The St. Louis Cardinals are reshuffling their rotation. Andre Pallante was sent to the 15-day IL on Friday, with an expected minimum stay. Quinn Mathews will join the rotation and make his third MLB start on Saturday, with Kyle Leahy on the docket Sunday, per St. Louis Post-Dispatch's Derrick Goold. Ryan Fernandez has also been recalled from Triple-A for a bullpen role.
NEWS & MOVES: Andre Pallante is going on the IL with elbow inflammation (no structural damage); team expects a minimum stay.
— Derrick Goold (@dgoold) August 21, 2026
Quinn Mathews joins rotation, start Sat.
Kyle Leahy will start Sun.
Ryan Fernandez is going in bullpen, available at ballpark by game time. #stlcards
To add harm to foul, Hunter Dobbins left Friday's start after four innings with right forearm tightness. While there's less clarity around his status, Dobbins underwent Tommy John surgery in college and St. Louis ought to tread lightly. With injuries typically comes opportunity for younger players in the organization. It's time for St. Louis to strongly consider calling up one of these top pitching prospects.
LHP Cooper Hjerpe
Cooper Hjerpe attacks hitters with a funky sidearm release. His sweeper and changeup spin and fade in equal measure, with enough deception on his fastball to generate swing-and-miss despite its lower velocity. Hjerpe has dealt with his share of injuries, so St. Louis has been cautious with his innings this season. Still, the 25-year-old southpaw breezed through to Triple-A quick enough, with an 0.79 ERA in 11.1 innings across three starts since his latest promotion.
The Cardinals almost certainly view Hjerpe as more of a bullpen arm than a starter, short and long term, but there's still room to for him to finally debut in the majors. St. Louis can use him as a piggyback option with Dobbins (if he's not too badly hurt) or another less-proven arm. Or the Cardinals can plant him in higher-leverage spots and just see how his stuff plays in one- or two-inning bursts (my guess: quite well).
Hjerpe, notably, is already on the 40-man roster, so there's some pressure to get him to the majors.
RHP/LHP Jurrangelo Cijntje
Jurrangelo Cijntje was the crown jewel of the Brendan Donovan trade for St. Louis. The 23-year-old came up through the Mariners system as a switch-pitcher, but the Cards opted to focus on his development as a full-time righty. It has not been the sharpest season from Cijntje, with a 5.22 ERA and 1.42 WHIP in 23 starts between Double-A and Triple-A. Still, he's up to 136 strikeouts in 108.2 innings, with a powerful high-90s fastball and a slider that he spins out of the zone effectively.
FanSided's No. 58 overall prospect, Cijntje has struggled with command since the move to Triple-A, but he's historically a solid strike-thrower who can command a proper workload from the right side. He's not currently on the 40-man roster, but it's late enough in the season that starting his MLB clock now won't really hurt from a service time perspective.
The Cardinals certainly hope Cijntje can contribute to the rotation in 2027, hopefully on a full-time basis. So exploring that now — laying the groundwork, essentially — could be worth it.
LHP Liam Doyle
Liam Doyle is MLB Pipeline's top-ranked Cardinals pitching prospect (and No. 63 on FanSided's Top 100). He'd probably generate the most excitement among fans, leaning on a mean high-90s fastball and a tumbling splitter that gets opponents swinging in the dirt. Doyle has spent all season in Double-A, with a 4.14 ERA and 115 strikeouts in 87.0 innings. We don't see a ton of pitchers skip Triple-A entirely, especially pitchers with Doyle's command issues. But the raw stuff is so, so good.
The No. 5 overall draft pick a year ago, Doyle came out of Tennessee with expectations of a quick MLB ascent. If he does not debut this season, he will almost certainly compete for a rotation spot next spring. St. Louis is probably hesitant to move Doyle up so aggressively, as letting him pile up walks and runs in the majors for a couple weeks does nothing good for his development. But there's also a world in which Doyle comes in, throws enough strikes for the K's to translate, and looks like St. Louis' best starter for a couple weeks. He is, without a doubt, the most talented arm in the St. Louis organization.
The Cardinals need to contend with a potential 2027 lockout and their fading postseason hopes, but Doyle offers the highest ceiling of any potential late-season promotee. If St. Louis has the appetite for risk and wants to push all its chips in for the stretch run, unleashing Doyle — even if it's in shorter bursts to counterbalance his inconsistent command — could be a worthwhile gamble.
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