The St. Louis Cardinals exceeded expectations in 2026, finishing with a 77-85 record, which was good for 4th place in the NL Central.
While a sub -.500 record isn’t necessarily supposed to be exciting, the Cardinals pretty much traded away their entire team last offseason, so they were predicted/projected to lose 90+ games.
However, the Cardinals had a few bright spots on both the offensive and pitching side of things in 2026. St. Louis will now likely be fairly active in player transactions during this offseason, and they are already rumored to be interested in left-handed reliever JoJo Romero in a reunion signing.
Speaking of player transactions, the Cardinals very quietly released a 21-year-old player from their organization this past weekend.
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Cardinals Release Pitcher Xavier Cruz
According to MiLB.com’s transaction tracker, the Palm Beach Cardinals released pitcher Xavier Cruz.
It wrote (on 11/7):
“Palm Beach Cardinals released RHP Xavier Cruz.”
Cruz, 21, has spent the past three seasons within the Cardinals organization, but he is now eligible to sign with any of the 30 MLB teams.
The 21 y/o right hander is from Santiago, Dominican Republic.
He spent both the 2024 and 2025 seasons with the Cardinals’ DSL team, and the furthest he made it in the organization was A (Palm Beach).
Across just 61.1 IP in the organization, Cruz logged an ERA of 4.11 with 78 strikeouts.
The strikeout numbers are certainly there, but he also issued 38 walks in those 60+ IP. Having a BB/9 over 5.0 just isn’t going to be attractive to any MLB organization.
It will be interesting to see if he’s able to land another job shortly, or if his professional baseball career will be over.
St. Louis Cardinals Quietly Released 21-Year-Old Pitcher From Organization