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A lot of things serve as signals or signposts along a player’s journey that he’s entered into a new phase of their maturity. Physical changes often offer the most obvious indications, evidence of a player’s increased seriousness — whether it’s a loss of weight or an increase in muscle or noticeable increase in speed, quickness or velocity.

When a guy makes a mental leap, one that shows he’s taken on more responsibility, more ownership and handles that while demonstrating a high awareness of game situations, it’s equally remarkable.

Cardinals veteran reliever Phil Maton’s outing against the Cincinnati Reds on Saturday, an extra-inning outing that earned him his 20th career win the majors, proved the 32-year right-hander has moved into a new level of his baseball maturation.

Maton, who pitched in relief on a third consecutive day, entered a tie game with the automatic runner on second base right after the Cardinals left the bases loaded in the bottom of the 10th inning.

The momentum of the game already started to teeter in the Reds’ favor when they escaped the 10th, then Maton uncorked a wild pitch that sailed out of the reach and reflexes of catcher Yohel Pozo and put the go-ahead run on third base with no outs.

After the Cardinals won on a Pozo walk-off hit in the bottom of the 11th, manager Oliver Marmol could help but laugh a little bit when asked about the job Maton did to get through the top half of that final frame — striking out three batters (all swinging) and leaving runners on second and third.

“It’s impressive,� Marmol said. “He’s done it quite a bit now, where he knows when he needs the ground ball. He knows when he needs a punch-out. And he can do into each one of those modes and do it. But his overall composure and how he approaches it — it’s a steady heartbeat, man.�

Arguably the most underrated aspect of that impressive outing wasn’t just that he locked in after the wild pitch or that he got three strikeouts and prevented the opposition from putting a ball in play to strand a runner on third. The awesome part was that he pulled that off while also calling all his own pitches.

Maton didn’t just execute in that instance, he also thought his way through just about as high-leverage of a 23-pitch outing as he may throw this season.

Batters and pitchers talk about at-bats as individual battles, but they’re usually more like a two-on-one fight because the guy squatting behind the dish is recalling scouting reports, analyzing swings and processing information in real time and pulling the strings along with the pitcher if not for the pitcher.

On Saturday, Maton was the one figuring out the best way to get swing-and-miss to keep the go-ahead run from scoring. He went into it knowing it would only take one weak hit to change the game and “ruin a good outing.�

“I think sometimes the hitters dictate that a little bit,� Maton said of hunting strikeouts in that situation. “It depends on who is at the plate. Some guys are up there trying to get their best bolts off. Some other guys are just trying to shoot a heater the other way. That’s just the style of hitters they are.

“It’s just kind of knowing that before they get in the box, how to kind of exploit that as much as possible and try and prevent — especially in extra innings — weak hits the other way.�

If you hadn’t already realized it, Maton has reached to his belt before every pitch he has thrown this season. That’s him hitting buttons on his PitchCom transponder, which lets his catcher know what pitch he has decided to throw.

Catchers usually use PitchCom to let the pitcher know which pitch to throw, but Pozo readily acknowledged that his primary job with Maton is to frame, receive and provide a good target.

“I’m just receiving,� Pozo said. “It’s nothing I do. I’m just trying to receive the ball good for him, but he calls his game. He knows what he’s doing.�

Saturday in the 11th inning, Maton walked a batter, Connor Joe on a 3-2 count with a curveball he left off the outside corner of the plate. Of course, Maton also knew that a walk didn’t hurt him as far as his primary goal of keeping the runner at third base.

“He knows the lineup inside and out. He knows who is going to take a pinch-hit at-bat,� Marmol said. “This dude has a really good understanding of how to win.�

Maton’s outing always begins long before he ever presses a button on his device. He takes pride in the way he gets ready for games. He’s not guessing what will work when he enters the game.

The lessons he’s learned along the way, having now gone from a 20th-round draft pick out of Louisiana Tech to a guy who has appeared in 446 games in the majors, show up in his preparation.

“I just think doing a lot of homework and knowing who you are facing in the box, that’s what helps me the most and kind of allows me to choose the best pitch in those situations to prevent damage and prevent runs from scoring,� Maton said.

This season is the first time Maton has called his own games, and he decided to do it out of circumstance. He signed a one-year deal with the Cardinals as a free agent on March 13, two weeks before opening day.

Coming into camp that late, Maton felt it wouldn’t be fair to expect the catchers to learn him and how his stuff plays best with such a short period of time and few chances to work together. So he put that onus on himself.

“Getting older, it’s time to step up and do that,� Maton said.

Every pitch Maton throws really is him placing a bet on himself.