St. Louis Cardinals: Why Randy Choate should only face lefties

The St. Louis Cardinals were drubbed by the Pittsburgh Pirates on Friday night by a 12-2 margin. It was an ugly affair all the way around for boys in red, particularly for the pitching staff.

All four of the Cardinals pitchers allowed an earned run, including lefty specialist Randy Choate, who manager Mike Matheny would prefer to not limit to a specialist role, according to what he told Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch:

“I think he was that kind of guy before he got here.  That’s not how we’re using him. We can’t afford to. When he’s continuing to make good pitches to righthanded batters when we need him to, it’s not using him wisely. If things change, we change. Right now, if we hold on to him to run through a righty or two to get to a big part of their lefthanded lineup, we know that he’ll be careful.”

Matheny's words are curious and further hint at the vulnerability of this bullpen and how it is currently constructed. 

Outside of Trevor Rosenthal and Carlos Martinez (both of whom are 23 years of age are younger), Choate is possibly the third more reliable reliever Matheny has to turn to. 

That is a problem. A huge problem. 

During his career, which spans an incredibly long time when compared to the other Cardinals relievers, Choate has allowed right-handed hitters to post a .278 average and .397 OBP. 

Not good. 

And yet, Matheny is saying he wants Choate to face more right-handers, which truly shows his lack of confidence in the rest of the bullpen and the ability of Seth Maness, Keith Butler and Pat Neshak to get Major League hitters out. 

The role of facing right-handers would seem better suited for Kevin Siegrist, who throws in the mid-nineties and was dominant against right and left-handed hitters in 2013. 

What is even more alarming about the situation is if Matheny is not confident in Maness, Butler or Neshak, and is willing to expand the role of Choate and put him in situations that he does not excel, then where is Sam Freeman? 

It would make more sense for Matheny to have Siegrist face more right-handed hitters and to keep Choate in his specialist role (something he is very, very good at) and let Freeman serves as the second lefty behind Choate. 

Instead, Freeman and his mid-nineties fastball is down in Memphis rotting away, a year after he showed flashes of being ready to compete at the Big League level in 2013.  In seven appearances last season, Freeman allowed just two earned runs in 6.1 innings and struck out 9.9 hitters per nine innings pitched. 

Having a bullpen with Freeman in it, as opposed to Butler, would give Matheny the flexibility to use one of his lefties (Siegrist, the best of the bunch) in an expanded role. 

Instead, Matheny is suggesting he will use Choate in a role he never has done well in throughout his 14 plus year career. 

And that folks, makes zero sense.