The Cardinals announced Tuesday that they’ve selected the contracts of outfielder Matt Koperniak and right-handers Tink Hence, Tekoah Roby and Matt Svanson. The team added that left-hander Drew Rom went unclaimed on waivers and has been assigned outright to Triple-A Memphis. The Cardinals now have 39 players on their 40-man roster.
Of today’s additions, Hence is the most highly regarded. The 22-year-old finished the season as a consensus top-100 prospect, placing as high as 30th on Baseball America’s rankings and also landing 46th at FanGraphs and 61st at MLB.com. He spent 2024, his age-21 season, pitching at the Double-A level, where he logged a 2.71 ERA in an abbreviated workload.
Hence started just 20 games on the season, tallying 79 2/3 innings while missing nearly all of June and July. The Cardinals didn’t specify the nature of his injury, but Hence departed his June 5 start after two innings, returned to pitch one inning on June 23, and then didn’t return to the mound until July 27. Hence’s season came to an end after he was lifted from a Sept. 11 start following just 1 1/3 innings.
Even with the truncated year, Hence remains one of the minor leagues’ most promising young arms. He set down a whopping 34.1% of hitters on strikes in 2024 and showed average or better command, with an 8.1% walk rate. Hence sits mid-90s with a heater that can climb to 98-99 mph, rounding out his repertoire with one of the best changeups in the minors and a solid slider. There are some durability concerns even beyond this past summer, as he’s yet to reach 100 frames in any season of his professional career. Still, he’s teeming with upside, and his Double-A success could open the door for a big league debut later in 2025 if he can stay healthy.
Roby, 23, has drawn his share of top-100 fanfare as well, though his stock dipped amid shaky results and injury troubles of his own in 2024. FanGraphs ranked him 91th in the game at season’s end, but he’d fallen off most other prominent rankings. The 2020 third-rounder, selected by the Rangers and traded to the Cards in the Jordan Montgomery swap, pitched just 38 1/3 innings with a 6.57 ERA between High-A and Double-A in ’24.
Roby has posted middling ERA numbers in his career but regularly logged impressive rate stats and garnered attention from scouts due to plus raw stuff across the board — headlined by his curveball. Roby needs to improve his command and prove he can handle a starter’s workload, as he’s a bit undersized at 6’1″ and has never reached 105 innings in a pro season.
The 26-year-old Koperniak signed with the Cards as an undrafted free agent in the summer of 2020, following that year’s five-round amateur draft. He spent the whole 2024 season in Triple-A, where he hit .309/.370/.512 with 20 homers, 28 doubles, three triples, five steals, an 8.4% walk rate and an 18.7% strikeout rate. He played all three outfield spots but spent the bulk of his time in left field.
Svanson, 26 in January, was acquired from the Blue Jays in the trade sending Paul DeJong to Toronto. He spent the 2024 season working out of the Double-A bullpen, where he logged 63 2/3 innings of 2.69 ERA ball with a 20.8% strikeout rate, 8.8% walk rate and 52.7% ground-ball rate. He’ll presumably head to Triple-A early in 2025 and is a candidate for a look in the big leagues as soon as this coming season.
Rom, who’ll turn 25 in a few weeks, was acquired from the Orioles in the ’23 trade sending Jack Flaherty to Baltimore. He struggled through eight starts with the Cardinals in 2023, yielding an 8.02 ERA, but missed the entire 2024 season following arthroscopic shoulder surgery. Since he’s already cleared waivers, Rom will stick with the club as a depth option for the upcoming season. He hasn’t had any big league success yet, but he had the look of a potential back-of-the-rotation starter in the Orioles’ system before the shoulder injury ruined his 2024 season.
Tink will be the number two starter next year
2026. And maybe 3 or 4.
2026 rotation could be Gray-Matthews-Pallante-Hence-McGreevy/3 others. Not so shabby.
Fedde will be the number two starter next year. Hence is a year away. Needs to prove he has some durability.
I would put the Cardinals AAA rotation in 2025 up against anyone else’s in baseball.
Matthews
Robberse
Graceffo
Kloffenstein
Bedell
Rom
With Hence most likely replacing Matthews in the middle of the year. Hjerpe could replace someone else. And McGreevy might be in AAA to start the year as well.
Right now the rotation is essentially:
1. Gray
2. Fedde
3. Pallante
4. Mikolas
5. Matz
I would probably try to extend Fedde, perhaps offering 3/40 plus an option. This helps for next year when Mikolas and Matz are (thankfully) gone. If he doesn’t accept though, I would try to trade him this winter.
Matz and Mikolas would be competing for the 4th spot in the rotation. Winner stays, loser goes to the bullpen as a swing man/long reliever. The 5th spot stays open for a prospect, which is an open competition between McGreevy, Matthews, and Robberse. Winner stays, the others start in AAA.
Next year I’d perhaps look at signing Framber Valdez if he’s available, especially if Fedde isn’t coming back and the team sees good development from its young(ish) position player core this season.
I think one way or another McGreevy is in the rotation on opening day. With this focus on developing players he’s a guy that has to get an opportunity. And I really wouldn’t be surprised if Liberatore gets another chance to start too although that might require an injury.
Fedde I just don’t know who he is. Is he a number 2? 3? 4? I just don’t know. I would give him the 3 years 40 million you suggest but I also wouldn’t mind leaving our options open. Many of those guys af AAA are going to be big league starters. They need a chance.
I agree on Fedde. He was OK, but offense couldn’t get past the 5th inning. I would wait and see how he starts off 2024 before offering him an extension.
I liked McGreevy coming out of Cal because of his size, but I don’t see him ever being much more than a swing man. He gives up too many hits. He has good command as his walk rate shows, but it gets hit a lot. His fastball doesn’t have a lot of movement and he doesn’t have the velocity to blow it by them. He’s got a lot of blow up outings in him.
McGreevy looked great in his few starts of 2024. Seems to be very composed and poised. He never has had great stuff but there is more to being a starter than stuff.
McGreevy’s ceiling is probably as a 4 or 5 starter It’s fairly common to see guys have some success when they first come up, then the league adjusts to them and it gets rougher. I’ll take anyone who might be able to stick in the rotation, even if at the bottom of it. People just need to get past this idea that he is going to be what he showed in his brief stint last year. It’s likely the only top 3 in the rotation guys the Cards have in AA or higher are Hence and Matthews, and I have very little faith in Hence ever being durable.
His professional baseball WHIP of 1.25 which includes his 0.78 WHIP in his 23 innings pitched last year is very concerning. He’ll have decent days where his defense saves him and he’ll have days everything finds a hole.
And no, there isn’t much more to starting pitching than stuff. Whether that’s velocity, movement or a combination of both. If you don’t have stuff, you will get hit hard. A fastball or breaking ball, if you can’t spin it, you’ll never be more than a fringe back end guy.
He’s not going to have an ERA under 2 fella. Nobody thinks he will. But he’s better than his stuff. He’s better than fans think he is. He can be more than a 4 or 5 starter. My guess is he ends up being a good number 4 but he can be a 3.
His defense didn’t save him at AAA because the defense wasn’t very good. That matters for a pitcher to contact guy like he is.
He’s Kyle Gibson without the 12 million dollar contract. Thats who I think he is. His biggest strength is he can pitch deep into games.
Gibson has made a career of a being a fridge guy on bad teams. He’s a pretty good comp. He too gives up too many hits. $12 million is practically league minimum for a veteran starter. Neither will ever come close to first round draft pick expectations. If McGreevy can post 25 starts every year like Gibson, he’ll be able to bounce around because of his low cost. If he’s often hurt, he’ll quickly be forgotten about.
My concern exactly. Better have pinpoint control!
His durability has been his biggest strength. Not sure why you think he would often be hurt.
McGreevy has 4 appearances in MLB. We don’t know if he is durable or not. His size, velocity and lack of movement trend towards durability, but we have yet to see.
League-minimum Kyle Gibson is extremely valuable.
McGreevy has pitched at least 140 innings the last 3 years. How many minor leaguers can say that? It’s a very very small number.
He’s durable.
if fedde does anything close to last year, or if mikolas or matz do anything remotely close to average they will be traded for whatever the cards can get.
If Fedde, Mikolas and Matz pitch well the Cardinals could win the division.
But I doubt if they will.
Take a look at Fedde’s number outside of Guaranteed Rate Field. They were closer to the numbers he had with Washington that got him banished to Japan. He’s a fifth starter in a bad team, so he’s a perfect fit for the Cardinals. However he should be part of the plans for 2027 and beyond.
Relax. His ERA over the last 7 games of the season with the Cardinals was 2.95. If you take all but his first start with the team, his ERA was 3.20. He’s far from a bum. He had an adjustment start with the team his first game. From that point on, he was good.
He had a 4.28 road ERA last year. 1.87 in Guaranteed Rate Field. Also good numbers in the pitcher friendly parks of the AL Central. His numbers in the hitter friendly NL Central parks last year were really bad, sans his 3.5 in STL. He surprising had a good start in Colorado last year.
I will add to that, his last 6 road starts with the White Sox, he had a 2.65 ERA.
That tracks, he pitched in Detroit, Seattle and Cleveland in half those starts. He got knocked around in his two starts in Wrigley, one in MIL and one in CIN. He’ll regress to a 4.5 ERA total next year. Besides Gray and Matthews the Cardinals have a rotation and minors full of 5th starters/swingmen types. Like a said before he’s a back end starter on a bad team, he’s fine for the Cardinals. They won’t be good for a while, so he’s probably got a home here for a while.
He’s a totally different pitcher than the one who pitched for Washington. He developed a sweeper after he left, and it is one of his primary weapons. BA against on that pitch was .165. He stopped throwing his ineffective curveball. He drastically reduced his reliance on his sinker. He revamped his changeup and uses it much more often and more effectively, That pitch garnered a .228 BA against last year. He’s just not even close to the same guy he was back then. If he was throwing the same stuff and getting away with it, I’d be on the same page, but he’s not.
Detroit, Seattle and Cleveland were middle of the road offenses last year, not bad ones. He also pitched well on the road against the top offense in baseball during that stretch. Listen, almost every pitcher in MLB is going to have better numbers against worse teams. That’s a reality that skews almost 100% of pitchers number toward the better. I hate to judge that way, because I could probably pick apart good pitcher throughout MLB all day that way. I’ll happily take what I saw over the last 9 games with the Cardinals as a good trend for a guy who comes cheap and will likely be our #2 starter for the season. He revamped his repertoire in Korea, added an extremely effective pitch that he didn’t have before, and is a different pitcher than he was because of it.
He got better. There is no doubting that. He had a 5.41 ERA while pitching in Washington, which is also a pitcher friendly home park. But he’s still closer to a 5th starter than a 3rd. His numbers outside of the south side are concerning . Busch, while having the 3rd largest outfield by total acreage in all of baseball, plays slightly more hitter friendly than neutral. My expectations are about 4.4-4.5 ERA next year. Cardinals defense could he pretty suspect next year.
Maybe a 4.
As it stands right now their defense should be really good in 7 of 9 spots.
C: Herrera is above average even with the slow pop time which is fixable.
1b: Burleson is above average.
2B: Donovan is a Gold Glover
SS: Winn is Gold Glove level
3B: Arenado is Gold Glove level even with the decline
LF: Nootbaar is above average
CF: Siani is elite defenisively
RF: Walker is the biggest weak link but still has the skills to be average at worst.
We get you don’t like Fedde, but come on dude. In no world is Fedde a 5, especially on a team that should be running out more than a couple of young unproven pitchers.
Walker has the skills to be very bad instead of catastrophically bad.
But if he doesn’t hit, its a moot point
@Paperstraws
This is why my preference is for them to trade him this winter. The value will never be higher than it is now. If he can be kept on a short and cheap extension then there is some benefit since it can add some stability as they try to integrate some of their young pitchers. As I said elsewhere, my preference would be to go after Framber Valdez if he’s available next winter. He’ll be 32 and won’t require the same commitment as other FA’s, but he still offers real upside on par with what you would expect from Sonny Gray. This actually makes the team competitive in a weak division (assuming the young hitters pan out).
Yes but can the Cardinals develop pitching.
The Cardinals have done a solid j9b developing pitching. The problem is they get to the big leagues and then they don’t get a shot. I think thats going to change.
Outside of Matthews, I don’t think any of those guys are particularly exciting as MLB prospects. Hopefully the rest of them just give us some depth over time while we piece a rotation together.
They don’t all have to be exciting. Matz is making 12.5 million. Mikolas is making 16 or so. Even Fedde is making 7.5. These guys can be replaced by guys making league minimum and money can be spent elsewhere on the team.
Mathews has to be the 40th man!
Maybe he doesn’t need a spot yet because he was recently drafted. I don’t know the rules on this stuff it’s confusing. Matthews certainly is going nowhere except to St Louis here soon.
You are correct, Matthews doesn’t have enough Minor League service time so he isn’t eligible for the rule V draft yet. Had he been, they would have added him to the 40 man roster today. The transactions today were to protect players eligible for the Rule V draft.
Thanks for the info.
Once you have 3 years of minors time, you are eligible to be taken in the rule 5 draft or placed in the 40 man. Once on the 40 man you have three option years. Matthews will be in the 40 man well before they have to protect him.
I read earlier that he needs to be protected to the 40-man.
I was hoping the Reds would have claimed Drew Rom off waivers and brought him home. He is from right across the Ohio River in Northern Kentucky and went to Fort Thomas Highlands H.S.
Cards may have destroyed him for life by inexplicably continuing to parade him out there before he was ready. I’d be rooting for the guy to get a fresh start somewhere after that debacle. Closer to home certainly couldn’t hurt.
The BIG news is Koperniak. Might he actually get a chance? Probably not though he has adjusted to every level in his minor league ascent.
Would have to imaging he’s not far behind on the depth chart though. Walker and Nootbar haven’t been consistent, whether due to injury or poor performance. Aside from Brendan Donovan, I don’t know who else deserves or is capable of playing a corner OF spot
He has earned a chance but he’s older and he hits lefty and that’s not a great fit with the team the way it’s currently constructed. Last year they outfield had tons of injuries if that happens again we will probably see him.
Maybe insurance policy if they trade Burleson? Similar profiles but Koperniak didn’t get much attention being undrafted.
I find it highly unlikely Burleson gets dealt anytime soon. He’s the best defensive 1b on the team as of today.
I’d say Koperniak profiles with a higher ceiling as an overall player at this point. His OF defense would be a huge upgrade, and his power continues to develop. All he does is hit wherever he goes.
Burleson is going to be playing a lot of 1b and also will DH. Koperniak does deserve a shot but he’s not getting playing time ahead of Burleson that’s simply not going to happen.
And he isn abutcher in the outfield. Not graceful but adequate.
The Cardinals have publicly committed to Contreras at 1b. I don’t think they are going to hesitate to move Burleson if they think they can get more value in return.
He honestly should have gotten a chance already. I was hoping they would give him a shot in the London series, so he could play in front of his hometown fans. All the guy does is hit wherever he goes, and he plays better OF defense than a lot of the guys the Cards put out there. It’s time to give him a shot.
Great day in Baseball.. Matt Koperniak gets a shot. Crumpets for all!!!
All he does is hit
Need to start Hence in the bullpen until he can prove health and endurance. We had a Cardinals legend start in the bullpen, then head the rotation for many years until he became a C&W singer. So you see what a move to the bullpen can do for you.
Just say no to Gracefoo until he regains his velocity. I believe he lost 2 MPH off his fastball. That won’t work in the Bigs.
Your wish will be granted at the end of 2025 to manage workload, but Hence will start in 2026. You don’t put your best prospects in the BP until you have to.
Isn’t Fedde a younger Mikolas? I don’t want a repeat of that when we can get a reasonable return from a trade.
I have heard a Jeff Suppan comp for Fedde
Suppan was smarter!
They’ve handled Hence like an icicle in the desert. Maybe they know what they’re doing but he’s going to be hitting AAA without ever pitching a standard starter’s workload, even by today’s lower standards.
I don’t think Koperniak was in any danger of being selected in the rule 5 draft and a team carrying him on the 26 man roster all year. He’s the break glass in case of emergency guy for the corner outfield so he’d end up on the 40 man regardless.
The other 3 are all relievers long term. Now relievers you do have worry about being taken. It feels like the Cardinals take a reliever from the rule 5 every year like Fernandez last year.
I’ve seen a lot bigger projects than Koperniak get taken in the Rule 5. I think it’s likely he would have been snagged.
Yeah, but those guys aren’t normally 26 years old already. He was likely going to be in the 40 man regardless. Probably should have been last year already. I don’t believe he would have been taken, but they had the open spots and he would have been there anyway so it makes him feel wanted which means something to him.
Give my boy Koperniak an mlb shot damnit. I hope this year he can find playing time, be it moving Walker back to the infield or trading someone