Cardinals make big pitching roster move before Mariners game
09/07/2024 03:50 PM
The St. Louis Cardinals received some much needed positive news with the impending return of veteran starter Lance Lynn. Lynn had been on the 15-day injured list with right knee inflammation. The ailment kept him out of action for over a month but Lynn will start for the team on Wednesday. With the rotation starting to take shape, the Cardinals turned their focus to the bullpen.
St. Louis will recall reliever Chris Roycroft to the big league club, according to the team's official account on X. In a corresponding move, the Cardinals will send pitcher Kyle Leahy to the minors.
To say Roycroft has bounced around this season is something of an understatement. This will be the fifth time St. Louis has called the 27-year-old righty up to the major leagues in 2024. He spent portions of May, June and July with the Cardinals but hasn't been able to stick with the team. In 24 appearances for St. Louis this season, he's posted a 4.15 ERA, 1.352 WHIP and 27 strikeouts in 30.1 innings.
The 6’8" hurler was most recently optioned to the Cardinals’ Triple-A affiliate at the end of July and he spent the entire month of August in Memphis. However, Roycroft seems to have found something during his most recent minor league stint. In 13 Triple-A appearances in August, he has a 2.93 ERA, 1.43 WHIP and 17 strikeouts in 15.1 innings of work.
Chris Roycroft rejoins the Cardinals, again
Roycroft's path to becoming a big league pitcher has been unusual. He started off playing ball in the independent Frontier League, pitching for the Joliet Slammers. After a season and a half with the Slammers, the Cardinals signed him to a minor league deal in 2022. The following season, he advanced across three minor league levels, reaching Triple-A where he made 22 appearances.
Leahy also has been up-and-down this season, frequently called to work out of the Cardinals bullpen. He has a 4.02 ERA, 1.021 WHIP, 6.1 K/9 and an ERA+ of 106 in 31 appearances in 2024. The 27-year-old rookie has been working his way through the Cardinals farm system since 2018. He bounced back and forth between Memphis and St. Louis this season but he had been with the big league club since July 29.
After a rough outing in the opener of a three-game series against the Seattle Mariners on Friday, the Cardinals made the decision to option Leahy and recall Roycroft for Saturday's game. Leahy allowed four hits and three earned runs in 1.1 innings of work in his last appearance.
It's been a trying season for St. Louis. The team set an all-time attendance low for Busch Stadium last month and the Cardinals playoff hopes are fading fast.
The team is 10 games behind the first-place Milwaukee Brewers in the National League Central entering play on Saturday. St. Louis is six games out of a playoff berth in the NL Wild Card race. The Cardinals dropped to 17th in the most recent MLB Power Rankings.
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