Highlighting The Newest Cardinals

06/23/2024 09:00 AM

The Cardinals called up 2 new major leaguers in the past week.

In what has been an injury filled season for the St. Louis Cardinals, the Cardinals have called up 2 more players to the major league roster in the past week. Adam Kloffenstein, who was sent back down immediately after making his debut, became the 6th Cardinal player to make his MLB debut this season and Nick Raposo, who was called up yesterday in place of the injured Ivan Herrera, will become the 7th Cardinal to debut this year whenever he sees his first action on the field.

If that seems like a lot of players debuting before July, that's because it is. Last year the Cardinals had 8 players make their MLB debuts and the team is now just one shy of that mark before the halfway point this season. I think it's safe to say that the Cardinals will exceed 8 debuts this year.

Injury issues aside, it's fun to see players take the field at the major league level for the very first time. These guys have been working their entire careers and probably most of their lives for that very moment so it's always fun to watch MLB debuts.

These are some of my favorite moments of the season and, as such, they deserve articles. So today I want to give some background on Adam Kloffenstein and Nick Raposo, break down their skills a little bit, and try to give a glimpse of what the future may hold for the pair.

Adam Kloffenstein

Let's start with some background before diving into what Kloffenstein brings to the table. The right-hander came to the Cardinals via trade at last year's deadline in exchange for Jordan Hicks after 5 ¹⁄₂ seasons in the Blue Jays organization. He was originally a 3rd round selection in the 2018 draft coming out of the Texas high school ranks and was given a substantial signing bonus to forego his commitment to TCU.

In fact, his nearly $2.5 million bonus was nearly $2 million more than the slot value of the 88th pick and was roughly the slot value of a late 1st round selection.

The Blue Jays clearly believed in his potential to become a major league pitcher and Kloffenstein proved them right.

The first thing that stands out about Kloffenstein is his size. He's listed at 6'5" and 243 pounds on Fangraphs, and that hasn't changed much from his younger days when he was listed as a 6'5" and 220 pound 17-year-old.

But while he hasn't changed much physically, he has matured into a really solid pitcher.

The main weapon for Kloffenstein is a sweeper that has generated a 41% whiff rate in Triple-A and has added 3 inches of sweep since last year. But while that may be Kloffenstein's best pitch, he only throws it 18% of the time.

While he should throw that pitch more in the majors, and almost assuredly will if he ends up in a bullpen role, there's something of a Lance Lynn starter kit here with the arsenal. Both players have a similar size and similar arsenal as Kloffenstein throws his sinker, cutter, and four-seamer almost one third of the time. That's not quite as fastball heavy as Lynn and Kloffenstein's primary pitch is a sinker instead of a four-seamer, but the point is that he likes to throw his heaters and rely on the subtle movement differences between all 3.

The problem for Kloffenstein is that, frankly, none of his fastball shapes are very good. His sinker hasn't fared too well (.365 wOBA allowed in Triple-A), his cutter has gotten solid results but has been hit hard (91.4 mph average exit velocity). and his four-seamer is seldom used and has poor shape.

The problem for Kloffenstein is generally a lack of velocity as his sinker sits just 91 mph and that is something that could be helped by a move to the bullpen, as Kloffenstein demonstrated in his debut when he fastball averaged nearly 93 mph.

All of that is to say that Kloffenstein is probably a bit of a tweener in terms of his future major league role. His stuff will play up in the 'pen and allow him to get extra velocity on a sinker that already has above average depth and it's possible that he could thrive as a bullpening sinkerballer who uses his sweeper as a putout pitch against righties and his changeup (which has a 33% whiff rate in Triple-A) as a putout pitch against lefties.

Now, with that said, Kloffenstein throws 6 different pitches (he has also toyed with a curveball) and has intriguing enough traits to potentially stick as a back-end starter. That's not his most likely outcome but it's certainly within his range of outcomes.

I will say that when watching him, he seems to get in trouble when he tries to nibble too much around the zone but he has some strong outings when he really attacked hitters. Part of the problem for Kloffenstein is that he probably does need to nibble a bit with his fastballs because of their lack of velocity and bat missing shape but he also has enough variety in his offerings and enough quality with his secondaries to survive with a more aggressive approach.

Anyways, regardless of his future role, I would love to see increased sweeper and changeup usage to both miss more bats and help keep hitters off his fastballs a bit better.

So that's the profile and the scouting report. Looking past that, it was really fun to see Kloffenstein make his debut and it was even more fun to see him make his debut the way he did - at Rickwood field, pitching in the 8th inning to set up Helsley.

He showed some interesting traits in his debut and has a signature breaking ball that should help him have some level of success regardless of his eventual role.

Nick Raposo

I'll be upfront about this - Nick Raposo isn't the most exciting player and he probably won't be in St. Louis long. But, with that said, he has a cool story and is worth celebrating.

You might notice something about his Fangraphs page. It starts in 2021 with him playing Double-A. That's not a typo. Unlike most players, he did start his professional career in Double-A. Now I want to stress the word "professional" in that last sentence.

That's because Raposo didn't start in Indy ball and then start his affiliated career in Double-A as a player with previous experience in pro ball. Raposo graduated from Wheaton College, a Division 3 school in Massachusetts in 2020 and then went undrafted in the MLB draft. The Cardinals signed him shortly after the draft but he didn't see the field at all due to the cancelled minor league season.

Fast forward to 2021 and Raposo was making the jump from Division 3 baseball to Double-A. He actually held his own at the level, posting a wRC+ of 103 and throwing out 50% of attempted base stealers. While that may have been surprising, you should also note his playing time that year, and really every year in the system.

Raposo has been treated as a backup minor league catcher from the day he signed with the organization. Again, that shouldn't be surprising considering the fact that he signed as a Division 3 undrafted free agent (albeit after a shortened draft), but what is surprising is the fact that he has now made it to the major leagues.

That is a testament to his own work but also to the organization.

What we've typically seen from the Cardinals is a willingness to give organizational soliders a cup of coffee in the major leagues and that is exactly what is happening with Raposo. He's been a depth catcher who gets high marks for his work ethic and character and has been bumped up and down the minors at will throughout his entire career based on the needs of the system.

So when Ivan Herrera had a back injury spring up, Raposo is the catcher who got the call to the majors despite a limited track record in Triple-A. Granted, there aren't many quality options in Memphis right now but the organization could have gone with Gavin Collins, who is older and more experienced and has had more success in the upper levels of the minors throughout his career.

But the Cardinals went with Raposo and, nothing against Collins, that is a decision I applaud. He will probably only be with the Cardinals for a couple of days as he is likely to go down as soon as Willson Contreras is ready to play, but this is a great reward for a player who has been the epitome of an organizational soldier with the Cardinals.

On the field, Raposo has struggled a bit but he makes a good amount of contact and occasionally shows some juice in his bat. His exit velocities are nothing to write home about but he has been up to 108 mph off the bat and has pulled 37% of his fly balls this year.

I know the numbers haven't been there for Raposo this year but that does give him some home run potential if/when he steps up to the plate for the Cardinals.

Defensively Raposo looks to be a solid enough player, albeit with a weak arm as he has only thrown out 16% of attempted base stealers this year.

So that's the profile with Raposo. I will again stress that if you look solely at results, it's exciting to see Raposo on the roster. I don't really care about that, though. He's not likely to play much anyways. It's just cool to see a guy like Raposo get the chance to taste the majors.

Final Thoughts

Debuts are worth celebrating and I sincerely hope that Raposo gets to see the field before Willson Contreras returns to the roster, whether it's a pinch hit at-bat or a late game substitution behind the plate. I don't expect he'll be up in the majors much longer so that likely means that he'll need to get into a game on Sunday or maybe Monday.

For Adam Kloffenstein, his time in the majors was short but he was impressive in his inning of work to set up Ryan Helsley in a close game. His sweeper and changeup give him a pair of quality secondaries and his sinker ticking up to 93 mph might be enough for the pitch to be somewhat effective considering the above average depth of the pitch.

This won't be the only time we see Kloffenstein in the majors. Now it's up to him to prove that he can start, and that will start with him getting better results in Memphis.

Thanks for reading.