When Andre Pallante delivered the biggest pitch of his season and maybe his career, he was not on the mound 鈥 but on the phone.
Before he could make the call and make his case to turn a step back into the minors as a giant leap forward in his career, Pallante had to first accept why the Cardinals demoted him in late April, just a few weeks into his third year in the majors. He was a right-handed reliever with a 6.30 ERA, almost as many walks as strikeouts, and no discernible way to consistently suppress right-handed hitters.
鈥淚 got sent down because I wasn鈥檛 getting guys out,鈥 Pallante said, bluntly.
What he had was an idea, and in phone conversations with manager Oliver Marmol and pitching coach Dusty Blake he presented it. If he could develop a second fastball and refine other pitches 鈥 things to attack right-handed batters 鈥 he could help them as a pitcher. If he was going to do that they could help him by putting him in the Class AAA rotation. He wanted the five-day schedule and the innings to workshop pitches.
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He was confident if they gave him that time, he鈥檇 improve as a pitcher.
What he became is a starter.
鈥淰ery few people bet on themselves that way,鈥 Marmol said.
鈥淲ho knows how that could have gone?鈥 Pallante said at his locker late Monday night. 鈥淚 had to reframe it. They could have just sent me down as a bullpen guy: 鈥榃e鈥檒l call you back up when we need an arm.鈥 But they told me they wanted me to get better. And they put me in a position to get better. That was really how I felt, like I knew somewhere I needed to improve. I was able to accomplish it. 鈥 Teams don鈥檛 have to do that. We work for them.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 know where I would have been without it.鈥
At a time when the Cardinals鈥 development of players is under intensifying scrutiny, a leading example of the system鈥檚 success showcased his strides Monday night at Busch Stadium.
Opposite Pittsburgh Pirates rookie Paul Skenes, whose promotion from the minors was an MLB event this summer, Pallante 鈥 whose demotion was a footnote everywhere else but St. Louis 鈥 outdueled the Bucs phenom. Pallante pitched deeper into the game (seven innings) than Skenes, struck out more (nine), and allowed fewer runs (zero). Pallante鈥檚 seven shutout innings and career-best nine strikeouts led the Cardinals to a 4-0 victory and asserted (again) his place in the Cardinals鈥 rotation plans.
As conversations shift to the future, he鈥檚 made a statement about his role in it.
鈥淵ou talk about growth, and you look at Pallante last year and you look at where he is today and he鈥檚 done a really nice job of every outing just targeting something about his game that he can improve upon,鈥 Marmol said. 鈥淭aking a small step forward, a small step forward. We talk about the running game or first-pitch strikes or sinker and landing that. You talk about process and seeing a ton of improvement and development in one of our starters?
鈥淧allante is the poster child for that.
鈥淗e鈥檚 done an incredible job,鈥 Marmol continued, 鈥渙f being a better version of himself every time out.鈥
Undone in recent starts by walks 鈥 10 in his previous 10 innings 鈥 Pallante had a fix for that. During his between-start bullpen he threw 30 pitches. Twenty-eight were fastballs.
He threw one slider.
He threw one curveball.
鈥淚 never would have done that in the past because I would have felt I need to throw six of them just to feel it,鈥 Pallante said. 鈥淢y other pitches felt good because of my fastball.鈥
He asserted it early.
Pallante allowed a leadoff single in the first inning, and then got ahead and struck out four of the next seven batters. By the end of the middle of the fifth inning, he had far more strikeouts (seven) than he permitted baserunners (two). That approach he took in his bullpen session he continued to start at-bats Monday 鈥 throwing the fastball over and over and over again. Five of his first seven strikeouts began with a four-seam fastball for a strike.
Skenes opened a way for the Cardinals to cobble together a run in the fourth by missing on a third attempt to pick off Alec Burleson and committing a new-rule balk that gave Burleson second base. That put him in position to advance on a groundout and score on Nolan Arenado鈥檚 two-out single to center. Immediately after the Cardinals had a 1-0 lead, Pallante was at his most assertive, following a perfect fourth inning he began the fifth with back-to-back strikeouts. He struck out three consecutive batters around the Cardinals鈥 rally and finished each strikeout with a different pitch: knuckle curve, fastball, and slider, respectively.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 need to be scared of a 2-2 count, a 3-2 count like, oh, I might walk a guy,鈥 Pallante said. 鈥淚 have confidence that I鈥檒l be able to throw it right when I need to. Really, the first-pitch strikes. Being able to go out there and be like, 鈥業f you don鈥檛 hit this first-pitch fastball, I鈥檝e got all my other pitches.鈥 So, it was being aggressive with that, establishing that.鈥
And that all started down in Triple-A Memphis.
In separate phone calls with Marmol and Blake, Pallante talked through what he hoped to do with his demotion. Baker was part of the group that advocated for him, Pallante said. Several other baseball operations departments got involved, either offering him direction or presenting Pallante with analytics and data to show where improvements could be made. At Class AAA Memphis, he worked closely with pitching coach Darwin Marrero to develop a fastball for right-handers and how best to use it.
鈥淚 wasn鈥檛 going to be able to do that in the bullpen,鈥 Pallante said. 鈥淚 was not going to be able to figure out how to throw a second fastball when I needed to be available every day.鈥
Yet, as a reliever he had been a big-leaguer.
As a starter, he had no promises.
鈥淭here wasn鈥檛 a guarantee,鈥 Marmol recalled. 鈥淭hat conversation was easy. 鈥業n order for me to be here and stay here, I鈥檓 going to have to make some changes.鈥 It鈥檚 hard for guys once they get here to realize that. Guys just want to stay in the big leagues. It鈥檚 a different world up here. It鈥檚 a lot nicer. Once you get here, you never want to go back. He knew, 鈥業f I want to make a career out of this and want to be here for a long time there are certain things I have to do different, and there are certain things I have to be better at.鈥欌
Many of those things were on display Monday.
Pittsburgh overstuffed its lineup with right-handed batters, and those seven Pirates combined to go 4 for 20 with five strikeouts against Pallante. Two of those hits were by leadoff hitter Isiah Kiner-Falefa. When he singled to open the game or doubled in the third, the inning never revved up on Pallante. The walks didn鈥檛 follow. Outs did.
鈥淗e just seems like in such control of the game,鈥 Arenado said. 鈥淐ompared to last year, I mean, a totally different guy. It seems like he鈥檚 just in control of the game right when he steps on the mound.鈥
The Cardinals did not expand their lead from 1-0 to the eventual 4-0 until their final two at-bats. When Skenes left after completing six innings and allowing one run that was initially ruled unearned before the official scorer鈥檚 reconsideration, Pallante began the seventh with the one-run lead.
He quickly dealt with an infield single and error on the same play to put a runner in scoring position. He walked the next batter. There was also an uncontested stolen base. Five batters into the inning and the Pirates had the tying run at third, the go-ahead run at second, and a wild pitch would knot the game. A base hit would upend it. Oh, and a right-handed batter was at the plate. Marmol noted how a year ago 鈥渋f something didn鈥檛 go well the game would speed up and then it would snowball on him.鈥
It was about to get trickier.
An at-bat he began with the sinker that鈥檚 changed his season, Pallante thought he finished with a curveball to get the inning-ending, threat-erasing strikeout. He didn鈥檛 get the call. And the clock was ticking. He wasn鈥檛 ready to throw as the pitch timer reached 2 seconds. He left the pitching rubber, took a moment, returned and delivered a slider for a called strike 3 to end his seven superb innings.
鈥淪tepping off and resetting myself was important,鈥 Pallante said. 鈥淚n the past, I might have rushed through and just delivered the pitch. I want to be in the right headspace for it.鈥
In other words, he took a step back.
He took his time.
And he was better for it.