JUPITER, Fla. — Shortly after walking from the back fields of the Cardinals complex to the patio outside of the team’s major league clubhouse, reliever Phil Maton envisioned how his Wednesday outing in a minor league game could bridge into the regular season.
“I think the next step is getting in the game this weekend, whether that’s Friday or Saturday, the game in Memphis, and then we got the Twins at home in Busch Stadium,†Maton said.
Maton, 31, joined the Cardinals last Thursday when his one-year deal, which marked the first big league free-agent deal the Cardinals struck before opening day, became official.
The inning he threw against a team of Washington Nationals minor leaguers marked his first in-game spring outing. As he awaited offers from teams, Maton threw bullpens while training in Arizona. He threw a session of live batting practice Sunday to a group of catchers ahead of Wednesday.
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In an outing caught by Cardinals catcher Pedro Pages and attended by Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol, the right-hander used fewer than 20 pitches to retire the four Nationals minor leaguers he faced. He began his inning by collecting a strikeout, looking, on a curveball and, after allowing a double, induced a groundout to third base before notching a swinging strikeout on his curveball.
“I know these games — they’re different,†Maton said of Wednesday’s appearance. “They have no scouting reports. We’re just kind of out there. It honestly just feels like backyard baseball, but them tracking it (the curveball) as a fastball and being really early, that shows the shape on it’s really good.
“I think one thing is the TrackMan numbers, but another thing is the lateness of break, and I feel like right now, especially the curveball, it’s holding that line a little bit out of hand for a good amount of time. It’s getting some pretty late break, so hopefully that can carry into season.â€
When it comes to his workload, Maton said he is “completely built up.†The veteran with over 400 appearances in the regular season and another 26 in the postseason described himself as a pitcher who has usually arrived to spring training “prepared pretty early†and said he feels “game-ready right now†thanks to a strong offseason program.
After Wednesday, the Cardinals have games on Friday, Saturday and Sunday before leaving Jupiter for an exhibition game March 24 against the Memphis Redbirds at AutoZone Park in Memphis, Tennessee.
Following the Cardinals’ 7-1 Grapefruit League win over the Nationals at Roger Dean Stadium, Marmol said he had yet to meet with pitching coach Dusty Blake and bullpen coach Julio Rangel to discuss what is next for Maton.
With the outings that may await him before opening day on March 27, Maton said he is more focused on “checking†boxes with his mechanics rather than searching for results.
His first game outing provided a trend in that direction.
“Everything I’m feeling down the slope feels really good right now. That’s what I’m really happy about,†Maton said.
Repositioning Pallante for rotation
Four days after his most recent start, Andre Pallante threw 20 pitches in a live batting practice session on the back field Wednesday to ready him and the Cardinals for a reorganization of the rotation. The Cardinals wanted to avoid Pallante and at least one other starter, Erick Fedde, from going a week or more between starts as they readied the rotation for its regular-season roll out.
The Cardinals are still discussing and looking at what a six-man rotation would mean for the opening weeks of the regular season.
Pallante will begin the year as a starter, a team official said.
And the move to a shorter outing Wednesday was not about his role but about his schedule. (“There is a plan,†manager Oliver Marmol said.) The Cardinals announced Sonny Gray and Michael McGreevy as the starters for Friday’s split squad game with McGreevy hitting the road to face the Mets and Gray pitching at home against Houston.
By having Pallante face hitters in a brief look before Thursday’s off-day, the Cardinals set him up for a start this weekend as the rotation reveals itself around him.
Extra bases
Steven Matz completed six innings and allowed one run on four hits vs. Washington. The left-hander walked one batter and struck out two in an 85-pitch outing that shrank his Grapefruit League ERA to 2.29.
Starting in center field, Victor Scott II homered once in four at-bats to give him his third home run of the spring. The solo homer traveled a projected 400 feet. He is batting .359 through 14 games. Scott’s home run was one of two hit by a Cardinal on Wednesday. The other came from Alec Burleson, who hit a solo homer 417 feet to right-center field.
Lars Nootbaar and Willson Contreras both delivered two-hit games from the top of the Cardinals lineup. Nootbaar, who batted from the top of the order, improved to a .306 average with the performance. Contreras raised is Grapefruit League average to .412.
Closer Ryan Helsley pitched one scoreless inning of relief. He recorded one strikeout and touched 100.3 mph with his fastball in the outing.
