Locked On Cardinals - Daily Podcast On The St. Louis Cardinals - REDEMPTION: St. Louis Cardinals' Andre Pallante And The Pen SHUT DOWN Mets

Starting point is 00:00:00 The St. Louis Cardinals are in a shutout victory over the New York Mets and were led by a guy who hadn't won a game since July of 2025. 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 J.D. Hafferin. And on today's show, we're going to dip into the minor leagues. We're going to go out on a AAA. We're going to hit the farm and go check in on some of the Cardinals prospects and how they're doing so far in the early going of the AAA C's and Memphis off to a pretty hot start. We've got your three stars from Tuesday night's game against the Met.

Starting point is 00:00:47 So let's break it down. And for this game, there's only one place to start. And that is with the pitching staff. And that is with your starter, Andre Palante. Now, remember, Palante is a guy that went six and 15 last year. I don't know. You probably tried to forget it because. It was bad. Six and 15 last year. He was one and 12 over his last 16 starts. Needless to say,

Starting point is 00:01:11 confidence, all time low, if not completely shattered by what transpired in 2025. That season chewed him up and spit him out and the cardals were left with. I don't know what. I don't know what. And after witnessing what we saw in 2025, you know, most fans wanted him gone. not just out of the rotation, but like like banished to the shadow realm, somewhere that he could never, ever touch a mound again as a member of the St. Louis Cardinals. But I tried to warn you. Every dayers know this.

Starting point is 00:01:51 He's 27 years old. He certainly has got some armed talent. We've seen him have success in the big leagues before. So I assume that they weren't just going to get rid of this dude. They are not going to give up on him. And they didn't. And they shouldn't have. They decided that they wanted to see him compete for a spot on the roster.

Starting point is 00:02:12 They're like, look, come back to camp. Obviously, you're under contract. Come back to camp and, you know, let's see what you got. See what's left in the tank. Hopefully 2025 didn't destroy you completely. And not only did Andre Palantuk pitch his way onto the roster, but he was able to beat out. Richard Fitz, the guy they got from Boston in the sunny grade deal.

Starting point is 00:02:38 Beat him out, fair and square for that final spot in the rotation. And then on Tuesday, he makes his first start of the season after a really good spring. Does it against a potent Mets offense, some big names in that lineup. Francisco Lendor, Juan Soto, Bob Bichette, expensive guys, talented guys. And Andre Palante was very impressive. And you know when Andre Palante is on his A game when he's getting a ton of ground balls. And in his five innings of work on Tuesday, he got nine ground ball outs. How many?

Starting point is 00:03:12 How many times did he get ground ball outs? Nine times. Allows his three hits. He walked three. He struck out three. Very Andre Palante type of line. He went out for the sixth inning, gave up a lead off double to Soto. He walked Bichette.

Starting point is 00:03:30 That's when Ali came out and took him out and got him after 88 pitches. Not a single right-handed hitter got a hit against him on Tuesday. And he had the Mets pounding the ball into the grass in front of home plate over and over and over again. It was a beautiful thing to watch when he's got that good sink on the ball. Like, he's tough to square up. Vulpan-wise, we know they have been putting it lightly. They've been shaky. But they did their part as well.

Starting point is 00:04:08 After Ali lifts Palante, he goes to Gorda Grecepho. He's just been called up on Tuesday to replace Matt Pushard, who was placed on the 15-day I-L. He's got right-kne-patelloateau. So we'll see how he recoups from that. But what's different this year compared to years in the passes the cardals actually got some depth down at triple a then if somebody goes down they've got some guys who are ready to step up but um he brings gricepho in no big deal right hey we're going to

Starting point is 00:04:38 call you up and immediately we throw you into the fire two on nobody out nursing a two run lead but grecipho doesn't falter he gets louise robert junior to fly out the center and then what ended up being probably the most pivotal play in the game because the meds are starting to push here. And Jared Young comes out, lines out to Mason-Winn at shortstop, who uncorks a laser beam so quick, like as far as liner fume uncorks this laser beam over to first base and devils off Bichette at first to end the inning. You know, Mason-win may be struggling with the back. Having tough times at the plate right now, but he has not let that effect what he's doing in the field. His defense has been great.

Starting point is 00:05:26 huge momentum swing for the Cardinal because it felt like they were about to tip. And the mess, we're going to take the lead and we're about to do some damage. And just like that, Gordon Grispo gets them out of it. Fantastic job, right? We go to the rest of the bullpen. Ryan Stanit comes in next. Seventh inning. He's in the seventh this time instead of the ninth already.

Starting point is 00:05:49 Ollie moving some things around, shuffling things up. Once again, he made things a little bit sweaty by walking, Marcus Semyon was up 02 on him and ends up locking him. But then he gets the rookie bench swinging to strike out. And then he has a seven pitch battle with Francisco Alvarez. And I'll be honest. If you're on video right now, I'll try to show you my pinky fingers. I chewed these fingernails off just in that battle alone.

Starting point is 00:06:17 I was dialed in like, oh boy, come on. Come on. Get out of this. And he barely, barely got out of it. got Alvarez to fly out deep to center field. Victor Scott tracks it down. My heart skipped the beat when that ball came off the bat at first. But Stanick, 22 pitches, he was all over the place. But effectively wild, we can say, I guess puts up a zero. And then it was Jojo Romero and Riley O'Brien back in their normal eighth and ninth inning rolls where we all thought they were going to be to

Starting point is 00:06:47 start the season. And that's not what happened. But here they were. And they look great. They look very comfortable in those spots. The bullpen doesn't allow a single hit, not a hit. Only one base runner ends up getting on against them and wraps up a three to nothing victory. So bravo, boys, bravo. And I know it's easy for us to freak out over things early on in the season. Okay. The word fan is short for fanatics. It's what we do. It's what we do as fans. We're going to get wild and crazy and upset about things right away. We're going to get overly excited about things right away as well. That's just the nature of sports in general.

Starting point is 00:07:27 Okay. But as I've said from the get-go, Ali is going to figure out who fits, which rolls in this bullpen eventually. They're all going to settle in. He's going to know what buttons to push as the season continues.

Starting point is 00:07:42 They'll figure out their spots and then they'll move forward together. All right. So he's still playing around with things. Like he wanted to see if the veteran standing could be that closer guy. not work out in his first two appearances. It was a little dicey in this one, but he was where I thought they were going to be using

Starting point is 00:08:02 him in the beginning of the season. I thought he was going to be kind of that seventh inning guy. So there he is. And the same thing goes for the lineup. You know, we're going to talk about that a little bit and a whole lot more when we go through the three stars of the game because we're going to mention some offensive guys, because that's what we do. So that's coming your way next here on Locked on Carlin.

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Starting point is 00:10:26 You'll unlock every episode ad-free. You're going to get access to our private listener group chat. Just tap the call. the link in the show notes, use code finally, claim your free month now. Time for our three stars from the game on Tuesday night. Number one star in this win over the Mets like it's Andre Palante. It's Andre Palante, five shutout innings. Come on, nine ground ball outs.

Starting point is 00:10:48 The only real blemishes were the walks. That's really the only thing you're complaining about here. One in the first to Luis Robert Jr. One to Francisco Lindor in the third. And then the last one to Bo Bouchet in the sixth inning when he was on fumes. and Ali came and got him after that. He never got into one of those situations where, you know, when it comes with those walks,

Starting point is 00:11:07 where he was like walking the leadoff guy, which we know is a big no-knock. Didn't do it. Didn't do it. He was about as good as you can expect from Andre Palante. All right? Again, you saw what he was last year. It was a nightmare.

Starting point is 00:11:23 It was awful. Everything was bad. Tuesday night, that Andre Palante? I'm completely cool with him being your fifth guy in the rotation. He was excellent. So tip of the cap to him, hopefully he can stay consistent with this throughout the season. Okay, because that's been one of the issues with Andre is that consistently he can't stay at that level. We'll see if he can do it here in 2026.

Starting point is 00:11:49 Second start of the game, we're going to give this one to our catcher Ivan Herrera. Now, this is something that people forget about because you are always thinking about Ivan Herrera's bat. Yvonne Herrera was behind the plate for a shutout win over the New York Mets. Called a great game. Called a great game with the entire pitching staff, not just Palante, but the bullpen. But he also had the biggest hit of the night when he ripped the two run double off Kodai Singh in that third inning to give the Cardinals the lead that they would never relinquish. It was the only hit of the game for Yvonne, but he also walked twice. So he's on base three times in this game ahead of Alec Berluson, which is exactly.

Starting point is 00:12:29 exactly what you want to see out of the number two hole hitter. And I mentioned the lineup earlier and when discussing the possible shuffle of some guys, we know Herrera has struggled early on. But again, I don't like making excuses, but this is real. He was coming back from an elbow injury. So he had to get used to that again. Then he deals with that knee injury. That knocks him out for a little bit.

Starting point is 00:12:56 So he's working to get his timing back. So technically, Yvonne Herrera is in like the last week and a half of spring training as far as timing-wise compared to everybody else. So you trust Yvonne Herrera. I do. I think you do too. So you just kind of knew it was going to take a little bit for him to get his timing back. And hopefully what we saw on Tuesday night is a sign of things to come from Yvonne, who obviously is going to play a crucial role on this lineup as not only protection for J.J. Weatherholt at the top of the order, but also doing what he did on Tuesday. getting on in front of Alec Berluson so that Burley is coming up and having a chance to knock in runs and do some damage.

Starting point is 00:13:36 Your third star of the game, give it up for Victor Scott the second. Victor Scott the second, 0 for 3 on Monday. Remember over 3, three strikeouts. You're like, ooh, what was that? And I said, I was like, I don't know if he was just having trouble picking up the ball. I don't know what was going on with him. But turns around on Tuesday. puts Monday's O for three into three strikeouts in the rearview mirror,

Starting point is 00:14:01 comes back on Tuesday, goes two for three with the run scored, including the leadoff double in that third inning to get things cooking for the top of the lineup. If I asked you, and be honest, if I asked you to tell me who right now was leading the Cardinals in hits and batting average, who would you say? Most people would answer Alec Berlinson, J.J. Weatherhole, right? No, you'd be wrong. The answer is Victor Scott the second.

Starting point is 00:14:27 Victor Scott the second following Tuesday's efforts is now seven for 16, is hitting 438, which is the seventh highest batting average in the entire league right now. Entire league. Now we know the defense for Victor is elite. We know his speed is a lead. Could he get on base enough to put that speed to work? That was the real question. And I know it's early on.

Starting point is 00:14:56 These numbers aren't going to stay here. We know that. But so far, he's been doing what we all hoped he would be able to do. And Matt Speed that second leadoff guy down there in the number nine hole that can unsettle pitchers a little bit with that base running ability and make life a lot easier for the top of the lineup when he flips that lineup over and he's on base in front of JJ and Yvonne and Burley and giving them some run producing. bat. He's been fantastic. He's had the one bad game really on Monday. Outside of that,

Starting point is 00:15:34 he's been kind of awesome offensively. Base hits, putting the ball in play, laying down bun, stealing some bags. He's been exactly what you were looking for. Let's hope he keeps it up, right? Honorable mention to Ramon Arius. Urius, everybody says it differently. I don't even know if there is a right way, but Urius is kind of how phonetically it's spelled. But he clobbered his First toadm run is a cardinal of the seventh inning to add a little insurance, a 409 footer off the lefty Richard Love Lady. I know you want to say the jokes. I do too.

Starting point is 00:16:09 We're going to move on. We'll be mature. The hope is that, you know, Urius can be the guy to fill in when any of your infielders need a day off their feet. You hear Ollie say that all the time. Well, we want to get him off their feet for a day. So he's going to be quite important there because he can play third, short, second. I even think he dabbles at first base if you need to. Valuable defensive substitute late in

Starting point is 00:16:33 games, games where like, you know, you want to pull Gorman and you want to put Ramon over a third base. That will be a smart thing. You're going to see that happen quite a bit, I'd imagine. And also a guy that can do some damage against lefties. We know that the infield is lefty heavy, burly lefty, J.J. Lefty, Gorman lefty. So there's going to be times where you need Ramon to get in there. and swing it against the left-handed pitcher when they go to the bullpen when the opposition does. So certainly did some damage on Tuesday, so good for him. J.J. Weatherhold also had two more hits. It is now batting third inning.

Starting point is 00:17:11 He followed up that lead off double by Victor Scott with a base hit to center field. Victor had to hold up, so he only got the third base. But the throw from center field from Luis Robert Jr., it sails over the cutoff band's head. and I don't know if the first base coach. I don't know if it was JJ's thought process, but the guy never slowed down. He just boom and went right to second base. Super smart base running,

Starting point is 00:17:36 scooted right into the number two bag to make it second and third with nobody out. Your next hitter is Yvonne Herrera, who ends up doubling. But thanks to JJ's great base running, it allowed him to score easily on that double from second base instead of, you know, possibly getting stuck at third base

Starting point is 00:17:52 if he had been on first instead. So fantastic base running. Fundamentals, smart, beautiful. You love it. Burley O for two, two walks. And I told you, I told you, if they continue to put Mason win as the cleanup hitter behind Alec Berluson, Burley is not going to see a whole lot to hit. And they pitched around him a couple times. He walks twice, and they'd rather deal with Mason win. And it worked out for the Mets both times. Mason win. has had 12 at bats with runners on base this season. He is one for 12 with four strikeouts. And when he's come up with runners in scoring position, he is 0 for 8. Basically the exact opposite of what you want from your cleanup hitter. It's not working.

Starting point is 00:18:44 It's not working. And I wonder if Olly's just going to give it to the end of the series. Obviously, you got one final game. And then you get the day off on Thursday. I wonder if he switches things around in the, weekend series in Detroit. I wonder if that's what happened. But it ain't working. It ain't working at all. Up next, we're going to check in on the prospects down in Memphis plus Hunter Davids. Got his first start for the Redbirds on Tuesday night. How did he fare? We'll talk about it next

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Starting point is 00:21:43 They won them by the scores of three to nothing, three to two, six to five. Tuesday night, they pummeled Norfolk, 10 to five. They're now four and oh on the season. What did we say during spring training? There's a lot of talent in this farm system, and there's going to be a lot of talent going down to Memphis to start the year. Cardinals got some good young talent, obviously up at the major league level. But they got a lot of depth down there at AAA Memphis.

Starting point is 00:22:12 And they're going to have a pretty good squad. Those are my exact words. And so far, I am predicting this correctly. Again, early on, but four and oh, can't start any better than that. Offensively, let's start with your catchers, Jimmy Crooks, Leo Bernal. Crooks is hit in 364, absolutely mashing two home runs, four RBIs, Bernal hitting 313 with an RBI. Blaze Jordan off to a scorching star.

Starting point is 00:22:38 Remember in the beginning of spring training, Blaise Jordan, like he couldn't hit water if he fell out of a boat, but started to get a little hot there at the end of spring training, which was a bummer because they, you know, after a couple of games where he was really stinging the ball, they sent him down to minor league camp. We get to see him anymore. Well, he has carried that over to the regular season,

Starting point is 00:22:57 is now hitting 545 with a home run and two rebis and three runs scored in just 11 at bats hit that home run on Tuesday night. Infielder, Cesar Prieto, hitting 500 thus far, two home runs, three ribbies and sent at bats. Ramon Mendoza is hit in 313, one home run, three RBIs. The guys that it's actually been a bit of a slow start are the guys in the outfield. Bigger names, guys that we talked a lot about in spring training, Joshua, Baezzanoz, Nelson Velasquez, Colton Ledbetter, Baezas hitting just 231 thus far, no home runs, two rebis, he does have a stolen base. Nellie, the star of spring training, the guy that we all got bent out of shape over because he didn't make the major league roster. He has not done anything.

Starting point is 00:23:43 You and I have as many hits as Nelson Blasquez does so far in the regular season. He's 0 for 11 with five strikeouts. That's more like the guy that he used to be when he was in the Cubs and the Royals organization, not the guy we saw this spring. So I don't know, maybe mentally a little upset that he didn't make the major league roster and things are a little bit off kilter for him. Colton Ledbetter also struggling, hitting just 167 after a good spring. But Matt Coperniac, veteran minor leager, leads the club with five RBIs. Pitching side of things, a lot of walks for the starters so far.

Starting point is 00:24:22 Bryce and Mott's, five innings, one run, two hits, six Ks, but four walks. Richard Fitz, four and two-thirds innings, no run. runs, two hits, three Ks, four walks. Bruce Zimmerman, the veteran, four innings, one run, three hits, five Ks, three walks. Hunter Dobbins got his first start on Tuesday night. He goes five innings, gives up three runs on three hits. One of those was a home run. He hit a batter, three strikeouts, two walks.

Starting point is 00:24:45 He did get the win, so congratulations. Most of the bullpen arms have been excellent. Ryan Fernandez, Scott Blewett, Luis Gastilum, Skyler Hales, Max Ratchick, Gabriel Moreno, Gordon Grispo, before he got called up. All of those guys, none of them have given up and run yet over the first four games of their season. Springfield and Peoria will get started this upcoming weekend. So we'll be able to see how guys like Rodriguez and Liam Doyle, how they fare early on. But a really nice start for the crew in Memphis.

Starting point is 00:25:20 So well done, Memphis Redbirds, keep it going. As far as the NL Central goes, the pirates knock off the reds, 8 to 3 on Tuesday. O'Neill Cruz goes yard twice. Bubba Chandler throws four and a third innings of no hit ball, but he was like Nukla Lush on the mound. He struck out six. He also walked six. So not the most efficient start for one of the best starting young,

Starting point is 00:25:45 the young starting pitchers in Major League Baseball, Bubba Chandler, but the pirates end up getting the win. Brewers beat the race six to two. Brandon Woodruff got the W. for the brew crew in that one. CB Buckner made one of the dumbest umpiring calls you may have ever seen where he accused the rudder who was going to first base of not touching first base and called them out.

Starting point is 00:26:15 And so the brewer's challenge and he stepped right on the base. Like CB Buckner has got to be trying to get the Angel Hernandez payday. that he's got to be. I don't understand how this dude is still an umpire. Like how can we continue to have this happen overall? It's ridiculous. Like he's an embarrassment. He's an embarrassment to all umpires.

Starting point is 00:26:40 Even even the tee ball kids. Like, it's ridiculous. But anyway, Brewers get the win. Cubs get blinked by the Angels 2 to nothing at Wrigley. Former Cardinal Phil Maton took the loss in relief. So your standings after five games. He's got the Brewers in first at four and one, followed by the Reds and Cardinals at three and two. And then your Pirates and Cubs are at two and three.

Starting point is 00:27:03 Cardinals will wrap up the homestand on Wednesday in an afternoon tilt, early afternoon, I should say, with the Mets. Matthew Libertor will get the start against former Brewers ace, Freddie Peralta, who over the years, the Cardinals haven't done all that bad. They've fared pretty well against them. He's only five and six in 20 games against them. 16 of those games were starts. He's got a career area of 4.67 against him. them, but Astrak here, they have not beat him since 2023. So last couple of seasons, he is undefeated against them.

Starting point is 00:27:35 So we'll see how it all plays out at Bush Stadium first pitch at 1215 St. Louis time. Thanks for making a lockdown Cardinals. Your first listen every day, if you haven't already. Give us a follow on X at L.O. underscore Cardinals. You can find us on TikTok and Instagram. We always put in the shorts and the reels up there for you guys at Locktown Cardinals. Like, subscribe on YouTube.

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Starting point is 00:28:11 National Lockdown Podcast Network YouTube channel on audio. Make sure your second listen is Locked on MLB. You guys are the best fans in baseball for a reason. And we will see you next time on Locked on Cardinals, hopefully talking about a series win over the New York Mets. We'll find out together.

Locked On Cardinals - Daily Podcast On The St. Louis Cardinals - REDEMPTION: St. Louis Cardinals' Andre Pallante And The Pen SHUT DOWN Mets

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