St. Louis Cardinals Demote Two Notable Starting Pitchers

With five established veterans ahead of them, the moves are not too unexpected. Nevertheless, two St. Louis Cardinals starting pitchers who had high hopes of making the big league club out of camp have been sent to the minors.

#STLCards have optioned RHP Dakota Hudson and LHP Matthew Liberatore to Triple-A Memphis, per the club.
— John Denton (@JohnDenton555) March 21, 2023

Both Dakota Hudson and Matthew Liberatore will start the year with Triple-A Memphis.

Hudson's demotion is the least surprising. He was coming off a tough 2022 season in which he had a 4.45 ERA and a career-low strikeout rate of 5.0 K/9. He has not had a good spring, to say the least, posting a 6.23 ERA and a 2.42 WHIP in 8.2 innings.

#STLCards manager Oli Marmol said he had a good conversation with Dakota Hudson before the veteran RHP was optioned to Triple-A.

Marmol said the team has given Hudson an action plan to try and increase his velo. Pitching at 89-90 mph, Marmol said, won’t work at the MLB level.
— John Denton (@JohnDenton555) March 21, 2023

Cards manager Oli Marmol said he gave Hudson an "action plan" to increase his velocity. He was sitting at 89-90 mph, which led to his disastrous spring.

As for the rookie Liberatore, he did all he could this spring to convince the Cards that he belonged, posting a stingy 1.80 ERA and 0.80 WHIP in 10 innings. The former first-rounder will now have to bide his time at Triple-A until a need arises in St. Louis.

As noted by Cards beat writer Derrick Goold, these moves also pave the way to reward Jake Woodford for his solid spring (2.04 ERA, 1.02 WHIP) with a spot as a swingman in the bullpen. He also had a 2.23 ERA in a solid 48.1 innings for the Cardinals last season.

Photo: Rich Storry-USA TODAY Sports