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Matthew Liberatore 2023 MLB Outlook: Last Year’s Struggles Dampened Expectations
Matthew Liberatore's light dimmed a tad last year and he's fallen down prospect rankings in the last couple of years. That was mainly due to his struggles at Triple-A in 2022, before his call-up to the Cardinals which didn't go great either. In 22 starts at Triple-A, Liberatore had a 7-9 W-L record, 5.17 ERA, 1.38 WHIP and 116 Ks (115.0 IP). His 4.27 xFIP suggests he ran into some bad luck but his struggles in the Majors (albeit a small sample size) do warrant some expectations to be tempered. In nine appearances (seven starts) for the Cardinals, Liberatore had a 2-2 W-L record, 5.97 ERA, 1.73 WHIP and 28 Ks (34.2 IP). The excellent control Liberatore displayed throughout his Triple-A career disappeared as his 11.2% BB% shows, while the 17.4% K% highlights an issue putting away hitters. But, Liberatore is still only 23 years old and has a chance to compete for a spot on the Cardinals roster, although it'll likely take an injury for him to make the rotation. I'm certainly not willing to write off Liberatore's chances of being a fantasy-viable pitcher based on last year. He's not someone I'm targeting as an option in 2023 redraft leagues but you could do worse taking him in the last round, especially if he does break camp with the Cardinals.
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