BREAKING: Cardinals receives Ground-Breaking news on Closer Ryan Helsley in Spring Training
After a little over a week of Spring Training, pitchers finally had their first chance to face live batters, squaring off against their own teammates. St. Louis Cardinals closer Ryan Helsley, coming off a record-breaking season, quickly turned heads during his initial session.
Known for his triple-digit fastball, Helsley defied expectations by already reaching near midseason velocity in early camp, touching 100 mph against his Cardinals teammates. Left-hander Matthew Liberatore, a candidate for the fifth rotation spot but likely better suited for the bullpen, observed Helsley’s session from behind the mound. As he tracked the radar readings, lineup staples Lars Nootbaar and Alec Burleson also took notice, with Liberatore announcing that Helsley wasn’t just brushing the upper-90s—he was consistently sitting at 98 mph.
Despite earning National League Reliever of the Year honors with 49 saves last season, Helsley remains focused on further refining his dominance. During offseason training in Oklahoma, the 30-year-old revisited an old weapon—a cutter he had largely abandoned since his minor league days. Primarily a two-pitch reliever, Helsley relied on his fastball 45% of the time to complement his electric slider, which he threw 48% of the time. Now, his goal is to incorporate the cutter against Cardinals hitters in live matchups and determine the ideal situations to use it in high-leverage spots.
Last season, Helsley also experimented with a curveball, which had a different break than his power slider. Adding an effective cutter would give hitters another pitch to worry about while already contending with his triple-digit fastball. The cutter would likely sit in the mid-90s, a few ticks above his 90 mph slider. Despite his high-velocity fastball, hitters batted .276 against it, with just an 18% whiff rate, compared to 51% with his slider. If the cutter proves effective, it could help him regain the success of his 2023 fastball, when opponents hit just .224 with a 24% whiff rate.
Originally developed as a starter in the minors, Helsley had a four-pitch mix to navigate multiple trips through a lineup. As a closer, however, he has rarely needed to go beyond his two primary pitches to seal victories. With triple-digit fastballs becoming more common in today’s game, he sees value in sacrificing a few mph on another offering to create a middle ground between his fastball and slider.
Mariano Rivera, the Yankees legend and Hall of Famer, famously dominated with a nearly exclusive use of his 92 mph cutter. If Helsley can effectively reintroduce the pitch into his arsenal, he could take his already elite performance to another level.