For many, a debut professional season played with three teams in three different cities at three different levels would be overwhelming. For Quinn Mathews, it’s the Cardinal way.

The 6-foot-5 lefty, who spent four years as part of the Stanford Cardinal, has shot up the St. Louis Cardinals' system since his 2023 fourth-round selection. He added yet another impressive start to his résumé on Saturday night, leading the Double-A Springfield Cardinals to a 4-1 win over Frisco at Riders Field with 11 strikeouts over seven scoreless innings.

“It was hot,” Mathews said of his performance. “I knew going into it that guys were going to be a little more aggressive because it’s hot and for whatever reason, hitters like to be swing-happy.”

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The 11 strikeouts for the Cardinals’ No. 3 prospect are not an aberration. Across his stops with Single-A Palm Beach, High-A Peoria and now Double-A Springfield, Mathews has racked up a Minor League-leading 168 punchouts. And while even some top prospects struggle when catapulted to the higher levels, he has taken each promotion in stride.

“I’ve had to adjust quite a bit,” Mathews said. “These guys are definitely older and better and more selective. They don’t really chase as much, which can be frustrating at times when you’re making what used to be a quality pitch and now it’s an easy take.”

The adjustment didn’t take long. After allowing a combined 14 hits in his second and third Double-A starts, MLB’s No. 85 prospect settled in. Over his last four games, Mathews has a 0.75 ERA with 37 strikeouts. In the midst of this, he received the nod to represent the Cardinals system in the 2024 All-Star Futures Game, where he struck out two in a shutout inning for the National League team.

While that lineup was composed entirely of MLB’s top prospects, the Springfield roster features a mix a young and veteran talent. The latter -- in the form of 27-year-old Chandler Redmond -- provided all of Mathews’ run support on Saturday with two skyscraping homers.

“We have a talented lineup, and for Chandler to do what he did not just offensively with the two homers and the four RBIs -- you see the play in the eighth inning where he goes up onto the railing and catches the baseball with two outs. Those little things add up over time,” Mathews said of Redmond’s performance. “A guy like that who is always in it one hundred percent with intensity, we love to see stuff like that and get rewarded when he gets his pitch to hit.”

As his sixth double-digit strikeout game indicates, Mathews is adept at going with the flow and rising to the occasion. But how can he go from the Stanford Cardinal to the Springfield Cardinals in just over a year without losing a beat? According to Mathews, it’s all part of the plan.

“People talk about progressing and leveling up and getting into the higher and higher ranks, but my pro journey started a little later,” he said. “The hope and the intent going into the season was how quickly can I work up into the system and what opportunities will I give myself to put myself in a position to move up.”

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From a rare senior college season to abbreviated Single-A and High-A stops, Mathews’ path to the big leagues hasn’t been traditional. The biggest lesson he’s learned in his first pro season is how to embrace just that:

“Everyone’s journey is different, and mine is just one of those journeys that is going to be different than everyone else’s.”