The St. Louis Cardinals have continued their late-season bullpen retooling, dipping into the waiver wire once again to add right-hander Jorge Alcala, who was claimed from the Boston Red Sox.
After trading away some key arms at the deadline, St. Louis is clearly committed to finding fresh options-and quickly-restocking the bullpen carousel with both minor league call-ups and now, established major league relievers like Alcala.
The 30-year-old Alcala is no stranger to the big leagues. He’s been in the mix every season since 2019, logging appearances for both the Twins and Red Sox-185 in total.
His time in Minnesota ended earlier this season after a pretty rough stretch: a bloated 8.88 ERA over 22 outings, despite a career-best strikeout rate (10.18 K/9). The big issue?
Command. Alcala walked batters at a 5.55 per nine clip and had a walk rate north of 12%.
Opponents were hitting .296 against him too, fueling traffic on the basepaths and making it tough for Minnesota to stick with him.
Boston took a shot on him in a low-risk move involving minor leaguers, and while the numbers haven’t exactly popped off the page, Alcala showed signs of becoming a serviceable option. Over 19 appearances and 16.1 innings with the Red Sox, he posted a 3.31 ERA. Even so, that ERA doesn’t tell the full story-he allowed 11 total runs and continued to struggle with control, though slightly improved with a 10.5% walk rate.
Where the intrigue lies is in the stuff. Alcala still brings a high-octane fastball, averaging 97.2 mph this year.
That’s a tick down from last season, but it’s still up there with some of the hardest throwers in the league. In 2024, he strung together a solid campaign: 3.24 ERA, 24.7% strikeout rate, and a more manageable 8.5% walk rate.
He leaned heavily on his slider that year, throwing it nearly 40% of the time with a strong 32.6% whiff rate-it was his bread and butter, no question.
This season, however, Alcala has shifted gears, adding a curveball to his arsenal and using it more than the slider. So far, the payoff hasn’t been ideal.
Neither pitch is currently grading out as particularly effective league-wide, and the slider usage dip is especially noteworthy given how well it worked for him just a year ago. Getting back to that pitch mix might be key to unlocking some upside with the Cardinals.
As of now, Alcala takes a spot on the Cardinals’ 40-man roster, and it looks like he’ll step into a bullpen role right away. There’s been no word yet on who might be optioned to make space, but both Ryan Fernandez and Andre Granillo would be logical candidates after recent struggles, particularly a rough outing against the Dodgers.
For St. Louis, it’s a low-risk swing on a power arm with late-inning potential. If Alcala can find the strike zone a little more often-and maybe reintroduce that slider-he could be a sneaky impactful addition down the stretch.
