Dusty Blake Shares High Praise, Respect For Cardinals' Ace

The St. Louis Cardinals opted to transition bullpen arm Matthew Liberatore to a starting pitcher this season. Before this year, Liberatore had started 24 games while appearing in 67 games out of the bullpen.

Since moving him to the rotation, the lefty has been excellent, gaining the respect of nearly everybody in St. Louis along the way.

Cardinals' pitching coach Dusty Blake is one of the many who have shared their praise and respect for Liberatore and his attitude this season.

“He has the mentality where he thinks every moment I’m either going to do something great, or I’m going to be better because I experienced it,” Blake said, via The Athletic's Katie Woo. “He’s certainly shown his stuff, velocity, command and mentality to be a starter. It’s hard to demonstrate that with the flex role he was in last year and with the limited experience he has up here. For a younger guy, I don’t know how many guys would excel in that role.

“But he still grew from those experiences. And it feels like he gets better as he gets more opportunities. He’s intuitive, he studies the game, he knows himself.”

On the season, Liberatore has made nine starts and covered 52 1/3 innings with a sub-3.00 ERA. He's allowed two or less runs in seven of his nine appearances, seven in a row.

He's gutting out close wins, like his 2-1 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates earlier this month and his gutsy 3-2 win over the Milwaukee Brewers in April.

The lefty has flourished in his new role. The Cardinals have already taken notice and the entire league will shortly follow.