Report: St. Louis Cardinals Expected to Call Up Sam Tuivailala for Stretch Run

According to Yahoo! Sports’s Jeff Passan, the St. Louis Cardinals will be calling up young relief pitcher Sam Tuivailala for the stretch run:

The 21-year-old Tuivailala had been pitching with the Triple-A Memphis Redbirds, who were eliminated from postseason action on Saturday. He should join a host of call-ups on Sunday that is also expected to include players like infielder Greg Garcia and reliever Eric Fornataro.

Tuivailala, a converted shortstop, started the season with the Class A Palm Beach Cardinals, passed through Double-A Springfield, and was promoted to Memphis at the end of August. Split between those three levels, he is 2-2 with a 3.15 ERA, a 1.25 WHIP, and a .216 opponent batting average. Most impressively, Tuivailala has an insane 97 strikeouts in just 60 innings, compared to 21 walks.

Tuivailala frequently pumps his fastball up over 100 MPH, and he should add even more power to a hard-throwing bullpen that also possesses flamethrowers like Carlos Martinez, Trevor Rosenthal, and Kevin Siegrist. The Cardinals aren’t exactly in desperate need of pitching with 17 pitchers already on the roster, but with some members of the bullpen experiencing a slight bit of fatigue, expect Tuivailala to pick up a few innings over the next several weeks.