MiLB Player of the Day: Crossland Shows More Than Just Stuff

The Cardinal Chronicle
MiLB Player of the Day: Cade Crossland Shows More Than Just Stuff
St. Louis, MO
By Ray Mileur

Sometimes, the most important moment in a game doesn’t show up cleanly in the box score.

For Palm Beach left-hander Cade Crossland, it came in the very first inning.

Crossland, ranked as the No. 24 prospect in the Cardinals system, took the mound Thursday night against Bradenton and immediately ran into trouble. Three walks loaded the bases, his pitch count climbed quickly, and the inning stood on the edge of unraveling before it ever really began.

That’s the moment where young pitchers often lose the game.

Crossland didn’t.

He worked his way through the jam without allowing a run, settling himself and refusing to let the inning define the outing. It was not pretty. It was not efficient. But it was something better — it was competitive.

And from there, it was dominant.

Crossland came back in the second inning and struck out the side, flipping the tone of his night and setting the foundation for what would become one of the more impressive pitching performances in the system so far this season. When his outing was complete, the line read 3.2 innings, one hit allowed, no runs, six walks, and seven strikeouts.

The strikeouts will get the attention. The fastball, which reached 96 miles per hour, will get the headlines.

But it was the first inning that told the real story.

The Cardinals are developing Crossland as a starter, and nights like this show both sides of that process. The raw stuff is there — the ability to miss bats at a high rate is not in question. The next step, as it always is, will be command and efficiency.

Still, there is something to be said for a pitcher who can navigate trouble, make adjustments, and take control of a game after it threatens to slip away.

Palm Beach would go on to win the game 7-4, but the tone was set early by a young arm who refused to let a difficult start turn into a short night.

For a developing pitcher, that matters.

And on a night full of strong performances across the system, it was enough to make Cade Crossland the Cardinals’ Minor League Player of the Day.

 
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