After matching his shortest start of the season, Kyle Leahy is nearing the end of his first season as a starter for the St. Louis Cardinals. Despite early struggles that caused some fans to laughably demand his removal from the rotation, Leahy had the lowest ERA among starters since the All-Star Break with the lightened workload. Had he thrown enough innings to qualify, the righty would sit in the top 20 in all of baseball in ERA.
Even though Leahy (and myself) are bummed out by the truncated appearances,
the strategy makes sense as the 29-year-old looks to be a mainstay in the rotation next season. This season has been similar to that of Andre Pallante’s last season, as the newly formed starter saw his innings jump up after a full-time move from the bullpen. It worked for Pallante, who threw 162.2 innings last season after throwing 121.1 the year before. In his second full year as a starter, Pallante trimmed almost two full points off of his ERA and doubled his win total from 2025.
The 2027 rotation has an early make up of Pallante, Leahy, Quinn Mathews, and then…? Who fills those final two (or three) spots could vary greatly over the next six months. Hunter Dobbins looked to be penciled in but he awaits an update on a forearm issue that landed him on the IL. Matthew Liberatore has a few more starts to work himself back into the conversation, and then there is the rehabbing Richard Fitts to factor in alongside additional prospects or free agent signings.
With that list of possibilities looking uninspiring, the 2027 season could be another year we see a Wainwright/Liberatore/Pallante/Leahy move with one of the Cardinals’ current bullpen options.
Cooper Hjerpe, Gordon Graceffo, others could see a role shift for the Cardinals
In a way to save money as well as work with currently rostered players, the Cardinals have dipped into their reliever talent pool in the hopes of finding a usable major league starter. I know there are other and probably more successful reliever-turned-starter stories than the four I listed above, so feel free to add those to the comments and share your memories. (Braden Looper and sort of Carlos Martinez came to mind immediately after).
As the last month of the 2026 season arrives, the rosters expand and give teams like the Cardinals an opportunity to try out some of their prospects in a lower stress major league environment. The tapering of Leahy’s outings gave me the thought of utilizing Cooper Hjerpe in a mini-Leahy role to close this year before shifting to the bullpen next season. Hjerpe is also having his innings capped after rehabbing most of this season, but he is on the 40-man roster and pitching extremely well in his own short starts in the minors.
Giving Hjerpe his first taste of the bigs in a September of little consequence would be nothing new for the Cardinals. They did the same with Masyn Winn and Jimmy Crooks, who then used their struggles during their brief major league stay to adjust in their second full seasons. For Hjerpe, though, I would see him going back to what we saw Leahy do last year before then making the jump into the rotation.
Hjerpe is at 38 innings (14 starts) after missing time in 2024 and all of the 2025 season and has yet to throw more than five frames in any appearance. However, his workload has trended the opposite direction of Leahy as Hjerpe has been working deeper into games as the season winds down. In September, I would like to see Leahy continue to stick with his five-day routine but have Hjerpe cover the middle innings to get through the games.
Then, in 2027, expecting Hjerpe to go 150 innings would be unrealistic, so I would entertain him being a phenomenal lefty bullpen option that takes a firefighter role like Leahy did in 2025. In that season, Leahy threw 88 innings, giving him a solid starting point for his first season in the rotation. This, to me, would be another way to keep Hjerpe on a pitch count and schedule his usage in his hopeful first full season since becoming a pro. As the Cardinals then return to the World Series in 2028, Hjerpe would be ready for a starter’s workload.
While the lefty Hjerpe works out the bullpen in 2027, the Cardinals still need someone to fill the end of their rotation. After Gordon Graceffo’s stellar three-inning start earlier in the week, there could be some potential for him to enter himself into the rotation conversation coming into Spring Training. Graceffo would be 27-years-old and was a starter until the 2025 season. Out of the bullpen this year, Graceffo has worked 66.1 innings with a sub-3.00 ERA that definitely outpaces what the analytics say.
Leahy had more of the strikeout stuff and high leverage under his belt, but Graceffo’s familiarity with the rotation and deeper arsenal could give him tools to tinker with later in his outings. After Dobbins went to the IL along with Pallante, Graceffo could get another time or two as an opener for a bullpen day while continuing to work in relief during more consistent schedules. The righty averaged nearly a strikeout per inning during his first few years of pro ball as a starter, but has seen that trickle way down to 5.70 K/9 and a tough 4.07 BB/9. Potentially, a more consistent role for Graceffo could get him more comfortable with his pitch mix and we could see both of those numbers trend back towards his career norms.
Alongside those two, the Cardinals could turn to recently promoted Cade Winquest as an internal option. The now-reliever threw over 100 innings as a starter last season but shifted to the bullpen this year, resulting in just 39.2 innings pitched. Winquest made his major league debut in yesterday’s loss against the Pirates and he covered two scoreless innings. He may end up being another long, middle reliever guy Marmol uses to get through the rest of the season. Like Winquest, Brycen Mautz has been a starter and reliever and could work in bulk during September.
Drop in the comments to let me know if any of these guys intrigue you at all. Or let me know if you hate this annual experiment and you want them to either sign free agents or promote prospects.
Thanks as always!
