photo: Quinn Mathews (Brian Walton/The Cardinal Nation)
Opening his professional career with a bang, Palm Beach left-handed starter Quinn Mathews put together the top overall pitching performance in the St. Louis Cardinals system in April.
It is time to select The Cardinal Nation’s first Pitcher of the Month for 2024. This article covers pitchers across all levels of the St. Louis Cardinals minor league system during April.
As a reminder, this is NOT the “Pitcher of the Month Among Top Prospects”. Every player in the system has an equal chance, with only their performance during the month used to differentiate the best of the best. Age and level, which are key prospect considerations, are not factors here.
Guidelines
To qualify, a pitcher must have thrown at least 10 innings during April. 39 of 64 total pitchers made the first cut. To reach the short list of seven finalists, an ERA below 1.60 was required.
In fact, all seven came in between 0.50 and 0.84 for the month! Any would be an exceptional selection, but the ERA leader was truly dominant.
The finalists represent all four full-season levels of the organization currently playing, from Low-A Palm Beach up through Triple-A Memphis. The Beach Birds lead the pack with three finalists, including the top two in ERA.
Two are starters and five are relievers, including one closer. Unusually, the two starters logged the lowest ERAs.
Counting Stats
In the following table, the finalists are listed in ascending ERA order.
| Pitcher | Tm | W | L | ERA | G | GS | SV | IP | H | R | ER | HR | BB | SO | WHIP |
| Quinn Mathews* | PB | 2 | 0 | 0.50 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 18 | 7 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 9 | 38 | 0.89 |
| Juan Salas | PB | 1 | 0 | 0.53 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 17 | 8 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 23 | 0.71 |
| Nick Raquet* | Spr | 0 | 0 | 0.63 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 14.1 | 8 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 13 | 0.98 |
| Joseph King | Peo | 0 | 0 | 0.77 | 7 | 0 | 4 | 11.2 | 8 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 13 | 0.69 |
| Chris Roycroft | Mem | 0 | 0 | 0.82 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 11 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 9 | 1.00 |
| Ryan Shreve | Spr | 1 | 0 | 0.82 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 11 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 12 | 0.46 |
| Henry Gomez | PB | 1 | 0 | 0.84 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 10.2 | 7 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 9 | 0.94 |
| * left-handed |
OK, you are probably wondering where three of the most talked about pitchers in the system this season are. So, here is the next block of nine pitchers, whose ERAs are between 1.64 and 2.87.
| Pitcher | Tm | W | L | ERA | G | GS | SV | IP | H | R | ER | HR | BB | SO | WHIP |
| Chen-Wei Lin | PB | 2 | 1 | 1.64 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 22 | 13 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 4 | 23 | 0.77 |
| Ettore Giulianelli | PB | 0 | 0 | 1.80 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 12 | 16 | 1.50 |
| Zane Mills | Peo | 3 | 0 | 1.80 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 9 | 1.00 |
| Sem Robberse | Mem | 3 | 0 | 1.82 | 5 | 5 | 0 | 29.2 | 21 | 7 | 6 | 1 | 6 | 29 | 0.91 |
| Tink Hence | Spr | 3 | 0 | 2.10 | 5 | 5 | 0 | 25.2 | 13 | 7 | 6 | 1 | 6 | 31 | 0.74 |
| Connor Thomas* | Mem | 1 | 0 | 2.25 | 12 | 0 | 1 | 20 | 20 | 6 | 5 | 1 | 3 | 21 | 1.15 |
| Cade Winquest | Peo | 0 | 2 | 2.45 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 18.1 | 10 | 5 | 5 | 0 | 11 | 19 | 1.15 |
| Andre Granillo | Spr | 3 | 0 | 2.53 | 8 | 0 | 1 | 10.2 | 8 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 6 | 15 | 1.31 |
| Benjamin Arias | PB | 1 | 0 | 2.87 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 15.2 | 11 | 5 | 5 | 0 | 2 | 13 | 0.83 |
We are not going to mention Chen-Wei Lin, Sem Robberse or Tink Hence (or the other six) again in this article – other than to note that in many months, any of the three could have been our winner. But that is not the case for April 2024.
So, back to the seven finalists.
Despite his exceptionally low ERA of 0.50, Palm Beach’s Quinn Mathews did not initially stand head and shoulders above the other candidates.
Yet, the 23-year-old lefty accomplished that differentiation with his system-leading and amazing 38 strikeouts. Mathews accomplished this in just 18 innings, while several other pitchers were approaching 30 innings and still fell short of his 38 Ks. A bit surprisingly, Mathews was the only finalist with more than one win.
Again, all seven had great results, but especially eye-catching was Peoria closer Joseph King’s no walks in 11 2/3 innings and Springfield’s Ryan Shreve’s three hits allowed in 11 innings and minuscule 0.46 WHIP. King also converted four saves in five opportunities.
Advanced stats
Here are additional statistics from the seven finalists in the same ascending ERA sequence.
| Pitcher | IP | K/9 | BB/9 | K/BB | BAA | BABIP | WHIP | ERA | FIP |
| Quinn Mathews* | 18.0 | 19.0 | 4.5 | 4.2 | 0.115 | 0.273 | 0.89 | 0.50 | 1.77 |
| Juan Salas | 17.0 | 12.2 | 2.1 | 5.8 | 0.184 | 0.260 | 0.71 | 0.53 | 2.84 |
| Nick Raquet* | 14.1 | 8.2 | 3.8 | 2.2 | 0.185 | 0.256 | 0.98 | 0.63 | 3.05 |
| Joseph King | 11.2 | 10.0 | 0.0 | 0.190 | 0.276 | 0.69 | 0.77 | 1.58 | |
| Chris Roycroft | 11.0 | 7.4 | 4.1 | 1.8 | 0.186 | 0.212 | 1.00 | 0.82 | 4.76 |
| Ryan Shreve | 11.0 | 9.8 | 1.6 | 6.0 | 0.081 | 0.083 | 0.46 | 0.82 | 3.16 |
| Henry Gomez | 10.2 | 7.6 | 2.5 | 3.0 | 0.171 | 0.219 | 0.94 | 0.84 | 3.04 |
| * left-handed |
Mathews, Salas and King led the strikeout parade, with the former’s 19.0 Ks per nine innings almost unheard of, especially for a starter.
After King, Shreve and Juan Salas of Palm Beach were stingiest with free passes, at 1.6 per nine innings and 2.1, respectively.
Putting aside King’s infinite strikeout to walk ratio, Shreve, Salas and Mathews come in next at 6.0, 5.8 and 4.2 per nine, respectively.
All seven pitchers held opposing hitters to a collective batting average under .200, but Shreve (.081) and Mathews (.115) were the clear best of the best.
BABIP (Batting Average on Balls In Play) is where Shreve’s candidacy loses steam. His amazingly low .083 mark suggests considerable good fortune that should balance out over time.
The two highest BABIPs are King at .276 and Mathews at .273. Both are a tad lower than average, but not enough to put their overall April performances into question, as it does for several others.
FIP or Fielding Independent Pitching again singles out King (1.58) and Mathews (1.77) as the only two of the seven coming in under 2.00.
When considering all results, system-wide ERA and strikeout leader Mathews is the choice as The Cardinal Nation’s April Pitcher of the Month.
About the winner
Mathews played four years at Stanford University and was used to pitching in big games, including three consecutive years in the College World Series and performing well in the Cape Cod League.
Despite his success, the 6-foot-5 left-hander, ranked as the no. 86 draft-eligible prospect by MLB Pipeline, was still available when the Cardinals’ turn came in the fourth round at no. 122 overall. A very heavy collegiate pitching workload, including a 156-pitch outing that spring, may have been one reason.
With four effective pitches and strikeout stuff, Matthews was the first arm taken by St. Louis in the 2023 draft, after two outfielders (and a forfeited pick). However, likely because of Matthews’ spring workload, the Cardinals held off his professional debut until 2024. Primarily for the reason, he debuted at a relatively conservative no. 24 on The Cardinal Nation’s 2024 prospect list.
The 23-year-old came out with guns blazing, twice earning Florida State League Pitcher of the Week honors in April. Mathews should be earning his way to the High-A Midwest League soon.
Significantly more background on Mathews is available here for members of The Cardinal Nation:
What is next?
Next, The Cardinal Nation will announce our Player of the Month for April across the system. The Cardinals organization should also name their own selections in the upcoming days.
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