3 STL Cardinals still giving encouraging signs and 2 who are failing

The St. Louis Cardinals are in last place in the division and, overall have been struggling. But some players are still offering signs of a turnaround. 

On the most basic of levels, the St. Louis Cardinals aren’t in a good spot right now. They sit in last place of the NL Central and have lost seven of their last 10 games. The Redbirds have now fallen eight games behind the Brewers in the division while the club is 11 games under .500 for the year. It’s not the prettiest of scenes.

Despite this, there is still a feeling of optimism — even if lessening — that things could turn around for the Cardinals. After all, they are the only team in the division with a positive run differential (even if it is only a modest +1). But more importantly, they’ve started to see some truly encouraging signs from big-name players who they needed to step up if they’re going to climb out of this hole.

Of course, the flip side of that is some players have still not been what the Cardinals need them to be. But let’s look at both sides of that coin now with three players who should feed the optimism and St. Louis while also taking a look at two players who need to get out of whatever funk they’re mired in.

STL Cardinals: 3 players showing encouraging signs, 2 who are failing

5. Steven Matz has been a revelation since moving to the STL Cardinals bullpen

When Steven Matz was still part of the Cardinals rotation, it truly felt like a situation where you would just have to throw up your hands and hope that an answer would fall out of thin air. It didn’t fall out of thin air, but it does seem that an unconventional move to the bullpen after giving top prospect Matthew Liberatore a spot in the rotation has been exactly what Matz needed.

Matz has overall made three appearances out of the bullpen. In those outings, he’s gone 2.1 innings while allowing just two hits, no walks and no runs. That’s good for an obvious 0.00 ERA and an O.89 WHIP since he moved to the reliever role.

Admittedly, it’s an extremely small sample size with Matz being used as a reliever. However, the early returns have to be encouraging for what could be to come from him and the Cardinals pitching staff.

Despite all of the talent throughout the pitchers on the roster, St. Louis had struggled to get consistently quality starting pitching and rely heavily on their bullpen. Matz was a part of the starter woes, but this move gives Liberatore an opportunity to remedy that while also improving the depth of the bullpen with a versatile option.

This is the type of move that could most definitely change the course of the season for the Cards pitchers.