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Welcome to The Write Fielder – a weekly newsletter on baseball and the ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ Cardinals from the Post-Dispatch. Every Friday, lead baseball writer Derrick Goold delivers behind the seams stories straight to your inbox that builds upon the baseball coverage in a city celebrated for its deep roots and deepest fondness for the game.

ROTATION INNOVATION, A THROWBACK

In the conference room he used as a spring training headquarters for all things pitching, Dave Duncan considered a hypothetical.

This was years ago, at least 15, and I was one of two reporters at the table just talking about pitching with a few coaches, including the Cardinals’ pitching coach. Duncan was detailing scenarios a team encounters as it builds a staff during spring training and organizes its depth in the minors. Duncan, now in the team’s Hall of Fame, described a situation where a club has four clear starters, no obvious fifth starter, but a few intriguing arms that could excel in shorter outings, one maybe two times through the order.

The Cardinals’ minor-league system at the time was already using a piggyback model that paired starters, split games, and then flipped the assignments the next time out.

Such a practice in the majors could fry a bullpen and frustrate starters, so Duncan dismissed that and tried to think if there was another alternative, a creative solution.

What he described was a shadow rotation – made of fewer pitchers moving between rotation and bullpen, used as needed.

Sure sounds a lot like what’s happening now.

The Cardinals are about to upshift to a six-man rotation again in the coming week, and they could stick with it through two turns. They’re not alone in proactively adjusting the rotation, inserting a sixth or seventh starter, and doing so to either survive a stretch of consecutive games or proactively protect starters during the season’s most challenging month for pitcher injuries.

“When you look at most big-league teams are starting 12 pitchers on average I think there is real value – well, there’s always value in staying healthy,� Cardinals current pitching coach Dusty Blake told me this past week in Atlanta. “It doesn’t matter how good your stuff is or how hard you throw if you can’t play. Then you’re behind the eight ball.�

The Cardinals are toggling between a five- and six-man rotation based on schedule. Whenever there is a run of games that does not allow for five days between starts, the Cardinals insert Steven Matz. When the schedule would have a starter go seven days between starts, the Cardinals relocate Matz to the bullpen. Here is an example, considering the starting assignments for upcoming games and rest days (in parentheses):

• Friday vs. Milwaukee: Matthew Liberatore (5)

• Saturday vs. Milwaukee: Sonny Gray (5)

• Sunday vs. Milwaukee: Erick Fedde (5)

• Monday at Cincinnati: Andre Pallante (5)

• Tuesday at Cincinnati: Miles Mikolas (5)

• Wednesday at Cincinnati: Liberatore (4) or Matz

• Thursday at Cincinnati: Gray (4) or Liberatore (5)

And so on through the next week.

The Cardinals are going to side with Matz being available in the bullpen this weekend and likely starting Wednesday. That allows the rotation to maintain the schedule that affords five days between starts. Health is the motivation, the purpose, the goal. The Cardinals will not do this all season, Blake said. They’ll move into a more traditional five-man rotation as they emerge from May.

“This is, for me, the most sensitive time,� Blake said.

Through the first 750 games of this season, teams used a total of 184 different starters. Sixteen of the 30 major-league clubs have used six starters in the season’s first month. Twenty-two of the 30 clubs, including all five in the National League Central, have used at least six starters. The Brewers have had 10 different starters in their first 26 games.

There are eight teams yet to use a sixth starter: Rockies, Giants, Padres, Diamondbacks, Phillies, Guardians, Royals, and Angels.

Liberatore’s performance in spring training and the health of the rotation leaving camp in Jupiter, Florida, made it possible for the Cardinals to plot a modified six-man rotation. They discuss many different structures and continue to brainstorm practices.

“Think about it this way,� Blake said. “In any operation you think about what you want the end result to be. Here it’s health. If your thought is, ‘I need to get to work today,’ you shouldn’t just think, ‘I need to hop in my car.’ You’ve got the train. You’ve got Uber. You’ve got other people who are maybe coming in and you can ride with them. You can ride a bike. We should always be thinking about the end results that we want and the number of ways we can get to that.�

That is what Duncan did back in the conference room years ago.

He sought another route to work.

The end result discussed that day was performance – how to take a staff with four starters and get a fifth starter in aggregate. He described a shadow rotation of, say, three pitchers. The four starters would remain on a five-day schedule, and every fifth day one of the relievers would start and another could be available in relief. The matchup would dictate if the spot starter went one time through lineup, or twice. That would keep two viable arms for relief in the other days and not overtax the bullpen. So not quite a piggyback, nor a six-man rotation but something of a hybrid. It’s essentially what Matz is doing on his own – shadowing the rotation for starts when needed and then long relief when there’s a chance to win like Tuesday.

Today’s practice of roster churning with pitchers bouncing to Class AAA and back would only enhance the arms available. Performance TBD.

“He did new school,� Chris Carpenter once told me about Duncan, “just old school.�

Duncan did note that the simpler strategy was just signing a fifth starter.

The Cardinals see this as the essential strategy to protect their five starters.

FROM THE 'PEN

When asked Wednesday about his recent troubles in late innings and allowing two decisive home runs on the road trip, reliever Ryan Fernandez had an interesting on pitching and the constant presence of struggles: “Just being honest with you, I’ve struggled a lot through my career. Really my whole life. I was never a spectacular pitcher my entire life. You learn to deal with the downside of that. Control what you can control. All you can do is come in the next day and show up as the same guy you show up as every other day and do you best to compete.� … The Cardinals and the Athletics, or Sacramento Sub-leasers, are the only teams in the majors without a one-run win so far this season. The Cardinals are 0-5 in one-run games, the A’s 0-4. … Hall of Fame manager Tony La Russa attended Thursday night’s Blues-Winnipeg Game 3. So did Cardinals’ first baseman Willson Contreras. … Here is the list of pitchers who authored four consecutive starts of at least six innings to begin this season: Hunter Brown, Yusei Kikuchi, Mitchell Parker, Bryan Woo, and the Cardinals’ Matthew Liberatore. … Washington’s Parker added a fifth consecutive with eight shutout innings Tuesday against Baltimore. … Like Jordan Walker two seasons ago, fellow Atlanta-area native Victor Scott II had three hits in his first big-league game at Truist Park. And then he had three hits in his second game, too. Scott is the first player since Bobby Witt Jr. to have at least three hits in each of his first games against Atlanta, and while no player did it in three consecutive games, the list of players who did it in the first two games also includes Mookie Betts, Jay Bruce, Nick Markakis, Wee Willie Keeler, and Super Joe McEwing. … Scott has four bunts for singles already this season, and that puts him ahead of 26 teams. The only clubs with more are Miami and Kansas City. Each has five. … Brendan Donovan’s hit collection hit a snag with his displaced rib this past week. He still has time, however, to take a run at the Cardinals’ all-time record for total hits in March and April to begin a season. Paul DeJong set that record in 2019 with 40. Donovan has 32. … In New York, Nolan Arenado played the 1,700th game of his career. He’s one of eight active players with that many. … Cardinals media relations official Chris Tunno dropped this bon mot from Andy Van Slyke into the game notes during the road trip. Van Slyke was asked the difference between playing on the road vs. at home, and he said: “When you go downstairs for coffee in your underwear, they throw you out of the kitchen.� … The Cardinals’ current Defensive Runs Saved leader is left fielder Lars Nootbaar with plus-3. That’s tied with Harrison Bader for the second-most of any left fielders, and they trail Tommy Pham, who is a plus-6 for Pittsburgh. … Ryan Helsley’s 50 saves in his career at Busch are the second-most in the stadium’s history. Trevor Rosenthal leads all closers there with 65 saves. … Signed at the start of the season, Mizzou alum and former Cardinal pitcher Kyle Gibson is expected to make his first major-league start for Baltimore (10-14) imminently, and the Orioles need him. … The most recent Cardinals’ club to start 1-9 on the road was the 1985 team that went 0-2 in New York, 1-2 in Pittsburgh, 0-4 in Montreal and then lost a game to start a series at Dodger Stadium. That loss put the Cardinals at 11-15, their lowest point of the season in relation to .500. They went 90-46 from their to claim the NL East with 101 wins and then the National League pennant before Kansas City yadda yadda first base something something call something in the World Series.

SWEET START FOR HONEYMAN

Bookmark this prospect to watch in coming weeks: Drafted in 2023 but limited to only 20 games in two years by shoulder injury and surgery, outfielder Travis Honeyman is finally set to get his first extended look since joining the Cardinals. Still only 23, Honeyman has a slash line of .467/.529/.700 in his first eight games for the Cardinals’ Low-A Palm Beach team. He’s 14-for-30 to start the year with four extra-base hits and as many walks (three) as strikeouts (three). His bat is and should be above the level, so as he shows health and consistency, he’ll zoom to a promotion.

Honeyman was the Cardinals’ third-round pick in 2023 out of Boston College, and he was the 90th overall selection. :

“Honeyman is a high-contact hitter with an aggressive approach. He sets up with an open stance, starts his swing with a leg kick that squares him off while simultaneously crouching down before firing his hands. He’s geared to handle pitches from the belt down, though he had trouble with pitches at the top of the zone. There’s little swing-and-miss, especially against fastballs, though he walked just 7% of the time and will expand the zone, especially against breaking balls. Honeyman makes hard contact—his exit velocity averaged 89 mph and was up to 109—but he never hit more than six home runs in a season, with nearly all of his extra-base damage coming pull side. … There’s some tweener outfield risk, but a team that either believes in Honeyman as a center fielder or thinks he can unlock more game power could take him in the top three rounds.� 

The potential for a high-average bat that grew into additional power was appealing, and the track record was there. He hit .310 in ACC play as a junior, hit .329 overall as a sophomore, and set a summer league for average. In 2021, Honeyman hit .430 to lead the New England College Baseball League and break a 24-year-old record for highest average. He was the only everyday player to hit .400 in the league that summer. The record was since broken by Sam Mongelli, who hit .440 in 2023 and was drafted that summer in the 10th round by the Dodgers.

A ROCKET REVISITED

Initially, the 105-mph bolt Austin Riley launched to left field against Miles Mikolas on Wednesday was considered a home run in 29 of 30 ballparks, according to Baseball Savant. The data suggested it traveled 388 feet – and yet it was caught by Nootbaar in front of the wall that’s 375 feet away from home plate. What gives? Well, clearly the data had to be reconsidered with the wind blowing in, and it was. . It’s a good reminder for me to revisit data. Regardless, Mikolas believed that it was gone off the bat because of his pitch selection.

He wanted to surprise Riley with a curveball.

“I thought if I threw one right at him he might take it,� Mikolas said. “And I was wrong.�

PAPERCLIPS

• Within this advance of the weekend series against Milwaukee, I casually stump for the Cardinals to invite ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ City SC's Supports Section to the ballpark and let them get rowdy with chants and songs just to see what sticks and invigorates the ballpark. 

• Tom Timmermann, the Post-Dispatch's equivalent of a Gold Glove utility fielder, had the immediate coverage of the Blues' raucous home victory to get back in their playoff series against Winnipeg. 

• Sports columnist Lynn Worthy takes issue with the Marlins plan to take pitch-calling out of the hands (and fingers) of catchers in the minors.

• Can Steven Matz force his way into the rotation? "He's a starter," says manager, but it's not that simple.

• Worthy writes this morning that the Cardinals commitment to youth and development faces its first genuine test now with the struggles of several players.

• The story of the road trip: "Good baseball, until it wasn't."

• The fallout from the road trip: "How do Cardinals find relief?"

• At Baseball Prospectus, . (Subscription required.) In it, Trueblood writes about lineup construction, an overlooked defensive play, and questions the Cardinals' need to have two lefties who profile like John King and JoJo Romero and much more. One thing I'll add, since it comes up: The lengthy pitching change ahead of bringing in Fernandez was indeed to buy time. Just as Oliver Marmol left the dugout the bullpen asked for two more throws from Fernandez before coming into the game. The timing of that ask led to the length of the change. 

• A new Best Podcast in Baseball featuring everyone's second-favorite recurring guest Kevin Wheeler, of KMOX/1120 AM will drop Friday.

COVERING HOME

Every Friday the Cardinals are home, the team’s Hall of Fame and Museum will host an “artifact spotlightâ€� at 4 p.m. ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ time. Fans can get a closer look at the artifact and hear from a staff member about its story and place in Cardinals’ history. Today the artifact is Mark McGwire’s batting helmet. Other upcoming artifacts scheduled for Friday events include Stan Musial’s red jacket (May 2), Bob Gibson’s bronze hand cast (May 23), Yadier Molina’s travel case for baseball bats (June 6), Adam Wainwright’s windbreaker (June 20), and a grain of rice with Ozzie Smith on it (July 11).

ON DECK

The Cardinals host their first division series of the season at Busch Stadium with Milwaukee in town for a three-game homestand. At 13-13, the Brewers are second in the National League Central, 3 games behind the Chicago Cubs. The Brewers average 5.1 runs per game, and that ranks fourth in the majors. Like the Cardinals, they need it. The Brewers' pitching staff has the 13th-highest ERA at 4.14, and the anchor dragging it down is a 5.23 ERA from the bullpen that ranks 28th in the majors. (Milwaukee's rotation in top five.)

This will be each team's second division series of the season.

Milwaukee won a four-game series against Cincinnati, 3-1, and the Cardinals lost a visit to Pittsburgh, 1-2.

After the Brewers, it's the Cardinals' turn to play the Reds in a four-game series, and they'll go back on the road for a quick hop to Cincinnati. And that can mean only one thing. It's Skyline time!

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Write back to you next week.

— Derrick Goold, Post-Dispatch lead baseball writer

Replies to this email will not reach me. If you would like to offer feedback or suggestions for The Write Fielder, please contact me at dgoold@post-dispatch.com.

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