Cardinals May Have Already Found Next No. 1 Ace For St. Louis

The St. Louis Cardinals entered Spring Training seemingly with a surplus of starting pitching options.

This was a far cry to what the team went through over the last few years. The 2023 season was a disaster and a lack of pitching was a big reason why. That got even more prominent when the team traded Jack Flaherty and Jordan Montgomery away.

The front office went out last offseason and signed Sonny Gray, Lance Lynn, and Kyle Gibson to help fix this issue. The Cardinals' rotation took a step forward last year, but has been significantly better this year.

St. Louis finished with the 20th-ranked starting rotation ERA in 2024 at 4.33. This was a big jump from the 5.08 ERA logged by the team in 2023. Right now, the Cardinals' starting rotation has a 3.70 ERA through 42 appearances.

The starter who has been the best for the organization is somewhat of a surprise. In Spring Training, the expected starters were Sonny Gray, Erick Fedde, Miles Mikolas, Steven Matz, and Andre Pallante. Matthew Liberatore and Michael McGreevy both got a lot of buzz in Spring Training and changed things. McGreevy was the guy talked about the most, but Liberatore was the one who earned a spot in the rotation to kick off the 2025 season. Clearly, the Cardinals' front office made the right call as he has been the team's most dominant starter so far this sesaon.

He's leading the staff with a 3.11 ERA and has a 42-to-7 strikeout-to-walk ratio in 46 1/3 innings pitched in eight starts. His advanced metrics are off the charts as well. He's in the 92nd percentile in pitching run value, 96th percentile in offspeed run value, 94th percentile in walk rate, 79th percentile in expected ERA, and 87th percentile in chase rate among others.

The 2025 season was called a "reset" during the offseason. It was going to be an opportunity to see what the team has in the organization before Chaim Bloom takes over after the season ends. They may have just found the team's next No. 1 ace.