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After getting called up to the big leagues earlier in the week, the St. Louis Cardinals debut for Roddery Muñoz came Saturday in a challenging late-inning spot for the former starting pitcher.
Although the Cardinals fell to the Phillies 4-1 on Saturday afternoon at Busch Stadium, Muñoz’s efforts were a bright spot worthy of consideration as the Cardinals must work to maneuver their bullpen to support the impending switch to a six-man starting rotation.
Two days before his 24th birthday, Muñoz entered the game against the Phillies with one out in the eighth inning and runners on second and third to face.
Capable sluggers JT Realmuto and Alec Bohm were due to oppose him, but Muñoz wasn’t fazed by the circumstances.
After a lengthy battle with the veteran Philadelphia catcher, Muñoz threw a 3-2 cutter just off the plate to get Realmuto swinging. Against Alec Bohm, Muñoz battled to cap a seven-pitch at-bat with a swinging strikeout on a cutter.
The way Muñoz played his cutter and sinker off one another to attack both sides of the plate on Saturday was an effective example of how his pitches might play out of the bullpen.
While all three sliders from Muñoz in the outing seemed to back up on him, the results against the pitch were no worse for it because of the location—one was fouled back by Bohm after it spun in on the hands of the right-handed batter. We’ll see moving forward if Muñoz is able to continue establishing that cutter before working in the slider as a similar pitch featuring a larger break.
The Cardinals were eager to see whether the former starter’s high-octane stuff might play up in a relief role, providing Muñoz the chance to hone his repertoire in shorter bursts out of the bullpen.
In Triple-A Memphis so far this season, Muñoz had struck out seven batters in five innings before getting the call to St. Louis. His five walks over that span, though, jumped off the page in a less glamorous way—especially considering that the Cardinals called upon Muñoz to replace the struggling Chris Roycroft, whose issues with pitch command were his undoing in his first stint of the summer in St. Louis.
If Muñoz is able to keep honing in on his command, Saturday’s brief look provided some evidence of his utility in the bullpen for Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol.