The Cardinals got exactly what they were hoping for from Cooper Hjerpe - and then some.
Pressed into bullpen duty because of injuries as the season winds down, the 25-year-old left-hander made his MLB debut on Sunday against the Colorado Rockies and was spotless. Hjerpe worked four innings, struck out six, and did not allow a baserunner among the 12 hitters he faced.
That kind of entrance puts you in rare company. Hjerpe became only the second pitcher to throw four or more hitless innings with six-plus strikeouts in his MLB debut, joining future Hall of Famer Max Scherzer.
Hjerpe’s role for the moment is unusual, especially for a pitcher who has spent most of his career working as a starter. Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol said the club does not plan to use him as a standard reliever and also won’t start him again this season.
Instead, St. Louis will keep him on a starter’s schedule and use him in a piggyback setup.
“We will not use him as a reliever,” Marmol said, per MLB.com's Owen Perkins. “He will piggyback, but he will stay on a starter's schedule.
That was gross. Everything coming out of the hand was really good.
Pounded the zone, over 75% strikes. Fastball was good.
Landed the sweeper and the changeup at a super-high rate. Righties, lefties did not look comfortable.
That was a lot of fun to watch. He went right after everybody, and good presence, kept his composure all the way through.
That was impressive.”
Hjerpe ended up in that spot after Hancel Rincon was optioned. Rincon had made his debut on Friday but struggled in his first two appearances.
The Cardinals used the 2022 first-round pick as the latest example of a young player pushing through adversity and reaching the majors. Hjerpe has dealt with a string of injuries early in his career, but over three Minor League seasons he posted a 3.26 ERA in 135 1/3 innings, with 85 walks and 188 strikeouts.
Ranked as the Cardinals’ No. 18 prospect, Hjerpe is part of the organization’s crop of young talent that St. Louis believes can help shape what comes next. Giving him more big-league experience now fits that plan.
The Cardinals are still hanging around the final wild-card spot, four games back with fewer than 20 games left, but the odds of a postseason run are slim. Even so, the season has delivered one clear win: a chance for players like Hjerpe to show they belong.
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A month ago, the Cardinals looked like a team trying to sort out the next stage of a rebuild. Now, after taking series from the Dodgers and Rockies, they are sitting at .500 and suddenly forcing a much more interesting conversation about where this season is headed. With a young roster and a rebuild that already appears ahead of schedule under president of baseball operations Chaim Bloom, St. Louis has at least made itself relevant again in the late-season picture.
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Leahy and Tanner Franklin are two examples of how quickly those workloads can climb when a team is trying to protect a pitcher while still building him up. The Cardinals have been careful with both, reflecting an industry-wide effort to reduce injury risk rather than anything uniquely conservative in St. Louis. For fans used to judging a starter by volume alone, the more important question may be how the club balances durability, effectiveness and the long view as the season wears on. [Read more 🡒]