Cubs could give Cards’ Weaver rude welcome
For the second time in less than a week, St. Louis is set to introduce a marquee pitching prospect to the masses.
This afternoon, it’s Luke Weaver’s turn. The 22-year-old righty tackles the Cubs in his MLB debut at 2:20 p.m. ET. Acknowledging the difficulty of having to face the sport’s best team right out of the chute, online sports book Bovada.lv can’t quite bring itself to endorse Weaver. Chicago is listed as a 1.5-run favorite, while the Cardinals represent +190 underdogs.
Weaver draws his Windy City starting assignment mere days after fellow blue chip Alex Reyes turned heads in a relief outing vs. Cincinnati. Mike Matheny genuinely needs the Cards’ first pick in the 2014 amateur draft to come up big in the third game of the set at hand, too. The Cubbies slaughtered the visitors yesterday, 13-2, knocking out ace Adam Wainwright in the second inning.
Reyes tends to titillate a greater number of scouts thanks to his triple-digits fastball, but St. Louis actually feels more confident in Weaver’s ability to work deep into a contest at present. The Florida State product simply dominated at Class AA Springfield before graduating to Memphis last week. In his lone start with the organization’s Triple-AAA affiliate, Weaver tossed six frames of shutout ball.
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Not only will the rookie deal with Anthony Rizzo, Kris Bryant and the rest of Joe Maddon’s offensive wizards, his counterpart on the rubber is a formidable one. Kyle Hendricks boasts the National League’s second-best ERA at 2.17. He’s also 8-1 with a 1.19 WHIP at the Friendly Confines in 2016.
In short, the Cardinals are in trouble. With limited resources in the lineup to attack Hendricks, Weaver may not receive the support he needs in order to experience a successful coming-out party. Take Chicago to claim its 12th victory in a row, and decisively so.
SATURDAY MLB FREE PICK: CUBS -1.5