Quinn Mathews knows how to make adjustments, both physically and mentally.

MLB Pipeline's No. 80 overall prospect made them when the 2022 Draft didn¡¯t go his way as a Stanford junior and he went back for his senior year. And he made them repeatedly in an outstanding first full season that started in Single-A and finished in Triple-A while dotting the Minor League leaderboard in a host of pitching categories. It was a season deemed worthy of both Minor League Pitching Prospect of the Year and Minor League Debut of the Year honors on Monday night.

¡°I appreciate the honor and it means a lot to represent the Cardinals organization in a way our whole group has as a pitching unit this year,¡± Mathews said. ¡°To get the accolades, it is personal, but I think it represents more than just me. It represents the group work that we all put in the offseason and the quality we put in during the season, so I think it¡¯s more than just an individual award.¡±

The Cardinals' No. 3 prospect was twice honored after finishing with a 2.76 ERA in 143 1/3 innings across four levels. Mathews became the second pitcher since 2011 to surpass the 200-strikeout plateau (Brandon Pfaadt did it in 2022). Among full-season qualifiers, the 23-year-old finished second in strikeout rate (35.4 percent), fourth in average-against (.179) and seventh in WHIP (0.98).

All of this came a year after Mathews hit the reset button as a college junior. He thought he had pitched well enough to go early enough in the Draft and make the decision easy for him. When he didn¡¯t hear his name called until Round 19, he admitted there was resentment.

¡°I had full expectations of going and playing professional baseball,¡± Mathews said. ¡°I thought my junior year was pretty good, to be quite honest. MLB and the Draft and the teams kind of disagreed. And you know what? I was bitter with baseball. After the second day went, I was like, ¡®OK, I¡¯m going back my senior year and kind of betting on myself and we¡¯re going to prove how good we are.¡¯ And it obviously was a risk.¡±

That was when Mathews made his first big adjustment, and this one was one in his attitude. He realized he might not have been as big of a Draft prospect as he perceived himself to be.

¡°There were some alarm bells going off when you look at my true line,¡± he said. ¡°The walks were probably the biggest one. And it¡¯s not like my stuff was anything exceptional either. ... I had to get back to the drawing board, make those adjustments and swallow that pill of ¡®I¡¯m not that good.¡¯ If I am going to bet on myself, we just have to go out there and do what we can do to compete at the highest level.¡±

Mathews hasn¡¯t stopped since. After a stronger senior year, he went in the fourth round of the 2023 Draft. He didn¡¯t really throw after signing, so the Cardinals didn¡¯t see what kind of pitcher they had on their hands until this spring. It was hard not to be impressed.

St. Louis started Mathews in Single-A Palm Beach, but he made his first move up the ladder after just six starts, a 1.47 ERA and a 15.3 K/9 rate. After seven outings with High-A Peoria, he was nudged up to Double-A, and nine starts later, he ended the season with Triple-A Memphis. He finished with a 12.7 K/9 rate, and perhaps more importantly, just 3.1 BB/9.

It wasn¡¯t all pure dominance. The southpaw walked five in his first professional start for Palm Beach. He gave up five earned runs in his second High-A start, six earned in his third start with Springfield. But each time he quickly adjusted and got headed back in the right direction.

¡°It was kind of a roller-coaster year where, early on at each level for whatever reason, it would take me two to three outings to find my footing and my bearings,¡± Mathews said. ¡°That¡¯s the hardest thing, how long does it take you to figure it out and then adapt your pitching in order to beat that?¡±

¡°One of the things that allowed him to move up so quickly was how quickly he was able to make adjustments,¡± Cardinals senior Minor League pitching coordinator Tim Leveque said. ¡°He was able to make quick perceptions about what he needed to do. It says a lot about his pitching IQ, especially because how much more advanced the hitters were at each level.

¡°It was fun to see how quickly he would adjust at the next start. He didn¡¯t let it snowball. Having the weapons to do it is a big part of it.¡±

Those weapons are much better than they were in college after Mathews added strength in the offseason. His fastball now touches 97 mph with above-average ride. He has a hard slider and a really good changeup, and he¡¯s learned a lot about how to mix and match during his rapid ascent.

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¡°The performance speaks for itself and it¡¯s a performance business,¡± Leveque said. ¡°I think he had a good first chapter in his career. He ultimately knows there¡¯s a higher ceiling to get to. I¡¯m sure he has big goals for himself.¡±

Actually, he doesn¡¯t.

¡°I don¡¯t really set goals,¡± Mathews said. ¡°To be honest, the word ¡®goals¡¯ kind of has always freaked me out. ¡­ It was the first year going in, I didn¡¯t know what to expect. I knew I was going to grind in the offseason and we were going to see what we had when we got back.

¡°That was the biggest thing, just trusting the process. I know I was doing the work, so let's see if it pays off and wherever I ended up, I ended up. It was, ¡®How do I go out there and prove that I need to be pitching at the next level as quickly as possible?¡¯¡±