Cardinals Sign P Zach McAllister To Minor League Deal
The St. Louis Cardinals have signed right-handed pitcher Zach McAllister to a minor league contract with an invite to Spring Training, where he’ll report to add depth to the pitching staff. He will wear #66.
The last time 34-year old McAllister pitched in the major leagues was in 2018 for the Cleveland Indians & Detroit Tigers.
The Chillicothe, Illinois native was a 3rd round pick in the 2006 MLB draft by the New York Yankees but made his MLB debut with Cleveland in 2011. In eight seasons, McAllister went 29-35 with a 4.09 ERA striking out 542 batters in 591.2 innings. Between starting and relieving, McAllister is 18-26 with a 4.56 ERA in his 68 starts and 11-9 with a 3.38 ERA and one save in 212 career relief appearances.
He had short stints in the Los Angeles Dodgers & Texas Rangers minor leagues from 2018-2020.
McAllister was signed by the Phillies in August 2021 and made appearances at the Florida Complex League in Clearwater then at Triple-A Lehigh Valley before he was released in September. He compiled a 1-1 record with a 4.22 ERA over 11 appearances with two starts.
The Cardinals seem to have their rotation set with Jack Flaherty, Adam Wainwright, Miles Mikolas, Dakota Hudson and Steven Matz (who the team signed prior to the lockout).
St. Louis has also signed pitchers Nick Wittgren, Drew VerHagen & Aaron Brooks this off-season to help bolster their bullpen with some stop-gap experience. McAllister falls into this category as a low risk/high reward type of signing that the Cardinals can stash in Triple A if he doesn’t make the club coming out of camp.