St. Louis Cardinals Prospect Leading Minors in Strikeouts

Jason Burke | Aug 19, 2024

Jun 23, 2021; Omaha, Nebraska, USA; Stanford Cardinal pitcher Quinn Mathews (26) pitches to Vanderbilt Commodores in the third inning at TD Ameritrade Park. Mandatory Credit: Steven Branscombe-USA TODAY Sports / Steven Branscombe-USA TODAY Sports

Former Stanford Cardinal Quinn Mathews has added an "S" to his team name, and a few miles per hour to his heater, leading him to rocket his way through the minors in just his first season in pro ball.

Mathews, listed at 6-foot-5, was selected by the St. Louis Cardinals in the fourth round of last year's draft, and at 23 years old, he could become a fixture in the big-league rotation before long. This year he started out in A-Ball, but was promoted to High-A after just six starts. After seven starts with Peoria, he was promoted to Double-A Springfield.

At all three stops he has absolutely dominated hitters, posting a combined 2.34 ERA across 119 innings with a 0.88 WHIP and 168 strikeouts. That total leads the minors, and if you're at all concerned about the innings total in his first season in professional baseball, he tossed a 156-pitch complete game against Texas in the super regionals back in college, which will either put you at ease or just add some worry.

QUINN-SANITY 😮

Final line for Quinn Mathews tonight: 7.0 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 11 K.

Minor League Baseball's strikeout leader now has 168 Ks on the year. pic.twitter.com/xY8Jg7l6SO

— Springfield Cardinals (@Sgf_Cardinals) August 18, 2024

As far as just Double-A numbers, he has totaled 44 2/3 innings in his eight starts with a 2.62 ERA and a 1.05 WHIP with 58 punch-outs.

We reached out to the voice of the Springfield Cardinals, Alex Jensen, for a little extra insight about Mathews and what has led to his superb pro debut.

"Quinn has really good stuff. His FB apparently ticked up from the low 90s in college to 94-96 now. Three plus pitches (FB/SL/CH) that he commands well for the most part, especially the FB and SL. Change up is really good and has guys way out front but he doesn’t command it as well as the other two yet. Slider he can throw to both sides the plate well, which is helpful against RHH. So overall he’s polished and his stuff has ticked up since college. If they re-drafted last year's class he wouldn’t make it out of the first round."

Baseball America wrote in their future projection, "Mathews is a low-risk, back-end starter and innings-eater who could take a jump with a few added ticks of velocity." They also have him sitting in the low 90's in their report, so he has apparently added those few ticks of velo, and is presumably making that jump from projected back-end starter to something more.

The two players that the Cardinals took ahead of Mathews in last year's Draft, outfielders Chase Davis (first round) and Travis Honeyman, rank No. 8 and No. 14 in the St. Louis system per MLB Pipeline, while Mathews is slotted at No. 3 overall. This year's first-round selection, JJ Wetherholt, and Tink Hence are the only two players above him, giving the Red Birds a solid trio of prospects at the top of their farm system.

The next truly competitive team will likely include at least one of Mathews or Hence in the rotation.