The St. Louis Cardinals announced the addition of a bit more pitching depth on Thursday. <\/p>\n
It’s been a good offseason overall for the organization. Not star-studded, by any means, like the Los Angeles Dodgers or New York Mets, but the Cardinals have addressed key needs for the club and have completed three different trades involving players with no-trade clauses. That’s no small feat. The Cardinals tried last offseason as well, but couldn’t trade Sonny Gray, Willson Contreras, Nolan Arenado or Miles Mikolas, at the time. So, the Cardinals pretty much had a lame-duck offseason last year and entered 2025 with a very similar roster to 2024. <\/p>\n
If you like our content,\u00a0choose Sports Illustrated as a preferred source on Google<\/a>.<\/p>\n This offseason has been full of changes. Mikolas entered free agency and the club opened up spots for young guys by trading Gray, Arenado and Contreras. That’s not all, though. The Cardinals have been strategic with their additions, including Dustin May and Ryne Stanek. St. Louis has added a handful of hurlers to the system and are now loaded with depth. Moves May and Stanek got a lot of headlines, but the Cardinals have also been shopping at the minor league level. For example, the team officially announced the signing of 25-year-old righty Robbie Knowles on Thursday. <\/a><\/p>\n We have signed RHP Robbie Knowles to a minor league contract.<\/p>\n Knowles, 25, joins his first professional organization after pitching his junior season at the University of Kansas in 2025. pic.twitter.com\/yqsCPLchtj<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Cardinals Player Development (@CardsPlayerDev) January 29, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n “We have signed RHP Robbie Knowles to a minor league contract,” the Cardinals announced. “Knowles, 25, joins his first professional organization after pitching his junior season at the University of Kansas in 2025.”<\/p>\n Tread Athletics shared on X on Jan. 20<\/a> that the two sides were in agreement, but the Cardinals didn’t announce the deal until Thursday<\/a>. <\/p>\n Congrats to Robbie Knowles on signing with the @Cardinals<\/a> \u270d\ufe0f\u2060 Coach: @ArowThrows<\/a> \u2014 Tread Athletics (@TreadHQ) January 20, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n Knowles is another lottery ticket for a low cost with upside. He pitched for the University of Kansas in 2025 and had a 10.97 ERA in 16 relief appearances. That number isn’t great, but this is a 25-year-old righty who can get his fastball up to 97 miles per hour. He landed his deal with the Cardinals after Tread Athletics hosted a Pro Day, so clearly the Cardinals saw something in him as well. <\/p>\n He boasts a legit fastball and a couple of offspeed pitches. Now, he joins an organization that can try to develop him into a big league pitcher. A 10.97 ERA in college in 2025 doesn’t sound great, but it doesn’t really matter anymore. If the stuff is there and the Cardinals can mold him, that’s what matters.<\/p>\n This is the type of move with only upside. Minor league deals don’t cost much at all. Now, he’ll have a chance to develop with the club. If he can make it to the big leagues at some point, that would be a massive win. If he doesn’t no harm to the big league club.<\/p>\n More MLB: JJ Wetherholt Has Real Shot to Break Camp With Cardinals<\/a><\/p>\n
\u2060@robbieknowles14<\/a> was dialed on Day 2 of Pro Day. \u260e\ufe0f\u2060
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\u2705 95-96 (T97.3) with 18-20″ VB\u2060
\u2705 Cutter in the low-90s\u2060
\u2705 Plus a mid-80s gyro and splitter\u2060<\/p>\n
\u2060#TreadFam<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/RH7ZHyrXEz<\/a><\/p>\n