The St. Louis Cardinals had a quietly busy day on Tuesday.
The deadline came and went for teams to add prospects to the 40-man roster to protect them from being selected in the Rule 5 Draft. On Tuesday, the Cardinals announced that No. 4 prospect Leonardo Bernal, No. 11 prospect Joshua Baez, No. 13 prospect Cooper Hjerpe, and No. 21 prospect Brycen Mautz are being added to the 40-man roster. On top of this, the Cardinals announced that veteran right-handed pitcher Jorge Alcala is being designated for assignment.
“We have made the following roster moves: OF Joshua Baez, C Leonardo Bernal, LHP Cooper Hjerpe,(and) LHP Brycen Mautz selected to the Major League roster,” the Cardinals announced. “RHP Jorge Alcala designated for assignment.”
The Cardinals had a busy day
With Alcala being designated for assignment, that means that clubs will have an opportunity to place a waiver claim on him. If he goes unclaimed, then he could either enter free agency, or head to the minor leagues for St. Louis.
He had a busy 2025 season, to say the least. He pitched in 15 games for the Cardinals and had a 5.02 ERA. Alcala also pitched in 19 games for the Boston Red Sox and had a 3.31 ERA in 16 1/3 innings pitched. That’s still not all. He also made 22 appearances for the Minnesota Twins and had an 8.88 ERA.
Alcala has been around the block throughout his seven-year big league career so far. The first six full seasons of his career were spent with the Twins, but the 2025 season took wild turns for him.
Of the prospects promoted to the big league roster, the guy who is most interesting is Bernal. He spent the 2025 season in Double-A and MLB.com currently has his estimated big league debut scheduled for 2026. He’s on the doorstep, but the most likely option for him is beginning the season in Triple-A, especially with the logjam of catchers in the big leagues right now for St. Louis.
MLB.com has 2026 projections for all four of the prospects added to the 40-man roster, so it will be interesting to see if any of these guys can win a job in camp. Clearly, the Cardinals didn’t want to risk them in the Rule 5 Draft.
