Matt Svanson wasn’t the biggest-marquee name acquired at the 2023 Trade Deadline, but his move from the Blue Jays’ organization to the Cardinals in a deal that sent infielder Paul DeJong the other way was the most impactful for Double-A Texas League batters who were consistently thwarted from mounting late-game comebacks this season.

With 27 saves to his ledger for Double-A Springfield in 2024, Svanson ranked second in all of Minor League Baseball in slamming the door on a victory. It’s been a swift re-acclimation to the ‘pen for a hurler who made 16 of his final 17 collegiate appearances as a starter after beginning his time on campus for Lehigh University as a reliever.

“It's different -- stats don't matter. Nothing else matters other than going out, making sure that your team wins at the end of the game. It's awesome,” Svanson said of pitching in the ninth. “You're building up the whole game whether your team's winning or losing, you're kind of ready. You're anticipating that they're either gonna come back or you're gonna hold the lead to go out there. It's my favorite mentality -- it’s what I love doing.”

It’s not uncommon for clubs to see if an explosive bullpen arm could translate his stuff to a starting role after being selected. Svanson, a 13th-round pick in 2021, made nine starts in '22 for Single-A Dunedin, but beyond those outings, he’s waited for the bullpen door to swing open before entering the game.

“The mentality is ‘get hot quick, get out there,’” Svanson said. “My stuff played better as a reliever. I liked it more personally, so it was a pretty easy transition once I switched it to the bullpen.”

That stuff, entering 2024, was a hellacious sinker/slider combo that over 53 1/3 innings across three levels last season didn’t yield a single home run. But despite producing a 1.86 ERA and 10.8 K/9 as he climbed to Double-A upon his acquisition by St. Louis, the 25-year-old looked for ways to continue tweaking his arsenal.

The Cardinals broached the idea of adding a harder, more biting cutter to Svanson’s sinker-heavy mix as a way to combat left-handed hitters peppering the ball to the opposite field. It worked. During a pregame bullpen session earlier this season with catcher Jimmy Crooks (Cardinals No. 5 prospect), the backstop recommended a tweak to his cutter grip as a way to maximize movement. Svanson has run with the offering ever since.

While the 6-foot-5, 235-pounder took more heart in his saves total than the underlying metrics, he recognized that his time with the Glendale Desert Dogs in the Fall League would be a prime opportunity to put himself on the Cardinals’ big league radar for 2025 and look for ways to increase his strikeout total.

“I definitely want to strike more people out, but how I want to get there is I want to use the slider more. I kind of went away from it toward the end of the season,” Svanson said. “It wasn't really my best pitch, I really went fastball/sinker heavy [since] I know that's going to play. So I really want to utilize my secondary pitches because I know at the next level -- which I'm hoping to get to -- that I’ll have to use those more.”

Cardinals hitters in the Fall League

Thomas Saggese, INF (No. 4): One of the headliners (alongside right-hander Tekoah Roby) in the return for Jordan Montgomery at the Trade Deadline in 2023, the right-handed-hitting Saggese rode his advanced bat-to-ball ability all the way to a stint in the Majors this September. The 22-year-old was one of just two members of the St. Louis farm system to post at least 20 doubles and 20 homers, doing so while more than four years a junior to the average Triple-A International League player. The Fall League is often described as a “finishing school” before making the jump to the bigs, a move he hopes to make permanent in 2025.

Leonardo Bernal, C (No. 9): Despite repeating the Single-A Florida State League in 2022 and ‘23, the switch-hitting Bernal was still just 20 years old when the Cardinals gave him his first taste of the upper Minors in late August with Springfield. The Panamanian standout draws rave reviews within the organization for his ability to work with pitchers and all-around commitment to his craft. His stint with Glendale will allow him the opportunity to not only face advanced pitching in the box, but to work with other clubs’ arms that are knocking on the big league door as a backstop.

Nathan Church, OF: A former high school teammate of Paul Skenes during his high school days in Southern California, Church went on to a storied college career with UC Irvine where he set the program’s single-season hits record in 2021. An MLB Draft League alum, the left-handed-hitting outfielder has moved one level per season since joining the organization as an 11th-round pick in 2022. Church showed a propensity for making dramatic diving catches while manning all three outfield spots, helping to increase his defensive versatility. Having reeled off back-to-back campaigns with at least 20 doubles and 20 steals, the 24-year-old is looking to find consistency at the dish against more consistent arms.

Cardinals pitchers in the Fall League

Trent Baker, RHP: A Division II standout at Angelo State College, Baker landed with the Cardinals as a ninth-round pick in 2021. He has followed a one-level-at-a-time pattern since joining the organization, culminating with 22 outings for Double-A Springfield this year. He helped make franchise history on Sept. 14, notching the strikeout that gave the club its single-season record. He operates with a low-90s heater, low-80s slider and mid-80s changeup, having been used more often in shorter stints toward the end of the season.

Alex Cornwell, LHP: Despite posting a 5.35 ERA across 15 starts in his final season with USC, St. Louis saw enough out of Cornwell to nab him as a 15th-round pick in 2021. After an impressive 2023, his stuff backed up a bit at the upper levels this season, although he climbed as high as Triple-A Memphis, where he made six relief appearances. The southpaw works with a four-pitch mix, which includes a low-90s heater, a lightly used mid-80s changeup, a mid-80s cutter and a slower high-70s slider that operates as a distinct offering. Never known as a strikeout-dominant hurler, he struggled to generate a significant amount of swing-and-miss in his brief Redbirds stint.

Ixan Henderson, LHP: It’s hard to see Henderson’s first full pro season as anything but a resounding success. An eighth-round pick out of Fresno State in 2023, the southpaw posted a 2.34 ERA across Single-A and High-A, averaging a tick better than a strikeout per inning while allowing just five home runs in 104 frames. Equipped with a four-pitch mix and a sneaky deceptive delivery that allows his mid-90s heater to jump on batters, the 22-year-old has the look of a pitchability-type starter.

Brycen Mautz, LHP: Primarily a reliever in his first two seasons at the University of San Diego, Mautz joined the rotation and blossomed into a second-round Draft choice in 2022. He frequented the Cardinals’ Top 30 Prospects list -- rising as high as No. 13 prior to ‘23 -- as a ground-ball machine at Single-A Palm Beach in his first season. While he was able to stack up strikeouts (9.5 K/9) this season for High-A Peoria, his overall stuff backed up, knocking him off the list and raising questions about his long-term viability in the rotation. He gets a ton of horizontal movement with both his four-seamer and sinker, while his 78-82 mph slider is a nasty offering that could make him particularly potent out of relief.