Trevor Rosenthal has, over the last two seasons, entrenched himself among the game’s best closers. He saved 45 games in 2014 with a 3.20 ERA, and improved last season with 48 saves and a 2.10 ERA. In both seasons, he averaged about 11 strikeouts per nine innings, making him one of only 18 relievers (min. 100 relief innings between 2014-15) to reach that threshold.
Rosenthal says he enjoys closing, but he would like to get back to starting “sooner rather than later,” Rick Hummel of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports.“I think I would like to start,” he said. “I would definitely like to have that type of opportunity. When that happens, I’m not sure. Hopefully, sooner rather than later.”
But, Rosenthal hastened to add, “I can’t complain too much about the role I’m in. I really do enjoy it. As far as starting, I’m still keeping that door open and hopefully continue to have conversations with the organization. The timing would have to be right. I’m not going to give it a whole lot of thought during the season.”
Rosenthal hasn’t started a game since he was in the minors in 2012 with Double-A Springfield and Triple-A Memphis.
[graphiq id="3Wbs4qjYbAN” title="Trevor Rosenthal 2015 Pitch Selection” width="600" height="403" url="https://w.graphiq.com/w/3Wbs4qjYbAN” link="http://baseball-players.pointafter.com/l/14137/Trevor-Rosenthal” link_text="Trevor Rosenthal 2015 Pitch Selection | PointAfter”]
While the health of Adam Wainwright and Jaime Garcia should never be taken for granted, the Cardinals don’t currently have any room for him in the starting rotation and don’t portend to anytime soon.
Rosenthal, 26 in May, is earning $5.6 million this season in his first of three years of arbitration eligibility. As he’ll get more and more expensive prior to hitting free agency after the 2018 season, the Cardinals might consider trading him instead.