Who will be the 5th starter for the St. Louis Cardinals? Anyone’s guess at this point

Yadier Molina’s Monday arrival at St. Louis Cardinals camp whittled the remaining spring mysteries (for the moment) down to one, as the club seeks to define its fifth starting pitcher with Jack Flaherty set to open the season on the injured list.

Manager Oliver Marmol has said he intends to break camp with a fifth starter in place and for that starter to get at least one turn in in-stadium action, despite the four days on, one day off schedule of this year’s Grapefruit League providing the club the opportunity to work out solutions on the back fields. The compressed camp, though, means opportunities for that exposure are rapidly dwindling.

After Monday night’s matchup with the Washington Nationals, the Cardinals have only 12 spring games remaining, with two of those 12 starts — Dakota Hudson on Tuesday and Adam Wainwright on Wednesday — accounted for.

Jake Woodford, who likely began the fifth starter derby in the pole position, has yet to appear in a spring game while maintaining a workout schedule that largely aligns with Wainwright’s. That combination lends itself to a strong belief Woodford, who started eight games in 2021 including five in the season’s last month, will spend this season’s first month in that role.

Drew VerHagen, signed to a two-year contract from Japan on the eve of camp’s opening, is another strong candidate. VerHagen followed Miles Mikolas into Sunday’s game against the New York Mets, providing two shutout innings with three strikeouts.

“That’s exactly how I hoped to get started off,” VerHagen said. “Felt pretty clean with my delivery, and I was getting ahead of guys and ended up working all my pitches.”

That work was segmented out, with changeups and a single slider populating his first inning of work and his fastball and curveball used in his second. The first slider he threw caught Mets All-Star shortstop Francisco Lindor off balance, and slugging first baseman Pete Alonso was visually uncomfortable in the face of the 6’6” VerHagen’s wide wingspan.

“He’s got good stuff,” Marmol said. “He’s got some firepower in there and he’s got some other pitches to go along with it.”

VerHagen’s high spin curveball was also a highlight, honed while seizing a promised opportunity in the starting rotation of the Nippon Ham Fighters. His two pandemic-altered years in Japan allowed him to do a deep dive on his repertoire with the comfort of knowing that contact-heavy Japanese hitters were more likely to punish him with singles than home runs.

“(Playing in Japan) caused me to maybe become more precise with my pitches,” VerHagen explained. “There’s a margin for error when you’re trying to swing harder.”

Aaron Brooks, a non-roster invite signed from Korea, struck out five hitters in two innings in his own spring debut, and is a likely candidate to add bullpen depth with the ability to pitch multiple innings, especially if the league and Players’ Association do indeed approve expanded rosters to start the season.

Liberatore a possibility?

Matt Liberatore, the team’s top starting pitching prospect, has also been mentioned as a candidate for the rotation spot, but is likely to begin the season as the ace at Triple-A Memphis. Johan Oviedo, thrust into service the last two years perhaps sooner than expected, will benefit from stability in his schedule and competition at a level where he’s able to refine his substantial tools.

For Woodford, his earned opportunity comes in large part thanks to his work down the stretch for the Cardinals last September. St. Louis won the first four of those starts, three of which took place during the record 17-game winning streak that propelled the team into the playoffs. Had the team advanced deeper into the postseason, he was a prime candidate to fill a depth bullpen spot on the roster.

Now, he seems likely to fill a rotation spot for at least the season’s opening months. With little to gain from additional time in the minors and having been a flexible, reliable contributor over the past two difficult seasons, Woodford now has the respect that accompanies incumbency, and the organization seems likely to give him some runway to showcase his skills.

Additional options

Still, other options loom. The Oakland A’s are yet to complete their full tear down, and starters Sean Manaea and Frankie Montas are both likely to be traded at some point in the spring. When asked if a solution for the rotation might exist outside the team’s clubhouse walls, Marmol cracked it was indeed fair to say that such a question might not be best addressed to him.

Every major league team is certain to use more than five starters in a given season, and if the presumed five for the Cardinals do indeed make it to opening day healthy, performance and fortune will each play a role in determining whether and to what extent that group stays stable.

Woodford has only earned the first chance. There are many yet to come.