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Yet, Liberatore came into this year with a decidedly open-ended view of how things might unfold.

That blend of being detail-oriented while also not putting hard and fast limitations on himself will be vitally important for Liberatore and the Cardinals as he steamrolls into uncharted territory as a big-league starting pitcher.

“I think the plan coming in was just to try and win a spot in the rotation,” Liberatore said in the clubhouse at Busch Stadium following his start against the Chicago Cubs last week. “And the plan after that was to make the first start of the year and see what happens after that.”

“As far as discussions with me go, there was no talk about innings or workload or anything like that. And, honestly, I think I’d want it that way. I don’t want to know if I have a limit and then I’m pressing for getting efficient innings or trying to limit how much I’m throwing or anything like that.”

After his move to a full-time relief role last year, with several spot starts parsed into the season, Liberatore made the jump back to the starting rotation this year.

Liberatore, 25, has already thrown more innings this season (86 1/3) than any of his previous seasons in the majors.

Last season when he made 60 appearances (54 in relief), he threw 1/3 less innings for the entire season than he had entering his scheduled start on Sunday. Though Liberatore has still thrown fewer pitches this season (1,267) than last season (1,358).

The Cardinals seem intent on being safe without being scared to feed both right-hander Andre Pallante and Liberatore a full starter’s helping this year.

The six-man rotation they’ve utilized at times this season has provided extra days of rest. Liberatore and Pallante have each thrown 100 pitches in an outing once this season, and in both instances it came when they’d had five days of rest after their previous start.

“Just continuing to communicate and make sure that they’re honest with exactly how they’re feeling as we work through the next stretch,” Cardinals manager Oli Marmol said of the approach to the increased workloads of Pallante and Liberatore.

“We don’t have a number of innings in mind where we have to cut (Liberatore) off. This guy likes to throw, understands his body really well, recovers really well. And we’ll be super in tune with that.”

Let’s also remember that Liberatore started throughout his time in the minor leagues and threw significantly more than 86 innings in a season on multiple occasions.

In fact, Liberatore tossed 149 2/3 innings in the 2022 season combining minor-league and major-league outings. He followed that with 126 1/3 combined innings in 2023.

Would it be crazy to think Liberatore might approach 170 innings this season or that the Cardinals would allow such a thing?

I don’t think that’s crazy.

I think about what the New York Mets are doing this season by making former New York Yankees closer a starter. Holmes has already thrown 25 more innings than last season, and he’s been arguably the club’s best starter.

I also think about , who pitched as a swing man for the New York Mets before he went to the San Diego Padres as a full-time starter. He jumped from 65 innings pitched in 2022 to 146 1/3 in 2023, when he hadn’t eclipsed 100 innings since 2018.

Last season, Lugo jumped from 146 1/3 innings to 206 2/3 innings in a career year that included 33 starts, an All-Star selection and a second-place finish in the AL Cy Young Award voting.

Liberatore’s workload relative to last season came to the forefront of people’s mind because at the end of May, 11 starts into the season, Liberatore’s velocity started to dip.

The velocity drop carried from one start to the next. After one of those starts, at home against the Royals, Liberatore came out of a game due to what the club called fatigue-related issues. He described it as him being out of sync.

For a three-start span, opponents roughed him up as if he were a punch-drunk boxer with slowed reflexes who just kept climbing into the ring.

He allowed 17 runs (16 earned) on 24 hits (four home runs) in 14 innings during that stretch. He took the loss in all three starts and posted a ERA of 10.29 in those games.

“I’ve thrown over 140 innings in a year before, it’s just that the past, you know, year and a half-ish have been primarily out of the bullpen, but I feel good about being able to handle this workload,” Liberatore said.

“I think what I went through a few weeks ago was on par for this time of year and getting into these summer months now. It’s just nice to see I’m starting to bounce back well and feeling good again.”

That’s why hitting the wall was a good thing, because he had to learn how to come out the other side.

Liberatore, pitching coach Dusty Blake, the strength and conditioning staff and the training staff put their heads together and came up with a plan to address what Liberatore described in hindsight as having hit “a little bit of a wall.”

In his past two starts (13 innings), he’s allowed just four runs on 11 hits (no homers). Both outings were quality starts, and Liberatore picked up the wins in both games as he posted an ERA of 2.77.

While a three-start losing streak certainly shouldn’t ever be the goal for Liberatore, those types of stretches will force him to make progress and hopefully put him on a path to make even bigger strides in subsequent seasons. This season, his stumbles are as important as his wins.