photo: Braden Davis (Brian Walton/The Cardinal Nation)
Promoted to Peoria during July, left-hander Braden Davis had the top overall pitching performance during the month, leading St. Louis’ system in ERA and ranking second in WHIP and strikeout rate.
It is time to select The Cardinal Nation’s July 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 July. Forty-seven pitchers across the system met this bar. To reach the list of seven finalists, an ERA below 2.00 was required. The group consists of five starters and two relievers.
Triple-A Memphis leads the pack with three finalists. Next is Double-A Springfield with two. The two Class-A teams, Palm Beach and Peoria, share one and the Dominican Summer League also has one finalist. The Florida Complex League had no pitchers that met the innings and ERA criteria.
Two finalists posted a July ERA below 1.00 and one other was under 1.50. Two finished exactly at 1.50 and two others were between there and 2.00.
Counting stats
In the following table, the finalists are listed in ascending ERA order.
| Name | Age | Team | G | GS | W | L | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | ERA |
| Braden Davis | 22 | PB/Peo | 5 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 23.2 | 9 | 2 | 2 | 10 | 38 | 0.76 |
| Tekoah Roby | 23 | Mem | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 10 | 11 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 12 | 0.90 |
| Ixan Henderson | 23 | Spr | 4 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 22.1 | 15 | 3 | 3 | 7 | 18 | 1.21 |
| Oddanier Mosqueda | 26 | Mem | 11 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 12 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 12 | 1.50 |
| Aaron Wilkerson | 36 | Mem | 2 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 12 | 8 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 6 | 1.50 |
| Brycen Mautz | 23 | Spr | 5 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 23 | 16 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 28 | 1.57 |
| Hendrick Cana | 17 | DSL | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 14 | 10 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 15 | 1.93 |
The two with July ERAs under 1.00 are Braden Davis (0.72) and Tekoah Roby (0.90). Both were in the headlines last month, though the latter’s news was not good – two starts, then Tommy John surgery. Roby allowed just one earned run last month, but three other unearned scores occurred during his mound time. That and the fact he made just two starts hurt his award chances.
Davis earned a promotion from Low-A Palm Beach to High-A Peoria during July and did not miss a beat.
With a 1.21 ERA and four wins in four outings, Springfield’s Ixan Henderson’s breakout season continued for another month. Next at 1.50 are Memphis teammates reliever Oddanier Mosqueda and 36-year-old starter and system newcomer Aaron Wilkerson.
Our final finalists are Springfield’s Brycen Mautz (1.57) and 17-year-old DSL right-hander Hendrick Cana (1.92).
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 |
| Braden Davis | 0.76 | 41% | 0.80 | 0.225 | 14.5 | 3.8 | 3.8 |
| Tekoah Roby | 0.90 | 52% | 1.30 | 0.407 | 10.8 | 1.8 | 6.0 |
| Ixan Henderson | 1.21 | 41% | 0.99 | 0.233 | 7.3 | 2.8 | 2.6 |
| Oddanier Mosqueda | 1.50 | 54% | 0.67 | 0.120 | 9.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 |
| Aaron Wilkerson | 1.50 | 43% | 1.00 | 0.182 | 4.5 | 3.0 | 1.5 |
| Brycen Mautz | 1.57 | 42% | 0.91 | 0.264 | 11.0 | 2.0 | 5.6 |
| Hendrick Cana | 1.93 | 43% | 1.00 | 0.229 | 9.6 | 2.6 | 3.8 |
Mosqueda (54%) and Roby (52%) are the only finalists who induced ground balls at a higher rate than fly balls. The other five are tightly bunched between a 41% and 43% ground ball rate.
Mosqueda (0.67 WHIP) was the best at keeping runners off the bases, followed by Davis at 0.80. The rest were also solid (0.91 to 1.00), with Roby as the negative outlier at 1.30.
BABIP is where Mosqueda’s candidacy loses steam. His exceptionally low mark of .120 suggests tremendous fortune with batted balls that will not be sustained.
At the other end of the spectrum is Roby’s .407 BABIP, which makes his July results even more exceptional, albeit in the smallest possible sample size of 10 innings pitched (two starts).
Strikeout rate is where Davis really stands out, with a 14.5 per nine innings rate that is usually only the territory of the best relievers. For a starter, this is truly exceptional.
Wilkerson (4.5 K/9) and Henderson (7.3) are the only finalists to fan fewer than a batter per inning.
Roby (1.8 BB/9) and Mautz (2.0 BB/9) were the stingiest in issuing walks among finalists with Davis at the other end (3.8).
Put the two together and Roby and Mautz translate their walk success into the best strikeout to walk ratio at 6.0 and 5.6, respectively. Lowest is Wilkerson at 1.5.
A digression
In the selection process for their own Pitchers of the Month, the Cardinals organization seems to be placing great emphasis on strikeout ratio and strikeout to walk ratio.
With our narrowing of candidates first driven by ERA, however, there are months in which the organization’s choice did not even make our finalist list.
To try to anticipate this, I ran three ratio lists against the entire group of 47 pitchers who threw at least 10 innings in July, regardless of ERA. The ratio lists are strikeout, walk and strikeout-to-walk. I also cite the pitchers’ July ERAs for reference.
For strikeouts, I drew the line at 12 or more K per nine. For walks, 1.8 per nine or fewer. For K/BB, 6:1 or better is listed.
| K/9 sort | Team | K/9 | ERA |
| Roddery Muñoz | Mem | 17.1 | 2.13 |
| Braden Davis | PB/Peo | 14.5 | 0.76 |
| Ronny Oliver | FCL | 14.4 | 4.50 |
| Jesus Garcia | DSL | 13.5 | 4.76 |
| Bernard Mack | FCL | 12.7 | 5.91 |
| Quinn Mathews | Mem | 12.1 | 3.86 |
| BB/9 sort | Team | BB/9 | ERA |
| Tyler Bradt | Peo | 0.8 | 3.00 |
| Pete Hansen | Spr | 0.9 | 3.30 |
| Juan Garcia | DSL | 1.1 | 4.76 |
| Daniel Gomez | DSL | 1.7 | 7.71 |
| Hancel Rincon | Spr | 1.7 | 4.00 |
| Jan Cabrera | DSL | 1.8 | 4.58 |
| Tekoah Roby | Mem | 1.8 | 0.90 |
| K/BB sort | Team | K/BB | ERA |
| Tyler Bradt | Peo | 11.0 | 3.00 |
| Pete Hansen | Spr | 9.7 | 3.30 |
| Roddery Muñoz | Mem | 8.0 | 2.13 |
| Jesus Garcia | DSL | 6.0 | 3.75 |
| Tekoah Roby | Mem | 6.0 | 0.90 |
Non-finalist Roddery Muñoz earned his Friday promotion to the St. Louis bullpen with an exceptional, system-best July strikeout rate of 17.1 per nine. Next is the ERA leader, finalist Davis.
A positive footnote is Quinn Mathews’ 12.1 K/9 rate. However, any excitement should be tempered. Not listed here is his inflated walk rate of 8.3 per nine, which was second highest among all qualified pitchers in the system last month, coupled with reports of diminished velocity.
In walk rate and K/BB ratio, non-finalists dominate, led by Peoria’s Tyler Bradt and Springfield’s Pete Hansen. However, their July ERAs were 3.00 or more, considerably higher than our top finalists’ marks.
My conclusion is that there seem to be no dark horses who might conflict with our choice. Which is…
Back to the decision
When considering all results, Braden Davis is our choice as The Cardinal Nation’s Pitcher of the Month.
During July, Davis led the entire system in ERA and was second in WHIP and strikeout rate.
About the winner
The 22-year-old is an organization bright spot in his first professional season. The left-hander from the University of Oklahoma was selected in the fifth round of the 2024 draft but did not take the field in official game action until this spring.
Once in June and once in July, Davis was named the Florida State League Pitcher of the Week. In 69 innings over 16 appearances, 13 starts with Palm Beach, Davis had a 3.26 ERA (second in the FSL) to go with an impressive and league-leading 97 strikeouts. Less exciting was his 55 walks, though he has improved in that area recently.
Davis was promoted to Peoria on July 16 and actually improved. He has a stellar 1.20 ERA and 21 strikeouts against just five walks in 15 innings over his first three Midwest League starts. This reinforces his selection for July.
Davis is 46th on The Cardinal Nation’s most recent prospect list re-ranking.
How last month’s winners fared
TCN’s choice as June Pitcher of the Month was unconventional, Springfield reliever Ricardo Velez. During July, the right-hander continued to be solid, with a 1.08 ERA. However, because Velez only threw 8 1/3 innings, he did not qualify for our July honors.
The Cardinals organization’s June selection, Hancel Rincon, made five starts for Springfield in July, with a 4.00 ERA. In 27 innings, the right-hander fanned 26 and walked just five. However, Texas League batters hit .296 against him, 90 points higher than his June mark.
Rincon received bad news on the second day of August.
Another starting pitching injury at the high levels of the #stlcards system. The organization's June Pitcher of the Month, RH Hancel Rincon, has been placed on the IL at Double-A Springfield. 3.92 ERA in 19 games including 17 starts. pic.twitter.com/ilYihl38Z6
— Brian Walton (@B_Walton) August 2, 2025
Companion article
Earlier, Memphis shortstop JJ Wetherholt was named the top hitter in the system for the month per The Cardinal Nation. Check out the 22-year-old’s July results and those of our other finalists here:
The Cardinal Nation July 2025 Player of the Month – JJ Wetherholt
What is next?
The Cardinals organization will name their own selections for July Player and Pitcher of the Month in the upcoming days.
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