whitley or Jake Woodford will be included among the club’s initial roster of 30.
The team is “highly unlikely” to carry 17 pitchers for opening day, instead preferring to keep 16 alongside 14 position players. That extra spot on the bench is likely to be filled by outfielder Austin Dean, though the Cardinals could choose to utilize Andrew Knizner as a third, active catcher rather than a member of the taxi squad.
The positional questions will answer themselves in the coming days, even as Shildt provided clarity to summer camp’s biggest quandary.
“You guys are wanting a lot of information tonight,” Shildt teased, more than 25 minutes into his news conference.
He’s as aware as anyone that the time to know is now.
This story was originally published July 21, 2020 at 12:28 PM.
