ST. LOUIS, Mo. - The St. Louis Cardinals deadline sell-off officially began Sunday afternoon, with the team acquiring four prospects in separate deals with the Toronto Blue Jays and Texas Rangers.
The Cardinals began the the sell-off with relief pitcher Jordan Hicks, trading him to the Toronto Blue Jays for pitchers Adam Kloffenstein and Sem Robberse after failing to reach a deal on a contract extension with Hicks.
Minutes later, the Cardinals also reached a deal with the Texas Rangers, trading both starting pitchers Jordan Montgomery and relief pitcher Chris Stratton for three players, which included prospects pitcher Tekoah Roby and infielder Thomas Saggese.
While the Cardinals sell-off has only began, the Cardinals set out to acquire pitching and they did accomplish it so far with three of the four prospects they acquired being pitchers.
Here's a look at each of the four prospects the Cardinals acquired and what to expect from them:
THOMAS SAGGESE, INF
Arguably the best player the Cardinals got in the two trades they made Sunday wasn't even a pitcher. Saggese was a fifth-round draft pick by the Texas Rangers in 2020, a team's whose draft class might looks just as good as the Cardinals 2020 draft class right now.
In addition to Saggesse, the Rangers drafted Tekoah Roby, who was acquired by the Cardinals, outfielder Evan Carter, who is the sixth best overall prospect in all of MLB baseball right now, according to MLB Pipeline, and infielder Justin Foscue, the team first-round draft pick that year who has hit at every level of Minor League Baseball and is currently in the Rangers Triple-A affiliate in Round Rock.
Saggese, like Foscue has also hit at every level of Minor League Baseball so far. The 21-year-old hit .313/.379/.512 for an .891 OPS with 15 home runs and 78 RBIs in Double-A this season.
According to MLB Pipeline, Saggese has potential "20-homer power once he adds more strength, and he could become a solid hitter if he can develop more discipline."
Saggese has been graded with 50 power on a 20-80 scale but the Athletic's Keith Law believes that Saggese is has potential for 55 power with "a chance to be something like a 4-WAR guy in his best years." For context, Nolan Gorman and Jordan Walker were both graded with 60 power when they were prospects, so Saggese is slightly below them when it comes to power and a 4-WAR player is slightly below an All-Star caliber player but a very quality MLB starter.
Defensively, both MLB Pipeline and Law both see Saggese as an ok player who has the arm to play both 2nd base and 3rd base at a average level.
Saggese will be placed in the Cardinals Double-A affiliate in Springfield.
TEKOAH ROBY, RHP
Like Saggese, Roby was apart of loaded Rangers 2020 draft, which had the likes of outfielder Evan Carter, who is the sixth best overall prospect in all of MLB baseball right now, according to MLB Pipeline, and infielder Justin Foscue, the team first-round draft pick that year who has hit at every level of Minor League Baseball and is currently in the Rangers Triple-A affiliate in Round Rock.
Of all the pitchers the Cardinals acquired this deadline so far, Roby might have the highest ceiling. Roby overall minor league numbers do not look impressive at first, pitching a 4.47 ERA in his minor league career and has only pitched a 5.05 ERA in 46 innings.
But Roby has dealt with various injuries throughout his minor-league career, which includes a shoulder injury he is currently recovering from that should see his return right close to the end of August, and an elbow injury in 2021 that luckily didn't need surgery.
According to MLB Pipeline, "Roby can attack in any direction with his four-pitch repertoire." which has a mid-90s fastball, a curveball with high spin thrown in the upper 70's, a low-80s changeup and slider.
According to MLB Pipeline, Roby doesn't have a plus pitch but all four of his pitches are still "solid enough once he's fully developed."
MLB Pipeline sees Roby as a mid-rotation starter while Law seeing him as a high as a number two starter potentially.
ADAM KLOFFENSTEIN, RHP
Kloffenstein has had his fair share of struggles in his minor-league career so far, posting a 4.89 ERA with a FIP on 5.13 overall, but 2023 has been a career revitalization for Kloffenstein, with the soon-to-be 23-year-old posting a 3.24 ERA with a 3.45 FIP and striking out batters at a 27.6% clip.
Kloffenstein slots right behind former Mizzou pitcher Ian Bedell in the Cardinals Top 30 prospects at 23, however not a lot of scouts are high on Kloffenstein.
According to Keith Law, he believes Kloffenstein doesn't have enough potential as a MLB starter, with concerns on his swing and miss ability with his fastball and slider, the latter being his best pitch and graded as average by Law, and command.
"I think he’s got a reliever ceiling, although that could work if moving to shorter outings boosts the velocity and effectiveness of the slider, but the most likely outcome is that he’s an up-and-down guy," Law wrote, "He’s going to have a harder time against even slightly more disciplined hitters."
SEM ROBBERSE, RHP
Robberse signed with the Toronto Blue Jays out of the Netherlands at only the young-age of 16, and while he isn't as quite as talented as a certain fellow Dutch racing driver, Robberse has some potential on his own.
The soon-to-be 22-year-old hasn't been quite impressive this season, posting a 4.04 ERA while pitching for Double-A New Hampshire.
Robberse has a solid repotoire for his age, with a fastball in the low 90s with solid sliders and curveballs that both received a 55 grade out of 80 by Law and a changeup that is "solid to average."
However there has been concerns for Robberse allowing hard contact, especially on his fastball according to Law, with Robberse allowing nine of the 14 home runs he has given up off of his heater.
Law says that despite the concerns, Robberse is still extremely young enough to find another 2-3 MPH somewhere that could potentially up him to a mid-rotation starter, but the potential at the moment is a back-end rotation starter for Law.