As of this writing, 2025 has exposed the St. Louis Cardinals’ dearth of a substantial minor league talent pipeline. Top pitching prospect Cooper Hjerpe now requires Tommy John surgery after the Cardinals failed to trade Nolan Arenado for a return to aid the cause last offseason. The pantry isn’t entirely empty, though, only because the farm system isn’t as deep as enthusiasts would like.
The Blue Jays acquired Paul DeJong from the Cardinals in August 2023, and St. Louis is now able to capitalize on their comeback by calling up Matt Svanson from the minor leagues to make his major league debut.
Cardinals recalling Matt Svanson to see if they actually won the Paul DeJong trade
In retrospect, it was a smart move for St. Louis to trade DeJong at that time. With 24 home runs for the White Sox and Royals last season, he displayed some pop, but his unwavering commitment to hitting below.230 each season has reduced the value he can offer with both his power and defense.
What can we anticipate from Svanson in the major leagues at this point? Svanson is a minor league reliever who throws in the mid-90s and is a sinker/slider man. His slider is unquestionably the superior of those two weapons. Although he occasionally misses bats, he usually depends on groundballs to get outs, which is exactly what the Cardinals are looking for.
This season, the Cardinals’ bullpen has trailed in ERA yet been in the middle of the pack in fWAR. At the very least, Svanson should be a consistent supplier of groundballs and short innings, which could enable St. Louis’ relief corps better target matchups in the late innings, even though he is unlikely to dominate hitters with swing and miss stuff that would aid the WAR cause.
In return, Roddery Muñoz—whom Cardinals supporters may recognize better—was fired once more. So far this season, Muñoz has a 10.13 ERA and a somewhat less unattractive 1.13 WHIP in three big-league appearances.
