In his second start at the Class AAA level, Cardinals prospect Quinn Mathews allowed two runs, struck out six batters, and walked five in four innings for Memphis during its 8-2 win on Friday over Omaha.
The six strikeouts boosted Mathews’ minor league lead in strikeouts to 193. The five walks matched a season-high for Mathews, who walked five batters on April 5 — the lefty’s first start of his minor league career — with Class Low-A Pam Beach.
The 23-year-old Mathews allowed a solo home run with one out in the second inning on a first-pitch fastball thrown high-and-away to Tyler Gentry. Mathews worked around two walks and a single for a scoreless third inning and followed that with a scoreless fourth where he collected two of his strikeouts.Â
He could not escape the fifth inning.
After a leadoff double from Cam Devanney, Mathews walked John Rave on four pitches and loaded the bases with a walk to Ryan Fitzgerald that signaled the end of the lefty’s outing.
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Left-hander Connor Thomas replaced Mathews. Thomas allowed one run to score on a force out after Gentry grounded out and another run on a sacrifice fly from Nelson Velazquez.
Mathews leaned on his fastball, which touched 95.8 mph, for 42 of the 92 pitches he threw in the outing. He produced a 41% whiff rate and a 32% called strike-plus whiff rate, per Statcast. Five of the 13 swings-and-misses the 23-year-old forced came on his changeup. Four came in his slider.
Through two outings in Class AAA, Mathews has allowed five runs, walked eight, and struck out 13 batters in eight innings. On the year, Mathews has a 2.47 ERA in 134 2/3 innings across four levels of minor league baseball.
Here are other performances from around the Cardinals farm system:
Second baseman Nolan Gorman, Class AAA Memphis: As Memphis’s designated hitter, Gorman went two-for-four with a home run and two RBIs. Gorman’s home run was his fourth in 13 games since he was optioned to the minors. He is batting .224 with a .510 slugging percentage in 54 plate appearances for Memphis. Gorman’s home run on Friday sailed 411 feet to center field and jumped off his bat with a 105.2 mph exit velocity, per Statcast. Gorman has homered in back-to-back games.
Infielder JJ Wetherholt, Class Low-A Palm Beach: The Cardinals’ top pick from this year’s MLB draft went two-for-six with a double and an RBI in Palm Beach’s 9-3 win over Jupiter. Wetherholt’s double was a line drive to left field. His single produced a 101.6 mph exit velocity and drove in a run in the eighth inning to help pad Palm Beach’s lead. The two-hit game was Wetherholt’s sixth multi-hit performance since making his minor league debut following the draft. Wetherholt, 21, has batted .263 with a .377 on-base percentage and a .745 on-base plus slugging percentage (OPS) in 27 Class Low-A games.
Outfielder Joshua Baez, Class Low-A Palm Beach: Baez, the Cardinals’ second-round pick from the 2021 MLB draft, went two-for-four with two doubles, a stolen base, and three RBIs after he entered Palm Beach’s win as a defensive substitution in the second inning. Baez’s doubles improved him to a .311/.436/.400 slash line through 14 games in Class Low-A. The 21-year-old has produced four doubles in 55 plate appearances in Class Low-A after he doubled seven times in 260 plate appearances in Class High-A to begin the year.
Catcher Ryan Campos, Class Low-A Palm Beach: The former fourth-round pick from this year’s MLB draft contributed to Palm Beach’s 16 hits with two of his own that included a double and a single. Campos’s double drove in the second run in the PB-Cards’ win over the Hammerheads. The 21-year-old Campos’s two-hit game was his eighth multi-hit performance in 24 Class Low-A games since making his minor league debut on July 30. Campos is batting .287 with a .360 on-base percentage. He’s struck out 13 times and drawn 11 walks.