Hunter

Dobbins

Dobbins returns to St. Louis’ pitching mix after spending a couple days back in the minors. The 26-year-old righty has looked sharp in a handful of recent appearances and will occupy a swingman-type role for the final two months of the season. There’s some streaming appeal when Dobbins gets the ball against weaker lineups, but he doesn’t offer stratospheric strikeout upside.

It’s perplexing why the Cardinals don’t just stick Dobbins in the rotation and leave him there. The 26-year-old allowed four runs over 5 1/3 innings during a bulk relief outing on Monday after shutting out the Angels for six frames last week in a traditional start. The move allows St. Louis to bring up some relief help since Dobbins wouldn’t have been available to pitch again until later this week. He’ll probably return at some point after the trade deadline.

Dobbins did a little better than Liberatore, who allowed three runs in 3 2/3 innings. The Cardinals aren’t off again until Aug. 6, so there’s a pretty good chance Dobbins will get a start next time through the rotation. He could get a full-time spot if the Cardinals move a starter prior to the deadline.

It sounds like the plan is for Dobbins, who was originally scheduled to start Tuesday’s game, to piggyback with Matthew Liberatore in this one. It’s a tough development fantasy-wise since it caps his potential volume upside. He struck out five over six shutout innings against the Angels last Wednesday.

It’s hard to imagine the Cardinals were expecting anything better than this as Dobbins scattered six hits and worked into the middle innings during his first big-league outing since July 7. The 26-year-old will stick around with St. Louis transitioning to a six-man rotation. He doesn’t offer stratospheric strikeout upside, but he’s probably going to be a viable option in deeper mixed leagues depending on matchups. He’ll square off against the Cubs on Tuesday in his next start.

Dobbins was announced as Wednesday’s starter yesterday, so the move to bring him up is now official. This is likely a spot start in a game that needed to be made up due to a rainout. Dobbins has a 4.03 ERA across 22 1/3 innings over five appearances for the Cardinals this season.

St. Louis will transition to a six-man rotation with Dobbins’ arrival pushing everyone else back an additional day, including Wednesday’s original starter Michael McGreevy. The 26-year-old came over from the Red Sox in the Willson Contreras trade last offseason and has posted a pedestrian 4.03 ERA across 22 1/3 innings over five appearances for the Cardinals this season. He’s missing bats at a higher rate than expected, albeit in a small sample size, but Dobbins isn’t exactly an intriguing fantasy option at this stage of his career.

Both Dobbins and Milwaukee’s Robert Gasser were brought up to make a spot start in the twin billing Tuesday, and Gasser was considerably more effective (7 2/3 IP, 2 ER) in a game the Cardinals ended up losing by eight runs. Dobbins wasn’t abhorrent, however, and a two-run single in the fifth by Andy Lara turned what was a very solid effort into a mediocre one. Dobbins is likely to head back to Triple-A now, but is worth streaming consideration when he faces lineups worse than the Brewers when he gets another chance.

Dobbins will be used as the starter for Game 2. The 26-year-old has a 3.63 ERA, 1.38 WHIP, and a 19/7 K/BB ratio over 17 1/3 innings with the Cardinals this season and has also posted a 3.79 ERA, 1.33 WHIP, and 44/18 K/BB ratio in 59 1/3 innings at Triple-A this year. There is not a lot of strikeout upside here, but he has a case to remain in the Cardinals’ rotation if he pitches well on Tuesday.

It’s unclear if the plan is for Dobbins to return to the rotation at the Triple-A level, or if he’ll be back to make another start with the Cardinals in relatively short order. The 26-year-old hurler holds a 3.63 ERA, 1.38 WHIP and a 19/7 K/BB ratio over 17 1/3 innings with the Cardinals this season.