Manager Mike Shildt insisted, at least twice, it wasn’t preplanned on the first day of live batting practice to have the final pitcher on the mound be Matthew Liberatore, the Cardinals’ prized prospect acquisition in a trade one rival official called “potentially a coup.”
Yet there the lefty was this past February, facing hitters in his new uniform and pitted against his boyhood friend Nolan Gorman. With little activity on the other fields a cluster of executives, coaches, reporters, teammates, and one owner gathered. Some crossing their arms, shading their eyes, and seeing Liberatore in person for the first time.