ST. LOUIS (KMOX) - The St. Louis Cardinals are in need of some pitching help as they hope to stay afloat in the NL Central until the return of starters Jack Flaherty, Miles Mikolas and Kwang-Hyun Kim from the IL. The No. 2 pitching prospect in the organization, Zack Thompson, has been a name on fans' radar going into this season – but the Cardinals aren't interested in bringing him up until he proves he's ready.
He was part of the Alternate Camp last year, during the lost Minor League season due to COVID-19, and president of baseball operations John Mozeliak said he "peaked a lot of interest." But the excitement has taken a big hit this year.
"Just a bit of a head-scratcher really," Mozeliak said. "He's just been regressing to where he's just not quite ready for this."
In five games, Thompson has a 9.64 ERA with 17 strikeouts and 12 walks with Triple-A Memphis.
The 23-year-old was drafted No. 19 overall by St. Louis in 2019 and played in Rookie and Advanced-A leagues that summer. His numbers haven't looked like those of a Major-League-ready pitcher.
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In 13 games in 2019, he had a 3.52 ERA with 23 strikeouts and only 3 walks in 15.1 innings.
What do the Cardinals think the problem is?
"Part of this is just adjusting to professional baseball in a sense of beginning in February and understanding the day-to-day," Mozeliak says.
Cardinals Nation writer Brian Walton, who is an expert in the team's Minor League system, says the numbers aren't a huge surprise because this has been his first month of pitching outside of A ball. He says the lost year in the Minors has seemed to really hurt the progress of some Cardinals like Thompson.
"There's no doubt that the year of lost development hurt the Cardinals Minor League system, but it's the same for every other team in baseball as well," Walton says. "The reality is the Cardinals Minor Leaguers as a unit on the field are not stacking up well."
The Cardinals No. 1 pitching prospect, 21-year-old Matthew Liberatore, is looking like a much more viable option to make his MLB debut sometime this year. Unfortunately for him, it may mean he can't represent Team USA in the Olympics next month.
He won two games for USA, including the Olympic-clincher, last week during a qualifying tournament. He gave up only two earned runs in 9.2 innings in games against Nicaragua and Venezuela. But if St. Louis has the option to hold him back from the Tokyo Olympics if needed.
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