For the second consecutive month, DSL right-hander Keiverson Ramirez posted the top overall pitching performance in the St. Louis Cardinals system. The 18-year-old’s July results are compared to seven other finalists with ERAs under 2.50 plus Top 10 prospects.
This article details the selection process for The Cardinal Nation’s Pitcher of the Month for July 2024. Pitchers across all levels of the St. Louis Cardinals minor league system, including the two rookie-level Complex League teams, are eligible.
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 against their league peers 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 the minor league minimum of 0.8 innings per team game. At the top end, Memphis played 23 games in July. At the rookie ball end, the Dominican Summer League played 18 and the Florida Complex League finished the season with 13 July contests.
So, we will use the following bars for pitchers – 18 1/3 innings for the full-season teams, 14 1/3 for the DSL and 10 1/3 for the FSL.
Across the system, only 24 pitchers made the innings-pitched cut. Oddly, Memphis had just three pitchers who reached the minimum, tied with the DSL for fewest in July. A factor is the number of callups of hurlers to St. Louis during the month, which ultimately is why the minor leagues exist.
To reach the short list of eight finalists, an ERA below 2.50 was required. That bar is much higher than in many months, necessary to get a good finalist pool.
The finalists represent just two of four full-season levels of the organization plus both the rookie level Florida Complex League and Dominican Summer League. Double-A Springfield (for the second straight month) and Triple-A Memphis were shut out despite having eight pitchers between them who made the innings cutoff.
Low-A Palm Beach leads the pack with three finalists, with the two rookie-levels supplying two finalists each. The other finalist calls High-A Peoria home. All eight are starters.
Counting Stats
In the following table, the finalists are listed in ascending ERA order.
| July Pitcher | Tm | W | L | ERA | G | GS | SV | IP | H | R | ER | HR | BB | SO |
| Keiverson Ramirez | DSL | 3 | 1 | 0.45 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 20 | 11 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 19 |
| Jose Davila | PB | 1 | 0 | 0.72 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 25 | 13 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 8 | 33 |
| Jason Savacool | PB | 2 | 0 | 0.75 | 5 | 4 | 0 | 24 | 14 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 6 | 15 |
| Ixan Henderson | PB | 2 | 0 | 0.86 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 21 | 11 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 6 | 15 |
| Andrew Bolivar | DSL | 0 | 0 | 1.45 | 5 | 4 | 0 | 18.2 | 11 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 4 | 29 |
| Yordy Herrera | FCL | 2 | 1 | 2.25 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 12 | 9 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 7 | 21 |
| Pete Hansen | Peo | 3 | 0 | 2.35 | 5 | 5 | 0 | 30.2 | 25 | 8 | 8 | 5 | 5 | 37 |
| Ronny Oliver | FCL | 1 | 1 | 2.45 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 14.2 | 7 | 6 | 4 | 0 | 7 | 11 |
Four of the finalists compiled an exceptional ERA of under 1.00, with just one other in the wide range from 0.86 to 2.25. The final three land between 2.25 and 2.48 but are realistically too far behind the others to win.
Just as was the case with our July Player of the Month, we are faced with the dilemma of whether to consider rookie pitchers alongside the others. Our view is that all players are competing to the best of their ability against their peers and as such, good results deserve to be recognized, regardless of the level.
Making matters even more interesting is that our June Pitcher of the Month, DSL right-hander Keiverson Ramirez, is once again atop the ERA leaderboard in July.
The Palm Beach rotation trio of Jose Davila, Jason Savacool and Ixan Henderson each have a case to be made. The former’s total of 33 strikeouts is eye-catching, while the lines of the latter two being so close that it would be difficult to choose between them.
Advanced stats
Here are additional statistics from the finalists in the same ascending ERA sequence.
| July Pitcher | IP | K/9 | BB/9 | K/BB | BAA | BABIP | WHIP | ERA |
| Keiverson Ramirez | 20 | 8.6 | 0.5 | 19.0 | 0.153 | 0.208 | 0.60 | 0.45 |
| Jose Davila | 25 | 11.9 | 2.9 | 4.1 | 0.157 | 0.260 | 0.84 | 0.72 |
| Jason Savacool | 24 | 5.6 | 2.3 | 2.5 | 0.171 | 0.209 | 0.83 | 0.75 |
| Ixan Henderson | 21 | 6.4 | 2.6 | 2.5 | 0.149 | 0.172 | 0.81 | 0.86 |
| Andrew Bolivar | 18.2 | 14.0 | 1.9 | 7.3 | 0.164 | 0.289 | 0.80 | 1.45 |
| Yordy Herrera | 12 | 15.8 | 5.3 | 3.0 | 0.209 | 0.409 | 1.33 | 2.25 |
| Pete Hansen | 30.2 | 10.9 | 1.5 | 7.4 | 0.216 | 0.270 | 0.98 | 2.35 |
| Ronny Oliver | 14.2 | 6.8 | 4.3 | 1.6 | 0.140 | 0.179 | 0.95 | 2.45 |
The strikeout rates of rookie-ball pitchers Yordy Herrera (FCL) and Andrew Bolivar (DSL) are very impressive at 15.8 and 14.0 per nine innings, respectively. Also fanning hitters at a rate greater than one per inning are Davila and Peoria’s Pete Hansen.
At the other end of the list, Savacool, Henderson and Oliver all had strikeout rates under seven per nine.
Herrera also led in walk rate, at 5.3 per nine, but this is a stat that pitchers want to minimize. His FCL teammate Ronny Oliver has the same challenge at 4.9.
At the other end of the free pass spectrum is Ramirez, who issued just one all month for a minuscule rate of 0.5 per nine. Exceptional control is even more unusual for a rookie ball hurler.
Put the two together and Ramirez’ strikeout to walk ratio of 19 is unheard of. Also very worthy of mention are the 2022 third-rounder Hansen at 7.4 and Bolivar at 7.3. Oliver at just 1.6 pulled up the rear.
However, Oliver led the finalists in batting average against at a stingy .140, with Henderson (.149), Ramirez (.153) and Davila (.157) right behind. Even the “worst” of the finalists, Hansen at .216, was very good.
In BABIP (batting average on balls in play), Herrera’s .409 really stands out. How could he put together the kind of results he did is amazing to me.
The sub-.180 BABIPs of Henderson and Oliver suggest a high level of good fortune on batted balls. To a slightly lesser extent, the same could be said for Ramirez (.208) and Savacool (.209).
Among the top tier of finalists, Davila’s .260 is closest to being reasonable.
Driven by his low, low walk rate, Ramirez’ WHIP of 0.60 is the best of the group by far, with Bolivar next at 0.80. All finalists were good, coming in under 1.00, except for Herrera at 1.33.
While the rate of baserunners allowed alone (with WHIP as a surrogate) is not a deciding factor, Ramirez’ dominance in this category suggests that his ERA leadership is not a fluke.
If I was trying to share the wealth, I would give the award to Davila. And he might win the organization’s corresponding honors. But his numbers in any category other than strikeout rate simply aren’t the best in the system.
For the second consecutive month, Ramirez’ name was mentioned from the very start and was repeated often. Others also have their high points, but Ramirez has no real weakness (other than BABIP, perhaps) and no other finalist was able to overcome his lowest ERA, WHIP, walk rate and highest strikeout to walk ratio.
When considering all the results, Ramirez is The Cardinal Nation’s July Pitcher of the Month, a rare, but deserving repeater.
About the winner
Ramirez, 18, is a second-year DSL starter, after being a January 15 signing for $75,000 from Venezuela in 2023. Last season, the right-hander logged a 4.31 ERA in 39 2/3 innings.
Returning to the DSL in 2024, Ramirez began with two four-inning starts and followed with a pair of five-inning appearances. He allowed three runs, two earned, in his second start with the other three outings scoreless.
This season, the tall and slender Ramirez (6-foot-1, 170 pounds, up from 155 at signing) has been very strong against right-handed batters (.171 BAA) as well as versus lefties (.214) and has yet to give up a home run this season (in 38 innings pitched).
Baseball America praised Ramirez’ simple, low-effort delivery that leads to his plus control. Pre-signing, his fastball touched 90 mph with projection for more velocity, and he also throws a slider and changeup.
One could argue that if he was assigned to a US-based team, Ramirez would have been promoted by now. However, not only would it be a much greater logistical challenge to come from the Dominican to the States in-season, but the season of the FCL (the next step up) has already concluded.
If Ramirez isn’t invited to US spring training in 2025, however, something would be very wrong.
Top 10 prospects in July
Here is how Top 10 organizational pitching prospects per The Cardinal Nation fared in July. None of the five was a finalist for our Pitcher of the Month honors, but then again, only one of them was healthy.
#2 Tink Hence (Springfield) – The right-hander threw just three innings in June and only 1 2/3 frames at the very tail end of July. The 20-year-old has a lot of catching up to do.
#3 Tekoah Roby (Springfield IL) – Roby has reportedly has not thrown since being placed on the injured list on May 27.
#4 Quinn Mathews (Springfield) – The lefty finished his first full month at Double-A with a 5.06 ERA in four starts. In the process, the fast riser experienced his first career difficulty, including a six-run start on July 12.
#5 Cooper Hjerpe (Springfield IL) – Twice the Texas League Pitcher of the Week in June, the lefty threw just two innings in July before going on the injured list.
#10 Sem Robberse (Memphis IL) – The right-hander did not pitch all month.
June’s winners in July
There is nothing more to say about The Cardinal Nation’s June winner, since Ramirez repeated.
Instead, the Cardinals organization selected Mathews as their June Pitcher of the Month. Since his July results are documented above, this section is complete.
What is next?
Next, The Cardinal Nation will share some observations about July results by other pitchers not mentioned here. The Cardinals organization should name their own selections of Player and Pitcher of the Month in the upcoming days, as well.
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The Cardinal Nation July 2024 Player of the Month – Rainiel Rodriguez
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