3 Cardinals besides Oli Marmol who shouldn’t survive the summer

2. Jordan Hicks

Jordan Hicks is a young, flamethrowing reliever. And that’s great until it becomes dangerous.

He started this season struggling to gain command over his high-velocity pitches. While it was apparent the team needed to do something in the form of sending him to Triple-A Memphis to work on regaining command, they opted to keep him with St. Louis because he could turn down the option as it would adversely affect him financially.

The team agreed to have him work in lower-leverage situations to regain his pitching form.

This season he is 1-4 in 26 games over 26.1 innings. He has five holds and two blown saves. He’s given up 24 hits,  21 walks, 16 runs, 14 earned runs including two home runs. He’s thrown five wild pitches and hit two batters by pitch. He does have 42 strikeouts.

While it’s difficult to find effective flame-throwing relievers, Hicks has been given a substantial opportunity to secure that role with the Cardinals.

Hicks becomes a free agent in 2024. Now would be a good opportunity to trade Hicks for either pitching or a veteran outfielder.