Cardinals prospect Sem Robberse strikeouts out nine to match career-best: Minor League Report (2024)

With an arsenal consisting of four pitches, Cardinals prospect Sem Robberse diced his way through Gwinnett hitters on Friday to produce a career night in Triple-A Memphis’s 4-1 road win.

The 22-year-old right-hander matched a career-high in strikeouts with nine and set a career-high in innings with eight as he held the Braves Triple-A affiliate to one run on one hit and a pair of walks. On 98 pitches, Robberse collected 19 swing-and-misses and had 1/3 of his pitches lead to either a whiff or a called strike, per Statcast. Robberse’s changeup, which he threw 26 times and had an average velocity of 87.5 mph, had a 62% whiff rate making it the most baffling of the four pitches he utilized vs. Gwinnett.

The only blemish on Robberse’s pitching line was a run scored in the seventh inning on a ground out from Alejo Lopez that scored Forrest Wall from third after Wall walked to lead off the inning and reached third base following a passed ball and a groundout in the at-bat before Lopez’s.

Robberse’s outing shrunk his ERA to 1.59 over four starts to begin the Class AAA season. Across 22 2/3 innings, the native of the Netherlands has 23 strikeouts and a 0.93 WHIP to go with a 3-0 record. The nine strikeouts he collected were his most since collecting nine across 5 1/3 innings in a Sept. 15 start for Memphis a season ago. Robberse has struck out 67 batters in 58 innings and maintained a 4.03 ERA since he was acquired by the Cardinals from the Blue Jays at last summer’s trade deadline.

Here are other notable performances from around the Cardinals farm system:

Infielder Thomas Saggese, Class AAA Memphis: Riding a six-game hit streak entering Friday, Saggese extended it by going one-for-four and clubbing his second home run of the young season. The 22-year-old belted a 69 mph sweeper from Brian Moran to center field for a solo shot in the sixth inning of the Redbirds’ road win. With his home run, Saggese finished the day with a .286 average and a .464 slugging percentage through 56 at-bats. Since the start of April, Saggese is 16-for-49 (.327 average) with a .382 on-base percentage and a .531 slugging percentage.

Right-handed pitcher Tekoah Roby, Class AA Springfield: Across five innings, Roby struck out eight batters and allowed three runs on six hits in Springfield’s 9-4 win over Amarillo. All three runs allowed by Roby were via home runs in consecutive innings. The righty allowed solo shots in the third, fourth, and fifth frames, making it six total that he’s surrendered through three starts. The five-inning start from the 22-year-old was his third consecutive start this year during which he lasted five frames. He owns a 6.00 ERA and 15 strikeouts in 15 innings.

Infielder Jose Fermin, Class AAA Memphis: Fermin’s two-for-four performance included his third home run of the season and improved the 25-year-old to a .392/.508/.686 slash line in 16 games. The home run, which put Fermin four shy of matching his single-season high, led off Memphis’s win and traveled a projected 420 feet. Amid his strong start, Fermin leads the International League in batting average and walk-to-strikeout ratio (3.667) while he is second in on-base percentage.

Left-handed pitcher Quinn Mathews, Class Low-A Palm Beach: The former fourth-round pick from the 2023 MLB draft threw 3 2/3 scoreless innings, collected eight strikeouts, and walked four batters in Palm Beach’s 10-5 loss to Lakeland. Mathews produced a 50% whiff rate with a five-pitch repertoire that featured mostly his fastball, which reached a maximum of 96.8 mph and averaged 94.9 mph. That pitch accounted for 52 of the 83 pitches and led to nine whiffs for a 45% swing-and-miss rate. He also collected three swings-and-misses on his sinker and one on his slider. The eight strikeouts raised Mathews’ total to 25 over his first 12 innings of pro baseball. In that same span, the 23-year-old lefty has walked nine batters and maintained a 0.75 ERA and a 1.08 WHIP.