Despite trading away three of their top relief pitchers at the trade deadline, the St. Louis Cardinals have added an arm they believe can give them depth, via MLB.com’s John Denton.
That arm is Jorge Alcala, who was recently DFA’d by the Boston Red Sox after a struggling season. This year, Alcala has appeared in 41 games, compiling a 6.64 ERA across 40.2 innings of work.
He has exciting stuff, like his ability to throw a fastball above 100 mph, but his walk rate has always held him back.
Alcala currently sits with a 12.1% walk rate this season, which is not ideal for relievers. That does not compare to some other relievers in the league, like Emmanuel Clase’s 6% walk rate or Josh Hader’s 7.6%.
Alcala made his MLB debut back in 2019 as a member of the Minnesota Twins. He stayed with the organization until earlier this year when he was flipped to the Boston Red Sox. The hard-throwing righty will earn $1.5 million this season, and if he does well enough, he can be retained for the 2026 season via arbitration.
However, that is not the only relief pitcher that the Cardinals have brought in recently. St. Louis was also able to grab Anthony Veneziano from the Miami Marlins a few days ago.
Veneziano appeared in 24 games for the Marlins this year, compiling a 4.74 ERA across 21 innings pitched. For now, Veneziano will make relief appearances in Triple-A, with JoJo Romero being the only left-handed relief pitcher on the big league roster after John King’s trip to the 15-day IL with an oblique strain.
