Luke Weaver to Make Major-League Debut on Saturday for St. Louis Cardinals
The St. Louis Cardinals are calling up a highly-regarding pitching prospect to start Saturday, but it might not be the one that everyone expected.
The St. Louis Cardinals made headlines on Tuesday afternoon, announcing the call-up of their top pitching prospect, Alex Reyes, while placing starter Michael Wacha on the DL. While some may have assumed that Reyes, who’s started throughout his minor-league career, would take over Wacha’s spot in the rotation, that won’t be the case, as the 21-year-old will pitch out of the bullpen.
Instead, the Cardinals will purchase the contract of righty Luke Weaver, who will make his MLB debut on Saturday against the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field. The 22-year-old Weaver was the Cardinals’ first-round pick in 2014, and though he’s been extremely effective this season, he’s been about as fast-tracked as a pitcher can possibly get this year.
Weaver, who had never pitched in the upper minors before this season, didn’t make his season debut until June 4 after suffering a broken wrist during spring training.
More from Arch Authority
- St. Louis Cardinals: Randal Grichuk to begin Double-A rehab stint
- John Brebbia deserves a shot as the St. Louis Cardinals’ closer
- St. Louis Cardinals place Randal Grichuk on DL, recall José Martínez
- St. Louis Cardinals release RHP Corey Baker from organization
- St. Louis Cardinals activate Kolten Wong and Kevin Siegrist from DL, option Luke Weaver and Alex Mejia to Triple-A
Through 12 starts at Double-A Springfield, Weaver was very effective, posting a 1.40 ERA with a 0.95 WHIP and .214 opponent batting average. He just made his Triple-A debut on Monday, throwing six shutout innings while allowing two hits and two walks.
Weaver’s been very good this year, but the fact that he’s never really been considered a “game-changing” prospect and yet is debuting in the majors after just 13 appearances in the upper minors might be cause for concern. Even guys like Lucas Giolito, Julio Urias, and Tyler Glasnow, who were considered to be baseball’s best pitching prospects coming into this year, had more time to get seasoned against good competition before ascending to the majors.
Next: Cardinals Call Up Reyes, Put Wacha on DL
It won’t exactly be surprising if Weaver has success on Saturday, considering that he’s been so good every time that he’s pitched this year, but it also wouldn’t be that huge of a surprise if he ended up getting exposed, as he’s pretty obviously exceeded the ETA that even the most optimistic of prognosticators would have labeled him with heading into this season.