The St. Louis Cardinals are in the midst of an offseason that could see a lot of rebuilding.
That made Wednesday's Rule 5 Draft an intriguing opportunity, and the Cardinals took advantage of the lone pick they made.
They selected Matt Pushard, a right-handed pitcher from the Miami Marlins.
The Cardinals will give the Marlins $100,000 for Pushard, and if he doesn't last the whole season on the MLB roster, they'll have to offer him back to Miami for $50,000.
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Pushard played the 2025 season at Triple-A Jacksonville. He had a 3.61 ERA in 62.1 innings, and his FIP was actually lower at 2.98, so his stuff wasn't a fluke.
Even more notably, Pushard had a 35.2 Whiff% and a 39.5 Chase%.
Check out this chart: Pushard is legit.
The St. Louis Cardinals select Matthew Pushard (from MIA) with the 7th pick in the Rule 5 Draft
— Thomas Nestico (@TJStats) December 10, 2025
Matt Pushard spent 2025 in AAA and posted an solid 3.61 ERA and 2.98 FIP across 62.1 innings with Jacksonville. His fastball was dominant in AAA with a 35.2 Whiff% and 39.5 Chase% pic.twitter.com/3bPPAFu7fr
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The plan for the Cardinals will surely be to use Pushard out of the bullpen and try to let his dominant stuff do its thing at the major league level.
He'll likely start the season with a low-leverage role, but it wouldn't be surprising to see Pushard earn a larger responsibility if his stuff works in MLB the way it has at Triple-A.
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