Jake Woodford, St. Louis Cardinals (Photo by Dilip Vishwanat/Getty Images)
The St. Louis Cardinals were favorites in the NL Central but are already 6.5 games out of first place and their pitching has been a massive reason why.
One would that, if the St. Louis Cardinals were fourth in MLB in batting average, third in on-base percentage, and sixth in total bases as a team through their first 22 games of the season, that this team would be well on its way to another NL Central title.
Instead, those numbers are all true, but the Cardinals are a dismal 9-13 to start the year, 6.5 games back of the Pirates in first place in the division. And really, the obvious problem has been their pitching.
St. Louis ranks 21st in baseball in runs allowed through the early part of the season. The frustrating part about that is that they’ve been producing at the plate, tying for 14th in runs scored. More importantly, though, the Cards are one of only two teams in MLB to have scored 100 runs on the season and still have a losing record. The other is the Phillies, who have two more victories than the Redbirds.
It’s been a wildly frustrating start but, after the way things have gone, these three pitchers are on thin ice moving forward as the team can’t afford to waste games and production at the plate, even early in the season, with poor outings on the mound.
STL Cardinals: 3 pitchers on thin ice after awful starts
3. Jake Woodford is barely giving the Cardinals a chance in his starts
To fill out the back end of the rotation with Adam Wainright beginning the season on the IL, St. Louis gave 26-year-old Jake Woodford his first real shot as a full-time starter in the big leagues after his first three seasons had just 10 starts out 65 overall appearances. But to say that the results have been less than stellar would be a vast understatement.
The right-hander has a 1-2 record but even that doesn’t do his struggles justice overall, especially considering that the win came in a performance where he gave up four earned runs, seven hits, two home runs and a walk while striking out just one batter over 5.0 innings against the D’Backs. The offense, naturally, bailed him out with a monster 14-run output in that win.
Over his four starts, though, Woodford has not lasted longer than 5.1 innings, has given up at least three earned runs in three starts, has allowed six or more hits in every start, has only a 2/1 K/BB ratio and is averaging 1.5 home runs allowed per start.
Woodford is in a new role and there are always going to be some growing pains. But with two of the organization’s top prospects — Gordon Graceffo and Matthew Liberatore — waiting in Triple-A, if the 26-year-old doesn’t turn it around soon, he could see his spot in the rotation go away quickly.