In his latest rehab start as he works his way back from a shoulder injury, Cardinals pitching prospect Tekoah Roby completed 1 1/3 innings, allowed three runs, and struck out two batters on Tuesday with Class Low-A Palm Beach.
Roby threw 31 pitches (18 strikes) in the outing, which marked his second start since beginning a rehab assignment on Aug. 28 for a shoulder injury that landed him on the injured list in late May.
The 22-year-old right-hander reached 94.8 mph with his fastball and averaged 92.9 mph with it during Palm Beach’s 5-2 loss to Jupiter. He got six swings-and-misses — three of which came on his curveball — for a 40% whiff rate, per Statcast.
Roby gave up a single and a double to the first two batters he faced to begin the outing. He recorded a swinging strikeout of Carter Johnson then allowed both base runners to score on a single from Fenwick Trimble that had a 104.7 mph exit velocity.
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Following Trimble’s single, Roby retired three of the next four batters he faced before his outing ended with one out in the second inning.
Since beginning his rehab assignment, Roby has totaled 2 1/3 innings and allowed three runs on three hits while recording three strikeouts. After opening the season in Class AA Springfield’s rotation, Roby last pitched in a Class AA game on May 14.
Here are other performances from around the Cardinals farm system:
Left-handed pitcher Zack Thompson, Class AAA Memphis: Thompson recorded his second double-digit strikeout performance of the year with 10 strikeouts in 4 2/3 innings for Memphis during its 13-3 loss to Omaha. Thompson allowed five runs, six hits, and walked five batters in the outing. The left-hander flashed 97.9 mph with his fastball and had two whiffs apiece on his curveball, slider, and forkball. Although Thompson managed to reach the upper 90s mph, Thompson had 11 called strikes and four whiffs on the 53 fastballs he threw. Thompson began his outing by striking out the first four batters he faced and getting the fifth batter he faced to fly out. He worked around a walk and two singles for a scoreless second inning and kept Omaha scoreless in the third. Thompson gave up three runs in the fourth inning on three consecutive two-out singles. He struck out two more batters in the fifth inning but could not escape the inning as he walked two batters and allowed a single. Two of the runners reliever Andre Granillo inherited from Thompson scored on a single from Rodolfo Duran.
Outfielder Joshua Baez, Class Low-A Palm Beach: The 21-year-old went two-for-four with a double and a stolen base during Palm Beach’s win over Jupiter to improve him to a .333 average in 11 games since he was reassigned to Class Low-A. Baez’s double registered a 113.2 mph exit velocity. The former second-round pick from the 2021 MLB draft has produced a .488 on-base percentage in 43 plate appearances for Palm Beach. Baez opened the regular season with Class High-A Peoria but was placed on the development list after he batted .225 with 97 strikeouts in 71 games. He joined Palm Beach’s roster midway through August. He’s struck out nine times and walked eight times for the PB-Cards.
Left-handed pitcher Brycen Mautz, Class High-A Peoria: Mautz rolled his productive August into September by notching a quality start for Peoria. The left-hander kept Lake County hitters to two runs across six innings during Peoria’s 4-3 loss. The outing notched Mautz’s fourth quality start in his last five outings. After ending July with a 5.86 ERA through his first 19 starts of the season, Mautz has posted a 3.19 ERA and struck out 38 batters in his previous five starts. Mautz, a former second-round pick from the 2022 MLB draft, entered Tuesday’s start having kept opposing hitters to a .196 batting average and a .294 slugging percentage through four starts in August. Opposing hitters had batted .291 and slugged .503 against the 23-year-old lefty in his first 19 starts of 2024.