Cardinals Insider Suggests Controversial Star 'Making A Turnaround'

St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Miles Mikolas came into the season as one of the worst qualified pitchers in baseball and he was getting paid nearly $20 million a year to do it.

Because of this, Cardinals fans were split on the righty with a large chunk of the fanbase holding some disdain for the veteran righty. But he's quietly turned his season around in the best way possible.

The Athletic's Katie Woo recently spoke to the turnaround Mikolas has put together this season, noting how impressive he's been for the last few weeks.

"Mikolas picked up his fourth win of the season Friday night after hurling six innings of one-run ball on 81 pitches," Woo wrote. "It was his second straight quality start and the seventh time in 10 starts when he allowed two runs or fewer. He reached a low point in mid-April after allowing nine runs (eight earned) on 11 hits in 2 2/3 innings of work against the Boston Red Sox.

"Since that start, he’s taken a new approach. After years of crafting an identity as a strike-thrower, Mikolas is trying to throw fewer of them — and it’s working. Since that start against Boston, Mikolas owns a 2.15 ERA. He’s built trust back up with Marmol to start pitching deeper into games. He has reinvented his location and sequencing. As a result, he’s re-emerged as a formidable back-end starting pitcher.

Mikolas' quick turnaround has been huge for the Cardinals. Rather than seeming like an auto-loss every fifth day, the righty has been more than competitive. He routinely keeps the Cardinals in the game and has given them a chance to win nearly every time out.

The Cardinals need this level of play to continue over the next few weeks and into the dog days of summer.