The St. Louis Cardinals are starting to slip in the NL Wild Card race following an eventful couple of days leading up to the MLB trade deadline.
In the Cardinals’ attempt to sell players to acquire young prospects, they traded away a large chunk of their pitchers in exchange for prospects. Players who were sent away last week include Ryan Helsley, Steven Matz, and Phil Maton.
St. Louis made another move at the start of the new week in claiming left-handed pitcher Anthony Veneziano off waivers from the Miami Marlins. He was optioned to Triple-A Memphis, according to the Cardinals X page.
Veneziano, 27, was drafted by the Kansas City Royals in the 10th round of the 2019 MLB Draft out of Coastal Carolina. He’s had a scarce number of appearances in the major leagues, appearing in 38 games for the Royals and Marlins.
In the small dosage of games, Veneziano has career stats that include a 3.93 ERA, 1.58 WHIP, and 35 strikeouts in 21.0 innings. His last appearance was on June 14, where he pitched 0.2 innings, striking out one batter, allowing one hit, and one walk in 26 pitches.
However, in the minor leagues, Veneziano is looked at as a starter. 98 of the 130 appearances he’s made in the minors are starts.
In those appearances, Veneziano has a 29-27 record, 4.60 ERA, 1.43 WHIP, and 515 strikeouts in 497.1 innings pitched.
It’s unclear how the Cardinals will use him, but it seems that with their intent to give younger prospects more playing time, Veneziano could get a chance in the majors at some point this season.
