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STL Cardinals: Pitching Prospect Mowing Down Hitters in Fall League
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- STL Cardinals: Pitching Prospect Mowing Down Hitters in Fall League
Roundtable Sports' John Denton discusses Tekoah Roby's strong performance in the Arizona Fall League.
A student of the game, president of baseball operations Chaim Bloom will regale anyone who will listen about how it was the St. Louis Cardinals and then-team president/GM/field manager Branch Rickey that invented the Minor League system in 1919.
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Frustrated with his inability to nab young talent through open bidding – sound familiar, Cardinals fans? – Rickey convinced owner Sam Breadon to purchase controlling interests in Minor League franchises in Houston and Fort Smith, Ark., that would develop and produce young talent for the big-league club.
Bloom, who just completed his first season while running the Cardinals' front office, has done extensive studies on Rickey's work more than a century ago and how many of the franchise's 11 World Series titles were fueled by a Minor League system that was far more developed than any other in baseball for decades.
When that system fell into disrepair, it was Bloom's job to fortify a player development process that the Cardinals know must be their lifeblood in a free-agency world. Rightly so, Bloom made re-tooling the franchise's Minor League system his top priority – in terms of adding coaches, evaluators, analytics staff and top-tier players.
While trading veterans Sonny Gray, Willson Contreras, Nolan Arenado and Brendan Donovan and later Dustin May, JoJo Romero and Lars Nootbaar, Bloom's return was more than a dozen prospects and draft picks. All his work, while adding prospects such as Alexander Frias, Josiah Ragsdale, Tai Peete, Trevor Condon, Tegan Kuhns, Jurrangelo Cijntje, Yhoiker Fajardo, Sandro Santana and Daniel Eagen, allowed the Cardinals' Minor League system to zip to No. 2 in the MiLB rankings, per Baseball America and No. 4, per MLB Pipeline.
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Adding those prospects to a group that already includes Rainiel Rodriguez, Liam Doyle, Tekoah Roby, Yairo Padilla, Sebastian Dos Santos, Jacob Odle and Mason Molina and it's easy to see why the Cardinals feel that brighter days are ahead for the organization.
Tekoah Roby has struck out 13 and walked just one in 9 2/3 scoreless innings of work in the Arizona Fall League. -- Jim Rassol-Imagn Images
Over the next few weeks, we'll be breaking down the top 30 prospects in the Cardinals' Minor League system. Today's prospect capsule is on starting pitcher Tekoah Roby, the right-handed pitcher who has dazzled in the Arizona Fall League after missing all of the 2026 Minor League season following Tommy John surgery in July of 2025.
Player name:Tekoah Roby
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Age:25
How acquired:The Cardinals acquired infielder/outfielder Thomas Saggese, lefty reliever John King and Roby from the Texas Rangers in exchange for left-handed pitcher Jordan Montgomery and right-handed reliever Chris Stratton on July 30, 2023
2026 statistics in the Arizona Fall League:Three games/three starts, 1-0, 0.00 ERA, 9 2/3 IP, six hits, zero earned runs, zero homers allowed, 13 strikeouts, one walk, .171 batting average against.
MLB Pipeline rankings:NR MiLB/No. 14 with Cardinals
Key numbers:When Roby last pitched in July of 2025, he was 7-4 with a 3.10 ERA, and 87 strikeouts compared to just 19 walks. Hitters were batting just .228 off him before tearing the UCL in his right elbow and needing Tommy John ligament replacement surgery.
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Looking back at 2026:After having the ligament replacement surgery in July of 2025, Roby was forced to miss the entire 2026 Minor League season. He spent his time in Jupiter, Fla., rehabilitating his way back to health. Because all he could do was catch pitch for months and forced to be intentional about his location, he predicted that his command on pitches should be better than ever. That has certainly been the case in the Arizona Fall League as Roby has fanned 13 batters while walking just one. Working on a strict pitch count while working his way back from injury, Roby has thrown just 9 2/3 innings over three outings and he hasn't allowed a run. Foes have just six hits and they are batting a paltry .171 off him. In his last outing on Oct. 21, Roby struck out four and didn't walk a batter over four scoreless innings of work.
Looking forward to 2027:The Cardinals have to be overjoyed that Roby was able to work himself back into game shape and thrive in the Arizona Fall League. The 25-year-old right-hander will almost assuredly get an invite to MLB Spring Training, and he could even make the Cardinals' Opening Day roster if he continues to blow hitters away. At the very least, Roby will be back at Triple-A Memphis and could get a midseason call-up as a depth starter. Before he was injured in 2025, Roby was pitching as well as he has in his five seasons in the Minor Leagues and was likely a few weeks away from an MLB call-up. When he does get called up in the season ahead, it will be Roby's MLB debut after spending six years in the Minor Leagues.
