The St. Louis Cardinals come into the holiday season having made several trades already this offseason. Their most recent one involved them sending first baseman Willson Contreras to the Boston Red Sox.
In exchange, the Cardinals received two prospects as well as right-hander Hunter Dobbins. Dobbins missed most of the 2025 season recovering from a torn ACL, but he has been rehabbing ever since, and once he’s healthy, he could be a part of the Cardinals’ rotation.
In an interview with Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Dobbins discussed his rehab and sounded optimistic about where things currently stand.
If you like our content, choose Sports Illustrated as a preferred source on Google.
New Cardinals Hurler Expresses Excitement For 2026
Jun 20, 2025; San Francisco, California, USA; Boston Red Sox starting pitcher Hunter Dobbins (73) throws against the San Francisco Giants in the fourth inning at Oracle Park. Mandatory Credit: Eakin Howard-Imagn Images | Eakin Howard-Imagn Images
“I think this year, once I’m full go, because of the kind of diving off into the numbers and stuff — this is the year that it really pays off…. Because I’ll be the most prepared that I have been,” Dobbins told Goold.
Dobbins made 11 starts and two relief appearances with Boston this past season, going 4-1 with a 4.13 ERA. Bloom drafted him in the eighth round back in 2021.
But the 26-year-old right-hander sounds very optimistic about the future as well as his recovery from his ACL injury. He has had time to recover and could be a solid bounce-back candidate for St. Louis.
He can at the very least compete for a spot in the rotation, as now, the Cardinals have a lot of starting pitching depth. This could give them a bit of an upgrade over starters that struggled like Andre Pallante and Miles Mikolas.
If Dobbins is healthy, the Cardinals may have a chance to surprise some people, at least on the pitching side, as there is much more depth now than there was at the end of the season, even before Sonny Gray was traded.
The right-hander is a high-upside arm that could be a real difference-maker if he can stay healthy, and he seems to believe that he is about to turn a corner, at least once he’s fully recovered.
This should be an encouraging sign for Cardinals fans, who are hoping for more stability from their starting rotation. It will be interesting to see how Dobbins progresses and what his role might be for the team in 2026 and beyond.
More MLB: What Can Cardinals Get From Red Sox For 2025 All-Star?