photo: Nelfy Ynfante (Alexander Perez/Instagram)
Read why Nelfy Ynfante, an 18-year-old right-hander from the Dominican Summer League, is The Cardinal Nation’s St. Louis Cardinals system July Pitcher of the Month, over five other finalists including top prospects Tink Hence and Brycen Mautz.
This article, culminating in the selection of The Cardinal Nation’s Pitcher of the Month, covers hurlers across all levels of the St. Louis Cardinals minor league system during July 2023.
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 major factors here.
The conclusion is that a relative unknown, Dominican Summer League right-handed pitcher Nelfy Ynfante, is the Cardinal Nation’s Pitcher of the Month for July.
Guidelines
To qualify here, a pitcher must have thrown at least 10 innings during the month. 49 pitchers made this first cut. To reach the list of six finalists, an ERA at or below 2.25 was also required.
The finalists break out into two distinct groups of three: one group below 2.00 and one group above.
The finalists represent five of the six teams in the organization, with only the rookie level Florida Complex League Cardinals not represented. Low-A Peoria led the way with two finalists, while Memphis and Springfield had one-and-a-half each (reflecting an in-month promotion).
All six finalists this month are starters.
Stats
All the stats are included up front, both counting and advanced stats, as they are fully needed to differentiate between several very deserving candidates.
In the following tables, finalists are listed in ascending ERA order.
| Pitcher | Tm | W | L | ERA | G | GS | SV | SVO | IP | H | R | ER | HR | HB | BB | SO | WHIP | AVG |
| Inohan Paniagua | Peo | 0 | 0 | 1.46 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 12.1 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 10 | 0.89 | 0.105 |
| Nelfy Ynfante | DSL | 2 | 0 | 1.59 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 17 | 12 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 18 | 1.00 | 0.200 |
| Hancel Rincon | PB | 2 | 0 | 1.85 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 24.1 | 20 | 5 | 5 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 14 | 0.95 | 0.220 |
| Brycen Mautz | PB | 2 | 1 | 2.05 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 22 | 10 | 5 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 10 | 23 | 0.91 | 0.141 |
| Logan Gragg | Mem/Spr | 4 | 0 | 2.25 | 5 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 24 | 12 | 7 | 6 | 4 | 2 | 7 | 15 | 0.79 | 0.150 |
| Tink Hence | Spr | 2 | 1 | 2.25 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 20 | 14 | 7 | 5 | 3 | 0 | 6 | 20 | 1.00 | 0.189 |
| Pitcher | Team | NP | P/IP | QS | GF | HLD | WP | GO/AO | SO/9 | BB/9 | K/BB | BABIP |
| Inohan Paniagua | Peo | 184 | 14.9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1.7 | 7.3 | 5.1 | 1.4 | 0.143 |
| Nelfy Ynfante | DSL | 121 | 7.1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0.6 | 9.5 | 2.7 | 3.6 | 0.268 |
| Hancel Rincon | PB | 335 | 13.8 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1.2 | 5.2 | 1.1 | 4.7 | 0.247 |
| Brycen Mautz | PB | 331 | 15.1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0.6 | 9.4 | 4.1 | 2.3 | 0.188 |
| Logan Gragg | Mem/Spr | 335 | 13.9 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0.8 | 5.6 | 2.6 | 2.1 | 0.130 |
| Tink Hence | Spr | 312 | 15.6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1.7 | 9.0 | 2.7 | 3.3 | 0.216 |
In addition to their low ERAs, all six finalists impressively allowed just one or fewer baserunners per inning and held opponents to a collective .220 batting average or less. In recent memory, I cannot recall such a strong group from top to bottom.
As we work to separate the finalists, the main decisions up front include how to best evaluate players coming off the injured list as well as teenagers cutting their teeth in rookie ball. This affects the two lowest-ERA pitchers this month.
Based solely on his 1.46 ERA, Inohan Paniagua of the Peoria Chiefs could be the winner. The right-hander has a pedigree, currently ranked as our no. 22 prospect. However, Paniagua is just in his first month of play in 2023, having sat out until now due to injury.
Because he is still building up his workload, Paniagua only averaged three innings per start. Having to face a lineup just once was a clear advantage, but he showed the rust with a high walk rate of 5.1 batters per nine. Further, a .143 BABIP suggests considerable good fortune.
At 23 years of age and in his third year in A-ball, Paniagua needs to make up for lost time. Perhaps he will compete for these honors again in August.
18-year-old Nelfy Ynfante posted the second-lowest ERA among July qualifiers at 1.59. The Dominican Republic native in his second professional season impressed, with the highest strikeout rate among finalists at 9.5 per nine innings and the second-highest K/BB ratio (3.6/1).
What really caught my eye was his amazing efficiency. Ynfante needed an average of just 7.1 pitches per inning to collect each three outs. That is almost half the next best competitor.
Further, Ynfante’s BABIP of .268 was the highest of the finalists and closest to the norm. Bottom line, I see nothing in Ynfante’s July results that should disqualify him from these honors.
But let’s give the other finalists their time in the sun as well.
Hancel Rincon, our no. 46 Cardinals prospect, has been consistently good this season, as evidenced by his selection by the Cardinals organization as their May Pitcher of the Month.
The 21-year-old, who is in his second year at Low-A, is not a strikeout guy, with finalist-low 5.2 Ks per nine in July. He doesn’t beat himself, either, as his walk rate was also lowest at 1.1 per nine. His .220 batting average against was the highest in our group, but it is still strong.
I like Rincon’s results, but I don’t think he surpasses Ynfante.
Next up is the reigning Florida State League Pitcher of the Week, Palm Beach’s Brycen Mautz. His strikeout rate was just a tick below Ynfante’s but the lefty’s walk rate of 4.1 per nine needs attention. His .188 BABIP may not be sustainable.
As Mautz is a top prospect in the system, including no. 10 in our rankings, it would not surprise me to see him named as the organization’s July Pitcher of the Month. However, given the above plus the fact that his ERA was a half run higher than Ynfante, Mautz falls a bit short in our comparison.
Next, we have the curious case of Logan Gragg and his “15 minutes of fame”. Despite a pedestrian season with Springfield, the right-hander was called upon to join Memphis and was with them from July 5-24.
It is debatable which was a bigger surprise – that Gragg dominated Triple-A hitters or that he was returned to Springfield while so hot. Innings in July were needed as a bridge to the trade deadline, but that changed when four starters were assigned to Memphis after having been acquired from the outside.
In 18 innings with the Redbirds, Gragg had a miniscule 0.50 ERA, but back in Double-A, he yielded four long balls in six innings of 7.50 ERA pitching.
Finally, we have the top pitching prospect in the system, Tink Hence. Now in Double-A after his first career in-season promotion, the 20-year-old right-hander continues to pitch solidly. Though Hence did not lead our finalists in any one statistical category, he was among the best in all of them.
Perhaps the most encouraging sign is that Hence is up to averaging five innings per start. In fact, he threw EXACTLY five innings in each of his four July appearances, with his pitch count ranging from 75 to 82. Though Hence’s use remains highly managed, that he is slowly ramping up his workload from the earlier four innings/60 pitches is encouraging.
Update
In sorting the data to select finalists, I initially overlooked one of the top relief performers in the system in July.
Springfield’s Nick Trogrlic-Iverson logged a crisp 0.87 ERA in 10 1/3 July innings. The right-hander allowed just one earned run on five hits and struck out eight, but also walked six batters and five unearned runs crossed the plate during his mound time.
| Pitcher | Tm | W | L | ERA | G | GS | SV | SVO | IP | H | R | ER | HR | HB | BB | SO | WHIP | AVG |
| Nick Trogrlic-Iverson | Spr | 1 | 0 | 0.87 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 10.1 | 5 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 8 | 1.06 | 0.143 |
| Pitcher | Team | NP | P/IP | QS | GF | HLD | WP | GO/AO | SO/9 | BB/9 | K/BB | BABIP |
| Nick Trogrlic-Iverson | Spr | 177 | 17.13 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1.09 | 6.97 | 5.23 | 1.33 | 0.179 |
With this review of all finalists complete, Ynfante remains our winner.
About the winner
Signed on January 15, 2022, Ynfante reportedly received no more than the eighth highest bonus in that year’s Cardinals draft class at $185,000. In his rookie season consisting of eight starts and three relief appearances, he crafted a 1.96 ERA. In his return to the DSL in 2023, Ynfante scuffled to an 8.31 June ERA in five starts prior to his stellar July.
You can read much more about Ynfante and his offerings in this free article.
How did last month’s winners fare?
Reliever Roy Garcia was The Cardinal Nation’s June Pitcher of the Month while the choice of the Cardinals organization was shared by two top prospect hurlers, Hence and Max Rajcic. All have been promoted in the not-too-distant past.
Garcia moved up from Peoria to Springfield on July 7. Before he left the Chiefs, he spun three innings of one-hit ball, during which only an unearned run crossed the plate.
However, against the more experienced hitters of the Texas League, Garcia did not fare quite as well. In 8 2/3 innings, he yielded just five hits and fanned 10, but issued seven walks and was charged with four runs (4.15 ERA).
July was the first full month with Peoria for Rajcic, 21, following his June 26 promotion from Palm Beach. The Cardinal Nation’s 11th-ranked prospect is adjusting to High-A ball with a 4.61 ERA while averaging more than 5 1/3 innings over his first five Midwest League starts.
Related article
The Cardinal Nation July 2023 Player of the Month – Masyn Winn
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