About to be asked he is a believer in the power of different looks and angles from lefties to throw at opponents, Marmol interrupted the question: “Yes! Different look? Yeah.”
Hjerpe, 25, was the college strikeout king the season before the Cardinals drafted him and viewed as one of the most relentless competitors in that draft class. His rise to the majors, however, took detours through the surgeon’s office.
In 2023, he had surgery to remove loose bodies in his left elbow. In 2024, his season was abruptly truncated by another elbow injury, and in April 2025, he had Tommy John surgery. At the time, the Cardinals said they expected him to possibly miss that entire season and half of this one.
The Cardinals’ Class AA affiliate noted that Hjerpe went 733 days between his appearances with it, first as a rising prospect and next as he recovered for this run to the majors.
“I kind of came to terms with this last surgery, (because) it was the biggest one I’ve had so far, and once you go through something like that, you have to accept it,” Hjerpe said. “There’s no coming back in six months, eight months. You have to start from the ground up. This is God’s plan for me. Everybody’s road to the big leagues is different, and not many get to be in the big leagues. I’m truly blessed to be here.”
In five starts at Triple-A Memphis, Hjerpe struck out 27 in 19 innings, and he had a 1.89 ERA while also managing his workload and building stamina. He walked 17 batters, and that played into what he said before Sunday’s game.
“I’m going to go out there and throw strikes,” he said. “That’s all I know.”
That’s about all he did.