After the 2019 season, I took a deep dive into the Cardinals’ remarkable ability to develop major-league quality starting pitchers in an article titled “A Starting Pitcher Factory”.
In that piece, I examined the club’s lengthy history of having a quality, rotation-ready starter developed and available just when they were needed. Here’s that list from 2010 through 2019:
2019: Dakota Hudson (34th pick) – 32 starts, 3.35 era
2018: Jack Flaherty (34th pick) – 28 starts, 3.34 era
2017: Luke Weaver (27th pick) – 10 starts, 3.88 era
2016: Alex Reyes (intl signing) – 5 starts, 1.