This injured prospect getting guidance from Cards HOFer

This story was excerpted from John Denton’s Cardinals Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

ATLANTA -- Leave it to none other than Cardinals Hall of Fame closer and special advisor Jason Isringhausen -- a former star pitcher whose career was often sidetracked by three arm surgeries, two hip surgeries and a broken wrist -- to bring some perspective to left-hander Quinn Mathews’ rocky start to the season.

Mathews, who was named 2024 Minor League Pitching Prospect of the Year after he climbed four Minor League levels and struck out 202 batters, saw his momentum toward the big leagues slowed in April by pitch delivery issues and shoulder pain. The Cardinals’ No. 2-ranked prospect, per MLB Pipeline, started the Triple-A season 0-2 with a 6.10 ERA and 15 walks in 10 1/3 innings before being shut down with shoulder soreness.

Isringhausen, a two-time All-Star who pitched for the Mets, Athletics, Cards, Rays and Angels from 1995-2012, has offered plenty of pep talks to the 24-year-old Mathews. Recently, Isringhausen forwarded Mathews a video of Dodgers pitcher Tyler Glasnow discussing how to pitch through injuries.

“Glasnow talks about ‘mound traumas,’ and for whatever reason, that phrase stuck with me,” Mathews said. “Obviously what I’ve gone through isn't a mound trauma, but the outings felt like they were because they were bad.”

Mathews, a Stanford grad and an admitted overthinker, chuckled about his three rough outings, but then he went deep to talk about how the bad start will eventually make him better.

“With traumas, there is growth that comes from it,” he promised. “Unfortunately, the best stories aren't the ones that are the easy ones. This is a part of the journey, and it's a learning experience. Unfortunately, I’m going through this, but I’ll be better from it.”

That’s certainly the hope of a Cardinals organization that has lost No. 3-ranked prospect Tink Hence (oblique strain), No. 12 prospect Cooper Hjerpe (Tommy John surgery) and Mathews early this season. Since being placed on the 7-day injured list on April 14, Mathews has been doing resistance-band and weighted plyometric ball work. The next step in his rehab will come on Wednesday or Thursday when he rejoins the Redbirds in Norfolk, Va., and restarts his throwing program.

Mathews, who didn’t allow an earned run in two MLB Spring Training outings and was compared to a young Clayton Kershaw during a solid outing in the Spring Breakout, said the shoulder pain was an accumulation of work throughout the spring. He also thinks his wayward mechanics led to his lack of control and pain in a shoulder that has proven bulletproof for years.

“I was never pitching in pain or with any real discomfort, but the reason that I’m having the issues is because my mechanics got a little out of whack, and then it’s a domino effect with other things,” Mathews reasoned. “The body is all connected, and if you have a mechanical issue, then it causes other things to go wrong. I had a mechanical issue, it caused my release height to go up, and then there's some discomfort in the shoulder. So stuff like that happens.”

Cardinals pitching coach Dusty Blake, who raved about Mathews’ “game IQ” after working with him in Spring Training, confirmed that mechanics are at the root of the lefty’s issues.

“The biggest thing that happened was that his shoulders were tilting [back] more, and typically you want shoulder and hip alignment,” Blake said. “He created less alignment from that rotation of his shoulders being steeper. Whatever he was working on got him to that [shoulder tilting] spot. As humans, these guys are always making small changes and adjustments. Now we’re just trying to get him back on the runway.”

Mathews credited new Cardinals assistant GM Rob Cerfolio and pitching director Matt Pierpont with being proactive in helping him find the root causes of his early-season struggles. Also, close friend Jimmy Crooks (No. 4 in the Cards' system) pointed this out to the lefty early on: “You just don't look like you right now,” Mathews recalled from a conversation with the straight-shooting catcher.

Also, Isringhausen is always there to share a pick-me-up video or a story from his injury-filled playing days with Mathews to help him keep things in perspective.

“Izzy’s like Jimmy [Crooks] a little bit with me, where he saw through the smoke-and-mirrors act I tried to put up and he shoots it to me straight,” Mathews said. “He lets me know what I need to hear. He fought through a lot of injuries, so he gets what's going on and what it's like to not be sharp. So he's been a great person to lean on.”