Matthew

Liberatore

The left-hander allowed two extra-base hits including a solo shot to Rowdy Tellez. Liberatore induced eight whiffs on 30 swings for a 27 percent whiff rate and 30 percent CSW. He doesn’t figure to remain in the rotation and should be off fantasy radars.

Liberatore will be making his first start since back in late June when he struck out eight over six shutout innings in a spot start against the Braves. The 24-year-old former top pitching prospect is unlikely to work more than a handful of innings to open the contest, which limits any sort of streaming appeal for fantasy purposes.

Starting the second game of Wednesday’s doubleheader, Liberatore was dominant against the Braves, keeping them scoreless over a season-high six innings. He scattered two hits and a walk, striking out a career-high eight batters on 14 swinging strikes. The 24-year-old left-hander ends the day with a 3.86 ERA, 1.15 WHIP, and a 36/16 K/BB ratio across 44 1/3 innings. He’ll likely revert back to a swingman role if he hasn’t earned himself another start in the rotation.

Liberatore drew the starting assignment for Wednesday’s series finale at loanDepot park after Kyle Gibson was scratched a couple hours prior to first pitch due to back tightness and turned in his longest outing of the season. He gave up a pair of solo homers in the opening frame, but managed to keep Miami scoreless into the fourth inning before handing things over to the rest of the Cardinals’ bullpen. He struck out one and also issued one walk. There’s a chance he gets a couple additional starts moving forward, but has seemingly settled in nicely as a throwback swingman for St. Louis. It’s a disappointing outcome given his prospect pedigree, but he’s done a nice job gobbling up innings this season at the highest level.

It’ll be Pallante’s first start of the year just a few days after being brought back from Triple-A Memphis. He’s presumably getting the ball since Matthew Liberatore made a relief appearance during Monday’s series opener against the Reds. The 25-year-old righty hasn’t made an appearance as a traditional starter since the 2022 campaign. There’s limited fantasy appeal here since he’s unlikely to work too deep into the contest.

Liberatore allowed two runs through three innings and then gave up a single and an RBI double to open the fourth, at which point he was pulled. The Red Sox went on to score three times in that inning thanks to Nolan Arenado losing the ball in the sun and gifting a “triple” to Jarren Duran. Liberatore was sporting decent results in relief, but his ERA has jumped from 3.54 to 5.40 in his two starts over the last week. A return to the pen would seem to be a good idea, and Sem Robberse might be a candidate to take his rotation spot.

Liberatore was given the chance to start Monday against a not-so-good Los Angeles lineup, but he didn’t take advantage of the situation. The southpaw was able to get out of the first two innings unscathed, but he gave up a four-spot in the third while picking up just a single strikeout in the contest. Liberatore may start again, but his fantasy value is limited, particularly since he’s not fully stretched out.

Liberatore was effective in his spot start last week against the White Sox while going 3 2/3 innings with one run allowed and five strikeouts. The 24-year-old may not be able to go deep, but the middling Los Angeles lineup prevents the opportunity for punchouts for the southpaw. There’s definitely streaming potential here.

The 24-year-old hurler punched out five batters on the afternoon and didn’t walk a batter. For not being stretched out, he worked deeper than expected, throwing 50 pitches (33 strikes) in the ballgame. The lone tally against him came on a sacrifice fly off the bat of Bryan Ramos in the second inning. Liberatore got seven whiffs on the afternoon, posting a CSW of 32 percent. It’s unclear if he’ll get another shot next weekend against the Brewers, or if the Cardinals will utilize Zack Thompson to fill Steven Matz’s spot in the rotation going forward.

Marmol told reporters that Thompson was not in consideration for Sunday’s start as they want the 26-year-old to continue to work on things. Matthew Liberatore is getting the start Sunday, but depending on how things go, St. Louis may not have a choice but to go with Thompson over the weekend.