St Louis Cardinals sign former Toronto Blue Jays right-hander

Two days after non-tendering a contract to Robberse, the Cardinals have re-signed the former Blue Jays pitching prospect.

According to Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Robberse signed a minor league deal with an invitation to spring training with the Cards.

Robberse has yet to reach the big leagues. The 24-year-old was acquired from the Blue Jays at the 2023 deadline in the Jordan Hicks trade.

Robberse cracked the 40-man roster that offseason because the Cardinals didn't want to lose him in the Rule 5 draft.

He spent the '24 season in Triple-A and was optioned back there to begin this year. Robberse underwent surgery a few weeks into the season.

The young Netherlands-born righty has generally been a serviceable starter in the minors.

From 2021 to 2024, he tossed 414 1/3 innings, allowing 4.04 earned runs per nine. His 22.5% strikeout rate and 8.9% walk rate in that span were both fairly average numbers.

He also got ground balls on close to half of the balls in play he allowed.

This year, he got out to a rough start, posting a 7.36 ERA over four Triple-A outings.
However, that seems to have been mostly bad luck.

His .447 batting average on balls in play and 61.6% strand rate in that small sample were both to the unfortunate side.

Meanwhile, his 24.7% strikeout rate and 46.8% ground ball rate were both strong numbers. His 10.4% walk rate was on the high side but not egregiously so.

Teams frequently use the non-tender deadline to clear the back of the roster, often with the hope of re-signing the player to a minor league contract.