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MLB Rumors: Cardinals prospect Tekoah Roby getting late-season buzz

When the St. Louis Cardinals made the decision to sell at the MLB Trade Deadline -- the right call, for what it's worth -- the big key was getting returns that could help the club retool for 2023 and beyond. In the immediate aftermath, Drew Rom, who came from Baltimore on the Jack Flaherty deal, seemed to get a lot of buzz. That made complete sense given the club's need for pitching moving forward.

But it's another pitching prospect acquired at the deadline who's starting to get some real buzz -- and could be a factor for the 2024 rotation as well.

Tekoah Roby, who was acquired in the three-prospect package from the Rangers in the Jordan Montgomery/Chris Stratton deal, was injured at the time of the trade. He has since taken the mound for the Double-A Springfield Cardinals. To say he's been dominant while the 21-year-old has been making a jump from High-A to Double-A would be an understatement.

As noted by Inside the Cardinals, Roby has made four starts that have spanned 12 innings in total while posting a 3.00 ERA, 0.75 WHIP, 19-to-3 strikeout-to-walk ratio and a .146 batting average against. He's been missing bats at an extremely high level and doing so consistently to this point.

At just 21 years old, there is still a ton of upside with Roby as a prospect. But when you then consider the Cardinals' need to fill the rotation for the 2024 season and beyond, he becomes even more intriguing. If Roby continues his dominance in Double-A for the rest of this season, he has to come into spring training next preseason as one of the top options to crack into the rotation, perhaps even independent of the moves John Mozeliak and the front office make in trades or in free agency.