Cardinals Select Cade Winquest

The Cardinals announced Thursday that they’ve selected the contract of right-hander Cade Winquest from Triple-A Memphis. Right-hander Peter Strzelecki heads to the 15-day injured list due to extensor inflammation in his right forearm, which opens a spot on the 26-man roster. St. Louis already had an open 40-man roster spot, so no further moves are necessary.

Winquest nearly made his major league debut earlier this season. The Yankees picked him up in last December’s Rule 5 Draft — a rare move for a club that rarely makes Rule 5 selections — and wound up carrying him on their Opening Day roster. However, despite spending more than two weeks on New York’s active roster, the Yankees never plugged him into a game for his big league debut. He was designated for assignment on April 10 and returned to the Cardinals after passing through waivers unclaimed. He’ll now join a 40-man roster without those Rule 5 restrictions (which prevent him from being optioned) and should be in line to make his MLB debut in earnest.

Since being returned to the Cardinals, Winquest has turned 26 years old and has pitched his way onto the big league radar for St. Louis. He’s tossed 39 2/3 innings of relief in Memphis, and although his 4.54 ERA is unspectacular, there’s plenty to like beyond that surface-level mark.

Winquest has had a handful of rocky outings (a pair of three-run hiccups and a four-run meltdown) but is on a roll at the moment, having rattled off 10 1/3 shutout innings with just three hits allowed and a 17-to-5 K/BB ratio along the way. Overall, he’s punched out a gaudy 34.8% of his Triple-A opponents against a solid 8.5% walk rate. The right-hander is also sporting a sizable 51.1% ground-ball rate, which will play well with the Cardinals’ premium infield defense in the long term (although said defense is weakened right now with Masyn Winn on the injured list). He’s sitting 95.2 mph on his four-seamer and 95.6 mph on his sinker, and he’s posted swinging-strike and contact rates that are both comfortably better than the major league average.

Had Winquest not reached the majors again with the Cardinals or another club, he’d have had the strange distinction of being a nominal big leaguer who accrued 19 days of major league service — players receive major league service and salary while in DFA limbo — without ever actually getting into a game. It’s technically still possible that he could hold onto that pseudo-big leaguer status, if the Cardinals option him out and don’t recall him, but in all likelihood he’ll finally make his big league debut in the not-too-distant future.