Mickey Gasper

Mathews was a long shot to make the St. Louis rotation out of spring training, but he is widely considered one of the top pitching prospects in the Cardinals’ system, and he has a good chance of making starts for the team before 2025 comes to a close.

Mathews averaged 94 mph with his four-seam fastball and got multiple whiffs on his elite changeup, including a strikeout of Vladmir Guerrero Jr. It was an impressive outing from Mathews, but the 24-year-old is not on the 40-man roster, and has only thrown 16 2/3 innings at Triple-A, so it seems highly unlikely he breaks camp with the Cardinals. It’s more likely that the Cardinals will start with Erick Fedde, Andre Pallante, and Steven Matz in the rotation and then maybe trade one or more of those guys to free up space for Mathews and Tink Hence over the summer.