Locked On Cardinals - Daily Podcast On The St. Louis Cardinals - Confidence SOARS for Andre Pallante— His TRANSFORMATION Is Leading To St. Louis Cardinal VICTORIES

Starting point is 00:00:00 Andre Palante spends another beauty and he now has more wins than Paul Skeens and Shohei Otani. What a world we live in. This is Locked on Cardinals. You are Locked on Cardinals. Your daily St. Louis Cardinals podcast, part of the Locked on Podcast Network, your team every day. Hey there, Cardinals fans. I'm Jady Haffron. In today's episode being brought to you by Fandul.

Starting point is 00:00:28 The biggest stage in world soccer is here. Let there be goals on Fandual. visit fandal.com to get started now. On today's show, an incredible night for Cardinals outfield prospect, Joshua Baez, who put on another monster power display at AAA Memphis. You'll want to hear about this. We're going to jump into last night's game

Starting point is 00:00:50 where we got to talk about the offense, obviously, which wasn't a ton of it. But the Cardinals were able to get production from a certain spot of the order that hasn't been normal for them so far this year. And, got to start with Andre Palante. How do you not start with what

Starting point is 00:01:05 Andre Palante did last night? His improbable turnaround season continues after he and the Cardinals defeated the San Diego Padres on Tuesday by a score of three to two. And you know the story about Andre, especially if you're in every day or had the awful season last year. Most fans have quit on him.

Starting point is 00:01:22 I sure as heck wasn't someone that thought the Cardinals could rely on him or trust him in any way, shape, or form in the 2026 season. I thought maybe he could help you out in the bullpen. I did not expect him to be the guy to be in this rotation. I thought the new guys like Hunter Dobbins and Richard Fitz would take over those roles. And the Fitz injury helped that, you know, Palante could get that spot.

Starting point is 00:01:49 But Davins coming back from injury helped with him getting an opportunity to get that spot. But the guy earned it. And here we are at June 17th. And Andre Palante is now eight and four. with a 3.76 ERA in 14 starts compared to the 6 and 15 record he had last year with a 5.31 ERA. So what are some of the differences? How the hell is he doing it? One thing is that he's not throwing his four-scene fastball anymore, at least not as much. I mean, he still throws it, just not as much. Last year, he was throwing it at a 44.1% rate and opponents were hitting

Starting point is 00:02:24 330 against him. He was throwing it the most out of every pitch he had. and it was getting blasted. All right. So changes need to be made there, right? This year, he's throwing it 30.3% of the time, and the batting average against it is down to 303. The slider, still the number two pitch last year, threw it 28.5% of the time.

Starting point is 00:02:45 Still the number two pitch this year at 29.2% of the time. Batting average, though, has dipped from 201 against it to 182. Great stuff. Sinker usage up from 13.3% to 19%. batting average basically the same as it was last year against it, but he's throwing more. Knuckle curve up from 14 to 18.3%. Average against actually goes from 206 to 238, but what he's doing here is using things other than the fastball. And that's really been the key.

Starting point is 00:03:18 Different looks more often, plus he's getting ahead of guys. First pitch strikes up from 62.4% to 66.8%. And I know it doesn't sound like that. that much in the grand scheme of things. But it is, and it's working. And above anything else, this game relies on your mental ability, as well as the physical. I mean, you can't just not be any good.

Starting point is 00:03:42 But mentally, you've got to be really strong, especially as a pitcher at an everyday hit. I mean, just anybody, really. I mean, there's not a role on that team where you can't be mentally weak. Like, you've got to be mentally strong at all times at a game of baseball where it's all about the grind. It's all about the next at bat and the next start. And you've got to be able to move on from stuff.

Starting point is 00:04:05 And it was rough last year for Andre Palante. Like look at the guy on the mound from last night and look at the guy on the mound from last year. They are like two different people to me. Just body language, just the way he looks. He's in a great place, both mentally and physically right now. Trusting your stuff. believing in yourself.

Starting point is 00:04:27 It's so important in the game of baseball. Confidence is huge. And Andre Palante certainly has his confidence right now. It is sky high, as it should be, especially after the way he's pitched, not only last night, but just in general in the last few starts. Seven innings last night, two runs, four hits, no walks, 11 ground ball outs, which we know when Andre Palante is on.

Starting point is 00:04:49 That's what's happening. Six strikeouts. Hail to the, yeah. That's what we want. you got this great defense behind you. You don't need to strike everyone out, but you still got to be pitching well enough to induce not only just groundouts,

Starting point is 00:05:05 but to get strikeouts from time to time. And that's what he was doing last night. You can't let people just thrash the ball all over the ballpark, which is what would happen with, you know, guys like Miles Michaelis, who were pitched a contact type of dudes. Yeah, I'd get a strike out here or there. But when guys were hitting the ball,

Starting point is 00:05:22 they were hitting missiles off of him. So Palante has been able to keep that from happening more often than not. There are some games. You go look at the game log this year for Andre. Yeah, there's some games where he's been beat up. You know, May 29th was not a great game for him against the Cubs. Three innings, four runs, eight hits. Ali saw that Andre didn't have as good stuff that day.

Starting point is 00:05:44 It does happen. He was struggling. Got him out of there early enough that the Cardinals didn't get so far behind that the game was lost. And they were able to mount a comeback. They ultimately win that game against. the Cups. Since then, Andre's hasn't needed Ollie to come help him and save him from anyone. His last three starts this month of June, one run, three hits, five and two thirds against Texas,

Starting point is 00:06:07 two runs on three hits and six innings against the Mets. Then last night, two runs four, hits, seven innings against the Padres. He retired the first 14 dudes that he faced. Strikeout totals of five, five, and six. Nothing special but good. Solid enough. And the real thing here is the is the pitch count. Pitch count totals of 85, 93, and 92, which tells me he's, he's throwing strikes. He's, he's competitive in the zone. And guys are swinging at it, but they're not doing a whole bunch with it. Three starts in the month of June.

Starting point is 00:06:41 He's now 3 and 0, 2.41 ERA. Opponents hitting just 154 against him. The whip, 0.75, which is way below the career average for Andre Palante of 1.39. More strikes, less walks, more variety, better pitcher. Seems easy enough when you put it together. You're like, oh, that's what you got to do to be a good pitcher, but it ain't that easy. And credit to Dusty Blake and his staff and Andre Palante for figuring some things out,

Starting point is 00:07:10 making the adjustments and becoming one of the more stable arms in the rotation for it. Like, where would the cartels be without Andre Palante right now, you know? And who thought we'd be saying that in the month of June in 2026 after the way, we all felt about him after last season and this spring about this team. Crazy stuff, right? Crazy stuff. But it's fun. It's been fun.

Starting point is 00:07:32 We're going to discuss the offense next. Not a lot of highlights to talk about, but certain spot of the order has gotten better, a lot better recently. And it's helping key this lineup and being able to turn out some offense and get some wins. So we'll discuss that next. coming up on Locked on Cardinals. Stay with me. Have you ever noticed how the second you search for something online ads for that exact thing start popping up and following you everywhere. Have it to all

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Starting point is 00:11:30 Start your seven-day free trial right now. Get closer to your team without those interruptions. Just click the link in the show notes, or you can go to locked on STL cardinals. com to claim your free trial. Now, when you win a game three to two, it's clear the offense wasn't exactly a big part of the equation. But credit to Michael King, who was a very good pitcher,

Starting point is 00:11:51 and he's got that really awkward delivery, which makes it very tough to pick up the ball. And the Cardinals, give him credit, wore his butt out. they did it early got him throwing a ton of pitches long at bats long counts it was really impressive to watch and when we talk about some of the most annoying teams to play against in the league these are the types of abats that those teams take like they're the ones who drive you nuts it's one of the reasons why the Milwaukee Brewers are as annoying as they are to play you look up and down their lineup and you're like yeah you got a couple of good hitters but why is it just

Starting point is 00:12:26 exhausting to play against people like that and that's what But I've always wanted the Cardinals to be like, taking pitches, fouling off pitches, grinding away. It wears people out physically and mentally. And the first two nights you saw the Padres do the exact opposite against Dustin May and Andre Palante. Like you've seen both sides of the coin here. The Padres attacking early, not stretching out counts, not fouling a lot of pitches off, just swinging aggressively right away. And it allowed May and Palante to go extra deep into their starts.

Starting point is 00:12:59 On the other side, King was gassed and done by the fifth inning at 93 pitches. He was worn out. And what stinks is when you play a team like the Padres, they got one of the best bullpins in the league, despite not having Mason Miller available in this series because he's on the bereavement list. But, you know, it doesn't get any easier when their starter leaves the game. It actually is just as difficult. But that's the goal because you're thinking about it as a series. You wear that bullpen out.

Starting point is 00:13:26 And then by game three for today, like you might be facing the bottom of the barrel stuff in pitchers that they got in that pen. So it just it's the style of baseball that I enjoy. Like I would much rather be that guy hitting doubles and having guys on base all the time and driving pitchers nuts than just hitting a three run homer here, three run home are there. And that's all they do. Strikeouts all over the place. So I would rather have door number one. bottom of the order bottom of the order is what did a lot of the damage on tuesday night and it's what got him going um two nothing lead second inning they let you get the king right away

Starting point is 00:14:11 newt leads off with a walk which he's great at scored on a two out devil by blaze jordan jordan then scored on a single by nathan church and when you're eight nine guys aren't automatic outs which is something the cardals have dealt with a lot this year it really adds length of the lineup and that's what the Cardinals have right now. There's not a spot in that order where you can just coast a little bit, which early on this season, and I, no offense to these guys, but Nolan Gorman, Pedro Pahas, Victor Sky, three spots in the order that you felt not very confident that those guys were going to come through and do anything for you. Sometimes they would, but overall, no. And you don't think other teams notice that? Cool staff from Robert.

Starting point is 00:14:56 brains here in the last five games the cardals have received 12 hits and 35 at bats out of the eighth and ninth spots in the order including the two hits and two ribbies from Jordan and church on Tuesday night getting production from the bottom of the order flipping that lineup card over and getting it back to the top where it's JJ Yvonne burley Walker like those are the guys if you can get your eight nine guys on base in front of those guys look out look out this offense is going to be awesome they get their third run in the fifth inning Yvonne Herrera gets hit by a pitch for the second time in the game. What is it about him on Herrera?

Starting point is 00:15:30 18 times. He's been hit by a pitch already this year. Luckily, hasn't gotten hurt by a stray one, like in a finger or something like that. So not only is he getting his butt beat up behind the plate as a catcher, which is always the most difficult spot to play, but he's getting beat up in the batters box from people hitting him all the time. They're trying to throw him in. I understand what they're doing, but it's crazy that he gets hit as much as he does,

Starting point is 00:15:52 18 times the league. Then you saw Alec Berlinson with the single. extends his hitting streak to a career best 16. Jordan Walker launches one that I thought it was gone off the bat and it died in front of the wall, but good base running by Yvonne Herrera, who didn't get caught watching, thinking that it was going to be a home run, tagged up, scooted over to third base, later scores on Newport, New Parsack Fly. So ABC baseball right there. J.J. Weatherholt, three hit night, added a walk, eight stolen base of the season. As a whole, the team had eight hits, walked five times. They only struck out three times. They only go two for nine with

Starting point is 00:16:27 the runners in scoring position. They strand 12. I understand that that is not good. You don't like to see it. But what you do like to see is they're always on base. There's always people causing having making pitchers throw from the stretch instead of the wind up. Like it's annoying. It's very annoying. And it's unfortunate they didn't score more last night. But it wasn't always their fall because that Padraig's defense, they were really good last night. It seemed like every time, that, you know, one of the guys would, would rip a ball that it looked like it was going to do some damage. And here we go. The carousel is going to begin. And they were going to bust this thing open.

Starting point is 00:17:01 And it would go right at a Padre's defender. They were just, like, placed perfectly. So, and it would end the threat. And sometimes that's just baseball. And that's how things went for the Cardinals offense on Tuesday night. Luckily, Palante great. Shout out to the bullpen. Stanick O'Brien, low drama innings, although, you know,

Starting point is 00:17:18 O'Brien does the walk with two outs because we can't get through to anything without him putting somebody on. But they finish it off. You get saved number 18 for Riley O'Brien, who was one short of the NL lead. And shout out to the infield defense in this game as well, who handled all of the Andre Palante ground balls that he could dole out. 14 in total in this game that the infield was fantastic on. They look as strong as ever. I have seen no drop off, really, outside of the hit that got through in Dustin May's game

Starting point is 00:17:46 with Blaze Jordan over at third base. I think he's looked great. I'm thrilled with the way things are going right now. Three stars of the game go to Palante to Blaze and Newt, who each got an RBI and a run scored, and to JJ Weatherholt with the three hits and he's got his batting average up to 259. I'm not going to be somebody who begs for All-Star votes. Like, you do what you want to do. It's your time to go do it.

Starting point is 00:18:09 But you should. If you're going to go vote for the Cardinals, which you should, you can vote up to five times a day at MLB. You need to be voting for JJ, Jordan, and Alec Berlinson. Those three guys belong at the All-Star game. they belong there. Go look at some of the people that are ahead of them right now, and it's laughable. You've got to get them in there, Cardinals Nation.

Starting point is 00:18:30 Come on. You got to. They deserve it. You're paying attention. You're loving it. They're making your season so much better. Just go online. It takes like two minutes to vote because you make out one ballot and then you just click.

Starting point is 00:18:43 Send again. Send again. Send again. You do it until you're your fiber up and then you move on with your life. Do that every day. I think we could see some Cardinals represented at the All-Star game this year. I know one guy who, if he had the numbers he's putting up right now at AAA and was in the big league, he'd be in the All-Star game for sure.

Starting point is 00:19:01 Joshua Baez went absolutely berserk last night for Memphis. We're going to talk about that and take a look at the standings next on Locked on Cardinals. Baseball players are known for their routines, whether it's the Lucky Jersey, pregame rituals, sticking to the same preparation every day, lucky socks, jumping over the chalk, whatever it is. Consistency matters. And when it comes to hair thinning, there can be a lot of products. out there that will make you promises, but not always give you a lot of confidence behind them. That's why more people are looking for solutions backed by real science and trusted experts.

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Starting point is 00:22:07 kick, let there be goals on Fandall. Visit fandle.com to get started now. Thank you for making a lockdown carlars. First list of the day. Thank you for making locked on the number one sports podcast network. Joshua Baez, holy crap. A night to remember for the Memphis Cardinals last night. Not one, not two, not three, four home run. for Joshua Baez in one game, 12 to 5 victory over Nashville. He sets a Redbird single game record with those four dingers in the series opener. 16th such game in minor league baseball since at least 2005. And according to the St. Louis Cardinals Communications,

Starting point is 00:22:50 Baez joins legendary Chandler Redmond with AA Springfield in 2022. Tyrone Horn with AA Arkansas back in 1998 as the only Cardinals minor leaguers to accomplish this feat in the last 30 years. And you remember that, and the Redmond game because I was doing Locktown Cardinals when that happened. And he did the home run cycle in that game. Like it was crazy.

Starting point is 00:23:14 He had a solo, two run, three run, and a grand slam in that game. Just an absolutely bonkers night. But Baez, my goodness, dude, what a night. Hit a three run home run to start the scoring in the bottom of the first inning, two run shot to get Memphis back to a three run lead in the third, bottom of the fifth.

Starting point is 00:23:34 He goes back to back with Cesar Prieto. Then in the eighth inning, he hits the solo home run to left. Like crazy. And at the conclusion of play on Tuesday night, he led the league at home runs, talking about AAA internationally. 22 home runs, extra base hits, total bases, second in ribby's, third and slugging, fifth and OPS, eighth in base hits. Shout out to starting pitcher, Quinn Matthews,

Starting point is 00:23:57 who picked up the win, goes to four and three, three runs on two hits, walked four, struck out five. you don't like those walks still seem to be an issue for Quinn. My guy Luis Gastilum struck out four of the first five men he faced. It is two scoreless innings of relief. I brought him up. And if there's going to be somebody that deserves a chance at the Major League level from Memphis, as far as both men, people go, it's Max Ratchik.

Starting point is 00:24:19 And it is Luis Gastilum. Those are the two guys I'm keeping an eye on. But Memphis now back in first place overall as they try to take home that first half championship. But holy crap, what a game for Baez, who was just destroying. AAA pitching. So naturally, people want to know. When is he coming up? And my honest opinion is it's not going to be anytime soon. Cardinals are pretty stacked at the moment at the major league level. Everyone has got their job and has got their place and there's a lot of harmony on this roster and in this clubhouse right now. They're winning and you don't want to bring bias up and just platoon

Starting point is 00:24:56 them and you're not benching Newt bar or church or, you know, the, that's not going to happen. So for him to not be taking every day at bats, kind of defeats the purpose right now of his development. And I know he's going nuts. And as amazing as that game was last night, there is just not any room for him at this point. The Cardo's got a good thing going.

Starting point is 00:25:19 Three catcher situation is working. New church, Walker, Mix on most nights is working. When a lefty comes a calling as the starter, they flip it and put it Nelson Velasquez. and Jose Fermin. They hop in the mix. Brian Torres is on standby for anything Ali needs, whether it's pinch hit,

Starting point is 00:25:37 whether it's playing defense in the infield or the outfield, whether it's pinch running. Steady as she goes right now at the major league level, there's no reason to rock the boat at the moment. And Bias is just going to have to wait. Eventually, I think he'll get called up at some point because I'm sure they would love to get him a taste in the big leagues. But if you stay healthy, which we all hope for,

Starting point is 00:26:00 You keep winning, which we all hope for. There's no need to bring Bayez up right now. It's just not. I know that's not the answer people want to hear, but that's the reality of it. Milwaukee won again last night, eking out a two to one win over Cleveland. Cubs fell to Colorado 5-2. Pirates come back, beat the A-6-5. Reds took down the Mets 5-3.

Starting point is 00:26:19 So only the Cubs lose in the division last night. Cards are still four and a half back of the brew crew, but they're three and a half up on Chicago now, four and a half on Pittsburgh, five and a half on Cincinnati. They still lead the end of wild card over Philly and Washington out of all teams. Like, who thought the Washington Nationals would be doing what they're doing as well as the Cardinals? Two very surprising teams in the National League. But that's what makes it fun, right?

Starting point is 00:26:43 Speaking of fun, they'll go for the sweep here today. So Kyle Leahy set to get the start and looking forward to it. Hopefully we can put on the ugly shirt and bring out the brooms for our next episode. Thanks for making a lot. Cardinals, your first list in every day if you haven't already. Give us follow on X at L0 underscore Cardinals, TikTok, Instagram, and Lockdown Cardinals. Like, subscribe on YouTube. Help our channel and love for the Cardinals, grows.

Starting point is 00:27:06 We push for 15,000 subscribers. If you never miss an episode, check out that every day or club. Add to Lockdownsdon, sdil cardinals.com to check it out. For those of you on video, we'll send you to the first ever 24-7 national lockdown podcast network YouTube channel on audio. Make sure your second list is locked on MLB. You're the best fans at baseball for a reason. We're having some fun.

Starting point is 00:27:27 Thanks for being a part of Lockdown Cardinals. We'll see you next time.

Locked On Cardinals - Daily Podcast On The St. Louis Cardinals - Confidence SOARS for Andre Pallante— His TRANSFORMATION Is Leading To St. Louis Cardinal VICTORIES

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