The Cardinals announced that they have placed right-hander Andre Pallante on the 15-day injured list with elbow inflammation, retroactive to August 18. Fellow righty Ryan Fernandez has been recalled to take his place on the roster. Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch first reported the news and added that left-hander Quinn Mathews will take Pallante’s rotation spot and start Saturday’s game.
Remarkably, this is the first notable injury for the St. Louis rotation this year and actually in almost two years. Per Jeff Jones of the Belleville News-Democrat, the last Cardinal starter to go on the IL with an arm issue was Sonny Gray in September of 2024.
Through this year’s trade deadline, each of Pallante, Dustin May, Matthew Liberatore, Kyle Leahy and Michael McGreevy made at least 21 starts. Hunter Dobbins made a few spots starts in there and Mathews made one as well but the main quintet was otherwise consistent. May was traded to the Brewers at the deadline, which opened a more permanent spot for Dobbins.
This Pallante injury will open up a spot for Mathews, but perhaps not for long. Per Goold, Pallante has no structural damage in his elbow and the Cards expect a minimal stint. Since the IL stint has been backdated by three days, he might only miss two or three turns.
Regardless, it’s a potentially notable absence. Though the Cards are clearly in a retooling/evaluation year, they are firmly in the National League playoff picture, currently just 2.5 games out of a playoff spot. With barely a month left in the season, the importance of each game will be magnified.
Pallante has played his part in keeping the Cards in it. He has made 24 starts this year, allowing 3.57 earned runs per nine innings. His 17.2% strikeout rate is subpar but his 7.3% walk rate and 54.5% ground ball rate are both strong figures.
Mathews will do his best to fill Pallante’s spot without a notable downgrade in quality, though his performance will undoubtedly have a different shape. He has just two big league starts under his belt so far, allowing three earned runs in nine innings. In 21 Triple-A starts this year, he has a 3.27 ERA. He has struck out 29.2% of batters faced, far higher than Pallante’s work this year, but Mathews has also walked 14.8% of opponents. His 46.8% ground ball rate is good but notably below Pallante’s rate.
Photo courtesy of Katie Stratman, Imagn Images
