As Spring Training progressed into March, the St. Louis Cardinals’ pitching depth dwindled. Zack Thompson, a left-handed pitcher who split his time between St. Louis and Triple-A Memphis last season, tore his left lat muscle.
Thompson complained about his left shoulder last week, according to Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Thompson attempted to “work through it,” but an MRI on Saturday revealed the lat rupture.
Thompson was the Cardinals’ first-round draft pick from the University of Kentucky in 2019. He made his main league debut on June 3rd, 2022, against the Chicago Cubs, pitching four complete innings and earning his first and only career save in the Cardinals’ 14-5 win. Thompson ended the 2022 season with a 2.08 ERA in 34.2 innings for the Cardinals.
Unfortunately for Thompson, the shortened 2022 season has been the pinnacle of his Cardinals career. Thompson’s ERA rose to 4.48 in 2023 while pitching as a starter and reliever for the Cardinals. Thompson’s greatest outing as an MLB starting pitcher came on September 3rd, when he pitched seven innings and struck out six Pirates in a 6-4 Cardinals victory.
At the end of the 2023 season, there was hope that Thompson may secure a job in the Cardinals’ starting rotation for the future. That, of course, came to a halt early last season at Dodger Stadium, and things only got worse. Thompson gave seven earned runs in 2.2 innings in the Cardinals’ 14-1 defeat to Arizona on April 23rd, confirming his place as one of the team’s worst disappointments of the season.
Thompson was expected to begin the season at Memphis, where he may be employed as a starter or, if required, in the bullpen. Thompson will be out for at least a month due to a lat tear before returning to the pitching mound and building arm strength. Thompson still has skill, but this injury is a blow for a once-promising pitcher in the Cardinals system.
