photo: Michael Watson (P.J. Maigi/Springfield Cardinals)
Springfield reliever Michael Watson had the top overall pitching performance in the St. Louis Cardinals organization during August, leading in in strikeout to walk ratio (tied), second in ERA, WHIP and strikeout rate (tied), third in walk rate and tied for second in the system in saves.
It is time to select The Cardinal Nation’s August 2025 Pitcher of the Month. This article covers pitchers across all levels of the St. Louis Cardinals minor league system during the period.
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 primary factors here.
Guidelines
To qualify, a pitcher must have thrown at least 10 innings during August. Fifty-two pitchers across the system met this bar.
Normally, an ERA below 2.00 is required to become a finalist. However, only five pitchers would have qualified, including just one starter who is on a limited pitch count.
So, to be more inclusive, I raised this month’s bar to ERAs under 2.40. That added six names for a total of 11 finalists. The group consists of four starters and seven relievers.
Playoff bound Springfield leads the pack with five finalists, including reliever Hunter Hayes, who made all but one August appearance at Double-A. Next is Triple-A Memphis and Low-A Palm Beach with two apiece. High-A Peoria and the Dominican Summer League had one finalist each. The Florida Complex League season concluded in July.
The finalists broke out into three groupings. Three pitchers posted an August ERA below 1.00 with no one else under 1.50. Two finished between 1.50 and 1.61 and the other six were between 2.03 and 2.32.
Counting stats
Finalists are listed in ascending ERA order.
| Name | Age | Team | G | GS | W | L | SV | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | ERA |
| Mason Burns | 23 | Peoria | 9 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 13.3 | 6 | 4 | 1 | 5 | 12 | 0.68 |
| Michael Watson | 23 | Springfield | 9 | 0 | 3 | 13 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 16 | 0.69 | ||
| Tyler Van Dyke | 21 | Palm Beach | 4 | 4 | 11.7 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 8 | 0.77 | |||
| Tyler Bradt | 24 | Springfield | 8 | 1 | 1 | 12 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 7 | 8 | 1.50 | ||
| Nelfy Ynfante | 20 | Palm Beach | 5 | 5 | 1 | 2 | 22.3 | 24 | 7 | 4 | 8 | 27 | 1.61 | |
| Zack Weiss | 33 | Memphis | 8 | 0 | 1 | 13.3 | 11 | 3 | 3 | 5 | 15 | 2.03 | ||
| Hunter Hayes | 24 | Peoria/Spr. | 7 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 13.3 | 10 | 3 | 3 | 5 | 11 | 2.03 | |
| Gabriel Chinchilla | 18 | DSL | 3 | 1 | 3 | 13 | 9 | 3 | 3 | 7 | 16 | 2.08 | ||
| Ricardo Velez | 26 | Springfield | 7 | 1 | 1 | 13 | 10 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 16 | 2.08 | ||
| Quinn Mathews | 24 | Memphis | 6 | 6 | 2 | 1 | 31.7 | 22 | 8 | 8 | 13 | 41 | 2.27 | |
| Brycen Mautz | 23 | Springfield | 6 | 6 | 4 | 1 | 31 | 23 | 9 | 8 | 9 | 33 | 2.32 |
The three with August ERAs under 1.00 are Mason Burns (0.68), Michael Watson (0.69) and Ty Van Dyke (0.77). The first two are relievers, at Peoria and Springfield, respectively.
The latter, Van Dyke, was St. Louis’ 10th round selection in the 2025 draft. He is the only pitcher from his Cardinals class regularly throwing multiple innings, averaging just under three per start for Palm Beach. His August inning total is comparable to bullpen finalists and lowest among our group of 11.
In the 1.50 to 1.61 range are Springfield reliever Tyler Bradt and Palm Beach starter Nelfy Ynfante.
The above-2.00 ERA finalists begin with Memphis bullpenner Zack Weiss and Hayes (both 2.03), followed by Gabriel Chinchilla from the DSL and Ricardo Velez (both 2.08). The group concludes with two prominent starters, Memphis’ Quinn Mathews (2.27) and Springfield’s Brycen Mautz (2.33).
Rate stats
Here are additional statistics from the finalists in the same ascending ERA sequence.
| Name | ERA | GB/FB | WHIP | BAbip | K/9 | BB/9 | K/BB |
| Mason Burns | 0.68 | 42% | 0.83 | 0.176 | 8.1 | 3.4 | 2.4 |
| Michael Watson | 0.69 | 41% | 0.77 | 0.207 | 11.1 | 2.8 | 4.0 |
| Tyler Van Dyke | 0.77 | 35% | 0.60 | 0.161 | 6.2 | 1.5 | 4.0 |
| Tyler Bradt | 1.50 | 29% | 1.00 | 0.133 | 6.0 | 5.3 | 1.1 |
| Nelfy Ynfante | 1.61 | 43% | 1.43 | 0.383 | 10.9 | 3.2 | 3.4 |
| Zack Weiss | 2.03 | 41% | 1.20 | 0.324 | 10.1 | 3.4 | 3.0 |
| Hunter Hayes | 2.03 | 32% | 1.13 | 0.270 | 7.4 | 3.4 | 2.2 |
| Gabriel Chinchilla | 2.08 | 60% | 1.23 | 0.300 | 11.1 | 4.8 | 2.3 |
| Ricardo Velez | 2.08 | 52% | 1.15 | 0.300 | 11.1 | 3.5 | 3.2 |
| Quinn Mathews | 2.27 | 43% | 1.11 | 0.278 | 11.7 | 3.7 | 3.2 |
| Brycen Mautz | 2.32 | 49% | 1.03 | 0.266 | 9.6 | 2.6 | 3.7 |
Chinchilla (60%) and Velez (52% and our June winner) are the only finalists who induced ground balls at a higher rate than fly balls. Five others are tightly clustered between a 41% and 43% ground ball to fly ball rate. The two Tylers, Bradt and Van Dyke, were the lowest at just 29% and 35%, respectively.
In his favor, however, was Van Dyke’s finalist-low WHIP at 0.60. Also among the best at keeping runners off the bases were Watson and Burns at 0.77 and 0.83. The rest were solid (1.00 to 1.23), with Ynfante as the negative outlier at 1.43.
In BABIP, Ynfante was by far the unluckiest at .383, with the four finalists with the lowest ERA all posting very low BABIPs under .207. That suggests fortune with batted balls that may not be sustained.
In the selection process for their own Pitcher of the Month, the Cardinals organization seems to place great emphasis on strikeout rate and strikeout to walk ratio.
Strikeout rate breaks out into three clusters. Six are between 10.9 and 11.7 per nine innings. Four others are in the range of 6.0 to 8.1. One, Mautz, is at 9.6.
At the top is Mathews (11.7), with Watson, Chinchilla and Velez next at 11.1 strikeouts per nine.
The Tylers (6.0 and 6.2), Hayes (7.4) and Burns (8.1) are the finalists to fan fewer than a batter per inning.
Van Dyke (1.5 BB/9) was the stingiest in issuing walks among finalists by a considerable margin, with Mautz (2.6) and Watson next (2.8). Bradt (5.0), Chinchilla (4.8) and Mathews (3.7) issued free passes at the highest rate.
Put the two measures together and Watson (K) and Van Dyke (BB) both reached a finalist-best 4.0 strikeout to walk rate in opposite ways. Next are Mautz and 3.7 and Ynfante at 3.4. Lowest was Bradt at 1.1.
The selection
As in past months, a key decision is whether to take the best numbers even though they are from a reliever or make accommodations to select a starter. This month, I felt the ERA gap was too large when supported by strikeout and walk rates.
Considering all results, Michael Watson is our choice as The Cardinal Nation’s Pitcher of the Month.
During August, Watson was first in strikeout to walk ratio (tied), second in ERA, WHIP and strikeout rate (tied), third in walk rate and tied for second in the system in saves.
About the winner
The 23-year-old left-hander has been a tremendous find as an undrafted free agent from Sam Houston State in 2024 who briefly pitched in independent ball between the college season and signing.
Promoted twice in 2025, Watson is excelling at Double-A in his first full professional season, but is not a flash in the pan.
To begin his Cardinals stint in 2024, after posting an ERA of 0.68 with Palm Beach, Watson was named The Cardinal Nation’s Rookie Pitcher of the Year.
Just two weeks into the 2025 schedule, Watson earned a promotion to High-A Peoria. After holding Midwest League hitters to a .164 average, he received his second move upward, joining Springfield in mid-July. That means Watson’s excellent August was his first full month pitching at Double-A.
Often called upon in late innings, Watson relies more on a low arm slot and run than velocity (low 90s), but he has always racked up the strikeouts.
For Peoria, he fanned 9.7 per nine to go with a 2-1 record, two holds and three saves in four chances in 22 appearances. In 14 outings with Springfield, Watson has a 12.3 K per nine rate, an 0-1 record, one hold and is also 3-for-4 in save opportunities.
Michael Watson fired a season-high 92.1 mph on his heater to strike out the side.
Watson was a UDFA pickup this year for the Cardinals and has been fantastic so far. His fastball generates 16" of ride from a 5.1' vertical release. pic.twitter.com/IcFO7uxqFd
— Kareem Haq (@KareemSSN) September 6, 2024
Watson is 38th on The Cardinal Nation’s most recent prospect list re-ranking.
How last month’s winner fared this month
The choice of July Pitcher of the Month by both The Cardinal Nation and the Cardinals organization was Peoria starting pitcher Braden Davis.
During August, the left-hander continued to be solid, with a 2.63 ERA and 12 strikeouts per nine innings, but Davis also walked 6.4 batters per nine.
Companion article
Earlier, Palm Beach catcher Rainiel Rodriguez was named the top hitter in the system for the month per The Cardinal Nation. Check out the 18-year-old’s August results and those of our other finalists here:
The Cardinal Nation August 2025 Player of the Month – Rainiel Rodriguez
What is next?
The Cardinals organization will name their own selections for August Player and Pitcher of the Month in the upcoming days.
Now 20% off – 2025 Cardinals Prospect Guide
The Cardinal Nation Prospect Guide is back for its eighth year. It includes 256 pages of in-depth commentary about the very best St. Louis Cardinals minor leaguers, including dozens of all-new player scouting reports. Order your PDF or spiral-bound printed book copy today, with the latter on closeout for 20% off!
All paid members can purchase our Prospect Guide PDF at 50% off. Thank you for your support of The Cardinal Nation!
Exclusively for members of The Cardinal Nation
Not yet a member?
Subscribe to The Cardinal Nation for the most comprehensive coverage of the St. Louis Cardinals from the majors through the entire minor league system.
Brian Walton can be reached via email at brian@thecardinalnation.com. Follow Brian and The Cardinal Nation on X/Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and Bluesky.
© 2025 The Cardinal Nation, thecardinalnation.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.