Cardinals Reportedly Sign High-Leverage Reliever Coming Of Stellar Season

St. Louis needed to make one more move

Scott Neville | Feb 2, 2024

Cardinals Reportedly Sign High-Leverage Reliever Coming Of Stellar Season /

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St. Louis Cardinals

The St. Louis Cardinals have been quiet as of late after adding three free-agent starting pitchers earlier this offseason.

Cardinals president of baseball operations John Mozeliak's only notable addition following his rotation revamp was right-hander Andrew Kittredge, who came over from the Tampa Bay Rays via trade.

Since then, the Cardinals have been in search of a second high-leverage reliever and reportedly found their guy.

"Free-agent reliever Keynan Middleton and the St. Louis Cardinals are in agreement on a contract, pending physical, according to sources familiar with the deal," FanSided's Robert Murray reported late Thursday night.

The 30-year-old hurler posted a 3.38 ERA with a 64-to-23 strikeout-to-walk ratio, .214 batting average against and a 1.24 WHIP in 50 2/3 innings between the Chicago White Sox and New York Yankees in what became a career year.

Middleton posted a 133 ERA+ last season -- meaning he was 33% better than the league average pitcher -- largely in part due to a unique pitch usage strategy.

The veteran deployed his changeup as his primary pitch (42.9% usage rate) and his slider as a secondary pitch (30.8%), which made his 95.5 mph fastball incredibly effective -- 26.3% usage rate with a .122 batting average against.

Middleton will accompany Kittredge, Ryan Helsley, Giovanny Gallegos and JoJo Romero to form a potent back-end of the bullpen.

The terms of the contract have yet to be released.

More MLB: Cardinals Could Make One More Splash, Sign Starter With Career 3.27 ERA

Published Feb 2, 2024

SCOTT NEVILLE

Scott Neville covers the St. Louis Cardinals for FanNation's "Inside The Cardinals" on Sports Illustrated. Before starting "Inside The Cardinals", Neville attended Merrimack College, where he earned his Bachelor’s Degree in Communication and Media with a minor in Marketing. Neville spent all four years with Merrimack's radio station WMCK, where he grew as a radio/podcast host and producer. His propensity for being in front of a microphone eventually expanded to film, where he produced multiple short films alongside his then-roommate and current co-worker Stephen Mottram. On a journey that began as a way to receive easy credits via film classes, he received a call from "It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia" star Charlie Day. Day advised him to make a feature-length film, which he completed his senior year. While writing the film, Neville completed an internship for United Way as part of their NFL Partnership Program. Neville ran the blog for a team of interns and hosted an internet show called "United Way's NFL Partnership Series" where he interviewed NFL alumni. After college Neville wrote for SB Nation's "Over The Monster," a Red Sox sister site of the flagship brand. His work would eventually lead him to a job as a content producer with NESN, where he would cover all sports. After developing as a writer with the top regional network in the world, he was given the opportunity to join FanNation and the Sports Illustrated Media Group as the publisher of "Inside The Red Sox." After a few months as the top Major League Baseball site in the program, Neville sought expansion and pitched "Inside The Cardinals," one of the newest additions to FanNation and the Sports Illustrated Media Group. The successful launch and quick rise of "Inside The Cardinals" led to Neville joining the Baseball Essential ownership group, a national baseball site under SIMG. Follow him on Twitter: @ScottNeville46 Email: nevilles@merrimack.edu