Cardinals’ injured reliever is almost ready to return.
In order to strengthen their bullpen, the St. Louis Cardinals acquired reliever Keynan Middleton during the 2024 offseason. But as of yet this season, their new edition hasn’t made an appearance in a game. A injury in his right flexor tendon has kept the pitcher out of action since the beginning of March.
That might, however, soon be changing. According to a May 3 report from MLB.com’s John Denton, the pitcher threw off a mound for the first time on Friday and is ready to make his Cardinals debut soon. Cardinals reliever Keynan Middleton (right flexor tendon strain) will make his mound appearance today after being sidelined since March 3, according to Denton. Before starting a rehab assignment with a minor league team later this month, he will require a few of those sessions.
Keynan Middleton Is Expected to Join the Cardinals Soon
The team had thought that Middleton might be ready by the time the season got underway. When Oliver Marmol, the manager of the Redbirds, addressed his pitcher’s ailment at the time, he stated that the team was being careful. Marmol’s initial statement was, “This will obviously set him back several weeks.” He continued to feel constricted. We tried to move him along, but he simply kept feeling the same way, so we ended up shutting him down.
The St. Louis captain continued, “He was doing a nice job.” “It’s a really good pitch, his changeup. He was doing quite well. We are really confident in this guy. To be honest, we’re quite hopeful about the results because things could have turned out much worse.
It’s generally anticipated that Middleton will start his rehabilitation assignment early the following week after throwing on Friday.
An Important Addition for the Cardinals Was Middleton
The 30-year-old righthander, who split his 2023 season between the Chicago White Sox and New York Yankees, inked a one-year, $6 million contract with the organization. In 50.2 innings pitched last year, he recorded a 3.38 ERA and a 1.24 WHIP.
Following a disappointing 71-91 campaign in which they finished last in the National League Central, the Cards made a major push for pitching during the offseason. That was largely because they didn’t have enough good arms; in 2023, their staff had a 4.79 team ERA. In 2023, the St. Louis bullpen blew 28 saves. Although Keynan Middleton has finished out games in his MLB career, Ryan Helsey has established himself as the closer. At the time of the signing, President of Baseball Operations John Mozeliak said, “We have been focused on acquiring additional proven depth for our bullpen.” “Keynan gives us another solid addition to the bullpen mix with his experience getting outs in the second half of games.”
In addition to Middleton, Miles Mikolas and southpaw Steven Matz were retained by St. Louis, who also added veteran starting pitchers Sonny Gray, Lance Lynn, and Kyle Gibson. But early in the season, Matz and Gray have both struggled with injury.
Notable position players Dylan Carlson, Lars Nootbaar, and Tommy Edman have already missed time due to injury. Marmol has thus been obliged to regularly adjust both his lineup and his rotation.
