Cardinals Make Drew VerHagen First Post-Lockout Signing

photo: Drew VerHagen (Gary A. Vasquez/USA TODAY Sports)

The St. Louis Cardinals became the first team to sign a player to a major league deal after the lockout when they added free agent right-handed pitcher Drew VerHagen to a two-year deal worth a reported $5.5 million. The pitcher joins St. Louis after a two-year stint in Japan with the Nippon Ham Fighters.

Drew VerHagen

VerHagen is the latest player to join the Cardinals from Asia, joining Seunghwan Oh, who signed in January of 2016, Miles Mikolas, who signed prior to the 2018 season, and Kwang-Hyun Kim, who inked a deal with the Cardinals prior to the 2020 season. All of these signings worked out well for the Cardinals, so it is not surprising to see the organization turn back to the Asian pipeline to fill out the pitching staff.

VerHagen is the second pitcher the Cardinals have signed out of Asia this offseason, joining Aaron Brooks who joined the team on a minor league pact at the end of January.

VerHagen was selected by the Tigers in the fourth round of the 2012 draft and reached  Detroit by the end of the 2014 season. However, he was never able to fully establish himself as he split time between the majors and the minors annually until leaving the Tigers for Japan following the 2019 season.

In 2019, VerHagen’s last major league season, and subsequently, his last year with Baseball Savant data, the right-hander threw a sinker 40% of the time and a slider 30.4% of the time. He also threw a curveball (16.4%) and four-seam fastball (12.6%) to go with a seldom used changeup (0.6%).

If VerHagen operates out of the bullpen, he will probably rely on his sinker/slider combination, but his curveball isn’t bad either.

In an article posted on Fangraphs after the signing, Eric Longenhagen wrote that VerHagen’s fastball was sitting at 94 mph in Japan and touched 99. His fastball averaged 92.9 mph in 2019 before he left for Japan, but in previous years it had risen above 94. While his average fastball velocity may not have changed much, it is impressive that he touched 99. Longenhagen also reported that VerHagen touched 97 mph or above 24 times in 2021. A move to the bullpen could help him break 97 with regularity.

The Cardinals have looked for pitchers who can pitch to contact and utilize the defense and VerHagen certainly fits this bill as a sinker-heavy pitcher who walked 2.7 batters per nine innings in Japan. VerHagen’s strikeout rate ticked upward in Japan to over a batter per inning. The 31-year-old had more success in 2020 (3.22 ERA) than in 2021 (3.80 ERA), but he certainly did not have a bad season last year.

Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) is generally considered to be a step above Triple-A ball but a step below MLB, so even though VerHagen did not dominate, he was a reliable starter in a strong baseball league.

VerHagen averaged over six innings per appearance in 2020. That dropped to under five innings in 2021, but it is unclear if he pitched out of the rotation for the full season or if he had some relief stints. Regardless, he fits what the Cardinals have been looking for as a contact-oriented arm who can cover innings and work out of the rotation or bullpen.

St. Louis’ current rotation has question marks in terms of health and with an abbreviated Spring Training, the Cardinals did a good job  adding someone who can slot into the rotation if needed.

VerHagen signed for less money than Oh, Kim, and Mikolas, and he did not dominate overseas in the same way that these previous signings did. Still, he joins the team with a modest price tag and he could be the next pitcher to jump from Asia to St. Louis and hit the ground running.

Name Foreign ERA Final Foreign Season ERA Total Salary Years Age at Signing
Seung-Hwan Oh 1.81 (KBO+NPB) 2.73 $5.25 million 1 (+ club option) 33
Miles Mikolas 2.34 (NPB) 2.25 $15.5 million 2 29
Kwang-Hyun Kim 3.27 (KBO) 2.51 $8 million 2 31
Drew VerHagen 3.49 (NPB) 3.80 $5.5 million 2 31

In terms of contract size, VerHagen is most similar to Oh. Even though VerHagen had much less success than Oh overseas, he is two years younger, has a history in MLB (even if it’s not great), and can pitch out the rotation. It is not surprising that VerHagen earned less money than Mikolas because Mikolas had much more success in Japan in a similar role. Mikolas was also two years younger when signing with St. Louis.

VerHagen actually compares similarly to Kim. Kim had more success, but the KBO is not generally considered as high quality of a league as the NPB. The two signed at the same age for modest contracts and were both brought in for similar reasons – to provide rotation depth and flexibility.

After the signing of VerHagen, President of Baseball Operations John Mozeliak stated that the 31-year-old would compete for a job in the rotation. Adam Wainwright, Jack Flaherty, and Steven Matz can all be penciled into the rotation, so any competition will likely be against Dakota Hudson and Miles Mikolas, who are certainly the front runners for the last two spots. In fact, it’s unlikely that VerHagen earns a starting role out of camp unless there is a key injury.

Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post Dispatch also reported that the Cardinals are still engaged in the reliever market after the signing of VerHagen, so this may not be the last move the Cardinals make.

The organization’s pitching staff is now a little more crowded and a player like Jake Woodford will now have an extra arm to compete against for a spot in St. Louis to open the season. VerHagen is also out of options so he will need to stay in St. Louis all year or be exposed to waivers. The Cardinals seem to have learned from last season and have made efforts to bolster their pitching depth. VerHagen is the next step in this process, and there could yet be another.

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