St. Louis Cardinals prospect watch: What to expect from Nolan Gorman, Matthew Liber atlanta braves jersey plus size atore after MLB call

For Cardinals fans, this news couldn't come soon enough. After falling to the Mets via a Pete Alonso walk-off home run on Thursday night and losing eight of their last 12 games, St. Louis is bringing in the calvary.

That help will come in the form of a pair of major league call ups that's been a few years in MLB Blanketsthe making.

The Cardinals announced they're bringing top prospects Nolan Gorman and Matthew Liberatore to the big league ranks. Both are expected to feature throughout the weekend; Gorman is poised to start at second base on Friday, while Liberatore will be on the hill for St. Louis on Saturday.

The pair has long been touted as future contributors at the next level, with Gorman slotting in as the No. 29 prospect in baseball, per MLB.com. Liberatore earned the No. 39 spot in this year's prospect rankings, too.

For all of the duo's plaudits, expectations might have to be tempered slightly. Gorman has serious pop in his bat, earning a 60 power grade. Liberatore is a control freak who projects as a mid-rotation innings eater going forward.

But there's always an adjustment period for youngsters. And given the struggles of highly-touted newcomers Bobby Witt Jr., Spencer Torkelson and Nick Lodolo, among others, it seems reasonable to assume that it may take the Cardinals' duo a little time to get acclimated to big league competition.

So, what can Cards fans expBryce Harper ect out of Gorman and Liberatore? Sporting News has you covered.

Gorman has serious pop…

If you've heard anything about Gorman over the years, it's his sillFernando Tatis Jr. y power. He's played 34 games in Triple-A this season and has 15 homers. One of them was this moonshot to left field. Rumor has it, the ball is still orbiting around the sun.

That type of strength tends to translate well to the next level. For Gorman, a 2B/3B hybrid with a cannon of an arm to boot, that's quite promising. His Triple-A slash line of .308/.367/.677 would look brilliant on any big league roster.

Gorman's plate approach seems to revolve around hitting the ball as hard and far as possible. He had an isolated power (ISO) of .368 in the minors this year. For comparison, Shohei Ohtani led all of baseball in ISO last season of… .335.

Gorman likes hitting bombs. But there's a cost to that approach, one that we've seen rear its head countless times in the big leagues.

…Gorman also strikes out. A lot.

Gorman is something of a whiff king at this point in his career. Despite hitting over .300 and posting an wRC+ of 171 in the minors this season, Gorman had a strikeout rate of 34 percent. That's an absurd number.

The 22-year old has always had a strikeout problem. Gorman posted a strikeout rate of 36.4 percent during his first spell in Single-A back in 2018. He followed that up by striking out 152 times in 512 plate appearances across A and A+ ball in 2019. That's nearly 30 percent, for those doing the math.

And although Gorman has seen steady improvement in his walk rate over the MLB Small Jewelry years (he posted an 8.2 percent BB rate in 2022), those whiffs could be a problem going forward.

In three-true-outcome baseball, perhaps a strikeout merchant like Gorman has more value than he would otherwise. Home runs are baseball's currency. GormMLB Toysan can se atlanta braves jersey 4xl nd balls into the cheap seats better than most.

But offensive production is down. The balls are deadened. Pitching is getting more and more stout.

And Gorman hasn't been able to crack the code on how to bring his K rate down. He's a minus fielder at this point in his career — MLB.com gave Gorman a 45 scouting grade in the infield — and a below-average runner.

That means a lot of his atlanta braves shop value is going to come from what he produces at the plate. Given that gnarly whiff rate, I would say Cardinals fans shouldn't be surprised if Gorman has some difficulties adjusting to the next level.

Liberatore is steady on the mound

In many ways, Liberatore is the absolute opposite of Gorman. While Gorman has a pair of attributes that can stick out on the box score, Liberatore isn't quite blessed with the nastiest pitches.

He makes up for it, though. Liberatore has four pitches with a 55 scout grade, according to MLB.com.  His fastball can touch mid-90s on a good day, a 12-6 curve that can both mystify hitters and coax weak contact, and an upper-80s slider that breaks from left-to-right.

All that amounted to a 10.35 K/9 average in Triple-A this year, a decent clip for a southpaw who isn't blessed with unbelievable velocity.

The jewel of the package the Cardinals received when th atlanta braves jersey youth ey sent Randy Arozarena to atlanta braves jersey boys the Rays, Liberatore doesn't necessarily figure as an ace. But, he has three atlanta braves jersey majestic seasons with a FIP below 4, he doesn't give up an extortionate amount of hits or homers, and when he's at his best, hitters aren't able to get a hold of his stuff.

Steamer, a projection system which uses past performance, aging trends and pitch-tracking data to forecast player performance, is similarly optimistic; Liberatore is slotted to have a 4.37 ERA with 67 strikeouts in 86 innings, according to their projection model.

While not exceptional, there's far worse things than having an inning eating 22-year old putting up a sub-4.50 ERA in his maiden season in the bigs.

For Cardinals fans hoping to get their first glimpse of their talented prospects, make sure to tune in this weekend. St. Louis faces off against Pittsburgh and Gorman and Liberatore are expected to see some serious playing time during the series.