It was another busy week on the farm for the Cardinals’ minor league affiliates, one that featured more call-ups, hot bats and a historic performance from Class AA Springfield (Missouri) on Friday.
Led by Tink Hence, the Cardinals threw a combined no-hitter against Corpus Christ exactly one year after throwing a no-hitter in seven innings.
Prior to Friday, the team-centric highlight of the week came Thursday, when Springfield clinched the North Division first-half title and a spot in the Texas League playoffs with a 7-1 win over Corpus Christi.
Updates on top 10 prospects
JJ Wetherholt, SS, Class AA Springfield
Wetherholt has maintained a hot bat, recording a hit in 11 of 12 games from June 3-18. In Springfield’s playoff-clinching win over Corpus Christi, Wetherholt didn’t record a hit but drew two walks and scored both times. His slash line of .316/.441/.469 is rock solid for the 2024 first-round pick.
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Quinn Mathews, LHP, Class AAA Memphis
In his most recent start against Norfolk on Wednesday, Mathews allowed just one hit in five innings while recording six strikeouts. For the second time in his past three starts, he picked up a win while allowing no earned runs, marking the first time he’s done that since August 2024.
Hence, RHP, Class AA Springfield
In his first Class AA appearance of 2025, Hence struck out eight batters in 4 1/3 innings as part of a combined no-hitter. The only base runner he allowed came via walk. Everything was working for Hence, whose fastball topped out at 96 mph.
Jimmy Crooks, C, Class AAA Memphis
In the back half of Memphis’ six-game series at Gwinnett, Crooks’ bat was hotter than the Georgia sunshine.
On June 14, his two home runs — a solo shot in the fourth and a two-run blast in the sixth — made up 100% of the Redbirds’ runs in a 3-0 win. His encore performance the next day featured an RBI double in the series finale.
After going 0 for 4 in the series-opener against Norfolk, he went 2 for 3 on Thursday, capping off Memphis’ sixth-inning onslaught with a three-run home run during a 9-3 victory.
Thomas Saggese, INF, Class AAA Memphis
Saggese was called up to ºüÀêÊÓÆµ on Friday morning, making it to Busch Stadium just in time for the Cardinals’ game against the Reds. He went 1 for 4, although he reached first base in the seventh after a throw from Reds third baseman Gavin Lux missed first baseman Spencer Steer, allowing a pair of runs to score.
Entering Friday, Saggese’s hit streak in Memphis had reached seven games. All but one of those contests — Thursday against Norfolk — saw Saggese record multiple hits. He hit a towering three-run home run into left field Wednesday, which earned him player of the game honors.
Leonardo Bernal, C, Class AA Springfield
The big lefty hit home runs in consecutive games June 11 and 13 against Tulsa, the latter of which was a three-run laser into right field that gave Springfield the lead in the sixth inning. He also collected a pair of hits in back-to-back games June 15 and 17.
Entering Saturday, he leads the Texas league in on-base plus slugging percentage (.913) and is tied for second in home runs (11).
Rainiel Rodriguez, C, Low-A Palm Beach
Rodriguez struggled in Palm Beach’s first two games against St. Lucie, going 1 for 10 at the plate. But he picked up a pair of doubles on June 15, one of which registered at 102.2 mph off the bat.
Yairo Padilla, SS, FCL Cardinals
After starting June red hot, Padilla has crashed back to Earth at the plate, going hitless in five consecutive appearances.
Chase Davis, OF, Class AA Springfield
June continues to be unkind to Davis, although he’s found a small spark lately. Over his past six games entering Saturday, he’s 3 for 22 with three singles. In the month of June, he’s just 5 for 58.
Michael McGreevy, RHP, Class AAA Memphis
Since being sent back down to Memphis on June 9, McGreevy has made a pair of starts. On June 14, he picked up a win over Gwinnett, throwing six shutout innings while allowing only three hits.
He was called back up to the big leagues on Thursday, starting in ºüÀêÊÓÆµâ€™ extra-inning win to complete a series sweep of the White Sox. He allowed a solo home run to Ryan Noda in the second inning, but that was his only major blemish of the outing, as he gave up just two other hits in five innings of work.
McGreevy didn’t stay with ºüÀêÊÓÆµ for very long, as he was optioned back to Memphis on Friday.
Other standouts
Joshua Baez (Class AA Springfield) continued to smash in Springfield. On Thursday, he crushed a pair of home runs, which had exit velocities of 111 and 112 mph. The day before, he hit a 454-foot moonshot to left field. Baez is up to 10 home runs in 2025.
Juan Pablo Cabrera (DSL Cardinals) came up clutch Thursday. With the Cardinals trailing 8-6 in the bottom of the ninth, Cabrera hit a three-run, walk-off home run. The blast was his first, in his 89th minor league at-bat.
Nathan Church (Class AAA Memphis) hit his first Class AAA home run on Wednesday, a grand slam into right field. He followed that with an inside-the-park home run on Friday that featured a pair of Norfolk outfielders crashing into each other in the right-center field gap.
Travis Honeyman (High-A Peoria) entered Saturday with a four-game hit streak. That included a two-run shot Thursday.
Roby roughed up (again)
Following a dreadful start June 11 in his Class AAA debut, the skies didn’t get much clearer Tuesday for Tekoah Roby.
In the series opener against Norfolk, Roby picked up the loss, allowing six earned runs (three of which came on three solo home runs) in 5 2/3 innings.