June?
Already gone.
This half-baked season has been a delight, and I’m looking forward to seeing the remaining half emerge from the oven. Will the Cardinals become a burnt pie of a team? Or will they look even better in July-August-September?
It depends on trades. It depends on what those trades will do to the St. Louis roster. It depends on injuries. It depends on slumps and hot streaks. It depends on depth. It just … depends on a lot of things.
First, a quick look back on June:
1. The Cardinals went 13-12 and had to grind to come out of the month with a winning record. They got it by winning their final two June games. So far the Cards have avoided having a losing month. They were 18-13 in March-April, 13-13 in May and 13-12 in June. That they’ve been only a game over .500 since the end of April probably means something … but I’m not sure what it means. Coming back to earth? Or maybe fighting like hell to push back whenever losing seemed to be an unstoppable force? The boys were streaky in June. Another word for that is “inconsistent.” But is that really a negative, or just a dose of reality?
2. The Busch Stadium factor kicked in. The home ballpark was a jerkface in June. Busch Stadium numbed the offense. Busch had the power to deny power. In 15 home games, the Cardinals averaged 3.4 runs, slugged a limp .340, came out of it with a .665 OPS, and hit only 8 freakin’ home runs in 482 at-bats. That’s a homer every 60 at-bats! The Redbirds managed to go 8-7 in the 15 home games, thanks to some strong pitching from Dusty Blake’s staff.
3. The Cardinals had only 10 road games and went 5-5. But they enjoyed swinging away. They averaged 6.9 runs in the roadies, slugged a loud .517, and clubbed 20 homers clean out of the yard. Wait a minute: just 8 round trippers in 15 home games? And 20 homers in 10 road games?
4. Was there a Busch Bash in June? Heck no! Was it bombs away when the Cardinals were away? Absolutely. What does that tell us? When you slug .340 at home and .517 on the road, the St. Louis hitters are having a fight with their own ballpark. The good news for Cards hitters: starting Wednesday, they’ll have 43 road games and 37 home games on the remaining schedule.
5. Then again, that probably won’t be healthy for the St. Louis ERA. Cards pitch men had MLB’s worst road ERA in June (6.04), were clubbed for 2.1 homers per nine innings (ouch!), and got bruised by a .530 slugging. The same group of pitchers had a home ERA of 3.47 in June – the sixth best in the majors. This home-road split personality thing is weird.
6. St. Louis hitter of the Month: Alec Burleson, who locked in for a .340 on-base percentage, .558 slug, .898 and a team-leading six homers and 19 RBIs. Per wRC+, Burly was 55 percent above league average offensively for the month.
7. Quiet Bat of the Month: Ivan Herrera. Listen, I have great appreciation for all of the walks and hit-by-pitch welts and his outstanding .393 on-base percentage in June. But … It was a quiet month. Herrera batted .218, had only four extra-base hits, slugged just .333 and posted a grand total of four RBIs.
8. St. Louis Pitcher of the Month: The easy choice here is starter Andre Pallante. In his five June starts Pallante had a 3.16 ERA in 31 and ⅓ innings, faced 123 batters and was nicked for just one home run, walked only 1.5 batters per nine innings, and allowed an opponent OPS of .615. In his first four June starts, Pallante had a 2.19 ERA and the Cardinals went 4-0. Nicely done!
9. Reliever Honorable Mention: lefty Justin Bruihl, who had a bullpen-best 1.64 ERA in 11 innings, gave up one extra-base hit and one walk, and struck out 10. Yes, dammit – I said Justin Bruihl. He had himself a dandy month.
10. Most Hittable Pitcher of the Month: In five June starts covering 20 and ⅔ innings, Matthew Liberatore was pummeled for an 8.27 ERA, seven home runs, seven doubles, walked 10% of hitters faced, and yielded a .291 average, .364 OBP and .628 slug.
11. Best Comeback: Welcome back, outfielder Lars Nootbaar. He made his season debut on June 5th, returning from a lengthy rehab following double-heel surgery that took place after the 2025 season. Noot looked great in his 21 June games, batting .304 with a .400 OBP, .472 slug and an OPS+ that put him 48 percent above league average offensively.
12: Best Moves of the Month: Chaim Bloom shook up a lethargic offense and terrible bottom section of the lineup with a sequence of moves that actually began in late May but carried over through June. The new arrivals: outfielder Nelson Velazquez, outfielder Bryan Torres, corner infielder Blaze Jordan, and catcher Jimmy Crooks. There was an expanded role given to the effective utility piece Jose Fermin, and the return of outfielders Nootbaar and Nathan Church from the IL.
Players de-emphasized or demoted were catcher Pedro Pages, third baseman Nolan Gorman, catcher Yohel Pozo, utility tool Thomas Saggese and infielder Cesar Prieto. The roster exchanges made a positive difference, and in particular the Cardinals boosted the late slots in their lineup. I hope I didn’t overlook anyone when reviewing the comings and the goings.
Two Weekends to Forget: I don’t know about y’all, but the fan in me was extremely annoyed by the Cardinals’ lost series at Minnesota and Kansas City on consecutive weekends. In the two series, the STL pitchers were smoked for 50 runs and 16 homers in 50 innings. It was a horror show. And that’s why the Cards lost four of six games despite scoring 44 runs, hitting .311, banging 25 extra-base hits (including 11 homers) and slugging .513. UGH!
Underrated Cardinal of the Month: I don’t know if centerfielder Nathan Church is really “underrated” but he’s been very good since coming back from a shoulder strain. In 18 June games, Church hit .288, got on base 35 percent of the time, slugged a .442 and had a .793 OPS. His three-run homer basically locked in a 5-3 win for the Redbirds in Tuesday’s series opener in Atlanta.
June Was OK and That’s OK: Both Jordan Walker and JJ Wetherholt had lulls during the month but still made impactful contributions. Walker powered down some, but still had 10 extra base hits, slugged .424 and knocked in 15 runs. JJ the Rookie batted .389, kept up with a fine .347 OBP, swatted three homers, scored 10 runs, and delivered nine RBIs. A team’s best players still find ways to provide value, even if their bats weren’t quite as lively.
BIRD BYTES
A lot of prospect-geek stuff here to catch up on…
— In Baseball America’s updated Top 100 prospects list, hard-throwing Cards lefty Liam Doyle was put on the “biggest fallers” list and went from No. 38 to No. 52.
“After a rough start to the season, Doyle showed a brief glimpse of improvement in the middle,” BA wrote. “Those moments were fleeting, however, and he’s continued to get hit hard and often in June. Plenty of refinement will be needed if he is to reach the ceiling St. Louis saw during his collegiate career.”
— Two other St. Louis prospects made Baseball America’s Top 100: catcher Rainiel Rodriguez at No. 22, and outfielder Joshua Baez at No. 46.
— I track these prospects lists pretty closely and it seems to be that the prospect-watcher industrial complex has cooled a bit on the Cardinals’ crop.
— And then there are the Milwaukee Brewers. I half expect to check one of the new top-prospects lists next week and see 72 of the Top 100 prospects belong to the Brewers. Of course, I’m kidding. But boy, oh boy. Everyone who monitors prospects for a living or as a hobby goes absolutely, positively bananas about everything the Brewers do. For instance, nine Brewers appeared on Baseball America’s revised Top 100 list. Milwaukee’s prospects were ranked 1st, 19th, 43rd, 47th, 64th, 78th, 88th, 95th, and 100th.
— C’mon, Baseball America. You know the Brewers should have had at least 15 or 20 prospects on that list. You weren’t being fair.
— On a serious and sincere note, this just shows us how difficult it will be for Chaim Bloom and the St. Louis baseball operation to catch up to what’s going on up there in Wisconsin. The Brewers, without question, have the smartest baseball operation in the majors. And yes, I really believe that. So for as much encouraging progress as Team Bloom has made, they haven’t closed the gap on Milwaukee. If anything, that gap between Milwaukee and St. Louis might be even wider. Brewers president of baseball operations Matt Arnold will do everything he can to make sure it stays that way.
— Now let me be catty for a minute and say this: maybe one day the Brewers will actually win a pennant for the first time since 1982, back when they were repping the American League. But give the Crew credit: they continue to embarrass the Cubs and the Cardinals.
— In Baseball America’s freshly arranged Top 30 STL prospects list, here’s how they structured the top 10, in order:
Rainiel Rodriguez, catcher
Josh Baez, OF
Liam Doyle, pitcher
Tanner Franklin, pitcher
Yhoiker Fajardo, pitcher
Jurrangelo Cijntje
Leo Bernal, catcher
Emanuel Luna, OF
Quinn Mathews, pitcher
Tekoah Roby, pitcher
— A special mention of the Cards’ No. 11 prospect, the 18-year old shortstop Sebastian Dos Santos. Baseball America is in a tizzy over the kid.
“The 18-year-old shortstop needed just 27 games to hit his way to full-season ball and has started his time in Low-A on a high note. He hits the ball plenty hard, rarely misses in the zone, doesn’t chase often and has displayed excellent barrel accuracy for a player his age. All that adds up to an exciting prospect who should rise quickly through the ranks.”
— In the update, Baseball America added this on Dos Santos: “He has been one of the strongest performers in the Cardinals system over the first half of the season and has enjoyed a breakout campaign between the Florida Complex League and Low-A. Dos Santos shows well-rounded skills with contact, approach, power and angles.”
— Might want to hold off on those cries for the Cardinals to give a generous contract extension to Masyn Winn. No offense to Winn.
— Say, whatever happened to Tink Hence, the St. Louis phenom pitching prospect? Back to Baseball America: “Once one of the brightest pitching prospects in the Cardinals system, Hence has dealt with a litany of injuries over the years. He’ll turn 24 in August and has yet to make his MLB debut despite a few seasons on the 40-man roster. He’s pitched mostly as a reliever in Triple-A and has been largely ineffective.”
— Yeah, OK. But if the Brewers somehow get Tink into their system, he’ll win a NL Cy Young award in about four or five years. Right?
— Among all of the St. Louis pitching prospects, I have to say the dude who has them the most fired up is Tekoah Roby. As he makes great progress in his rehab from elbow surgery, Roby probably won’t pitch this season (though it’s possible) but he’ll be a go for 2027.
— By the way, Baseball America has Blaze Jordan at No. 26 on the updated Top 30 STL prospects countdown. Interesting.
— Since this is apparently the Prospects Edition of the Redbird Review, I want to share what Baseball Prospectus had to say about Rainiel Rodriguez, the future St. Louis Cardinals starting catcher.
“There was little cause to concern even during his early Double-A struggles, given that he’s still 19 years old, and has a good shot to both stick behind the plate and hit a top-of-the-scale power projection,” analyst Jeffrey Paternosto wrote. “The pop comes from a rather compact but explosive swing. Rodriguez really lets his hands go and generates so much violence through the zone that he almost seems to be lifted off the ground on follow through.
“Despite this, he has pretty good barrel control, and his contact rate hasn’t dropped nearly as much as you’d expect given the gap between his High-A and Double-A performances so far.
“Rodriguez carries all the risks you’d expect from a teenaged catcher who’s already got a rather rectangular physique, but he’s a quiet, athletic receiver with above-average arm strength. The sky remains the limit for his overall upside. And while I don’t think he’s quite in contention for the best prospect in baseball yet, ask me again in the offseason.”
Thanks for reading.
-Bernie
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Bernie was inducted into the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame in 2023. During a St. Louis sports-media career that goes back to 1985, he’s won multiple national awards for column writing and sports-talk hosting – and was the lead sports columnist at the Post-Dispatch from 1989 through 2015. Before that Bernie spent a year at the Dallas Morning News, covering the Dallas Cowboys during Tom Landry’s final season (1988) plus the sale of the team to Jerry Jones and the hiring of Jimmy Johnson as coach. Bernie has covered several Baseball Hall of Fame managers during his media career including Tony La Russa, Whitey Herzog, Earl Weaver, Joe Torre and (as an interim) Red Schoendienst. In his career as a beatwriter and columnist, Bernie covered Pro Football Hall of Fame coaches Joe Gibbs, Tom Landry, Jimmy Johnson and Dick Vermeil on a daily basis.
Bernie has covered and written about many great St. Louis sports team athletes including Albert Pujols, Kurt Warner, Brett Hull, Yadier Molina, Adam Wainwright, Jim Edmonds, Marshall Faulk, Scott Rolen, Mark McGwire, Orlando Pace, Isaac Bruce, Torry Holt, Adam Wainwright, Chris Carpenter, Al MacInnis, Brian Sutter, Bernie Federko, Chris Pronger, Dan Dierdorf, Jackie Smith and Aeneas Williams. Bernie covered every baseball Cardinals’ postseason game from 1996 through 2014 and was there to chronicle teams that won four NL pennants and two World Series. He provided extensive coverage on the “Greatest Show” St. Louis Rams and has written extensively on the St. Louis Blues, Saint Louis U, and Mizzou football and basketball. Bernie was/is a longtime voter for the Baseball Hall of Fame, Pro Football Hall of Fame, Heisman Trophy and the St. Louis Cardinals Hall of Fame.
You can access his columns, videos and the podcast version of the videos here on STL Sports Central, catch him regularly on KMOX (AM or FM) as part of the Gashouse Gang, Sports Rush Hour, Sports Open Line or Sports On a Sunday Morning shows. And you can catch weekly “reunion” segments here at STL Sports Central featuring Bernie and his longtime friend Randy Karraker.