Steven Matz injury: Cardinals have easy solution if it’s serious

Steven Matz was one of the Cardinals’ high-priced free agent addition this past offseason. Against the Pirates on Sunday morning, he was removed with an injury.

Matz was just four pitches in to his eighth start of the season. The early happenings of his St. Louis career have not been positive, as he’s 3-3 with an ERA over six.

Such an immediate removal suggests it’s injury-related, and perhaps perceived as relatively serious. Either that, or the team is merely being cautious.

If Matz is forced to miss a start, however, St. Louis has an easy solution that they ironically just sent down to the minor leagues.

Steven Matz injury: Potential Cardinals solution

On Saturday night, Matthew Liberatore made his MLB debut against the Pirates. He was called up with Nolan Gorman.

He did not fare too well, as despite a Cards win he lasted just under five innings and have up seven hits, along with two walks and four runs.

Liberatore is a highly-touted prospect, as he’s top-5 in the Cardinals system. Given he now has that MLB experience under his belt, it would make a lot of sense for St. Louis to option him right back up to the big leagues before he leaves town for good. This is all assuming Matz has to miss any time, which hopefully is not the case.

The 22-year-old was sent back down to Triple-A Memphis after making his spot start on Saturday, and Angel Rodon was called up in his place. Rodon had been traveling with the taxi squad, and is seen as a depth bullpen piece.