Every player wants to end the season on a high note. No matter how impressive the year has been, it feels that much better to go out with a bang.
Jacob Odle’s 2026 swan song certainly fits the bill. The Cardinals’ No. 21 prospect compiled a career-high 12 strikeouts across five frames of two-run ball during High-A Peoria’s 5-3 win over Quad Cities at Dozer Park on Thursday night. He struck out at least two batters in each frame and polished things off by whiffing the side swinging in the fifth.
Tying in his two prior outings, Odle ended the year on a stretch of 15 frames in which he allowed just two earned runs, giving him significant momentum heading into 2027.
After a circuitous route through college that included stops at D2 Palm Beach State College and ultimately Orange Coast College (a JUCO program in Costa Mesa, Calif.), Odle popped onto scouting radars following a dominant stint in the MLB Draft League in 2023, when he compiled 29 strikeouts in 13 1/3 innings.
The Cardinals nabbed him in the 14th round of that summer’s Draft and handed him a slightly over-slot $250,000 bonus to get his pro career underway. But his elbow soon gave out, and as this season opened, the 6-foot-5 righty hadn’t pitched above Single-A.
But now more than a year removed from Tommy John surgery, his stuff has returned. Odle tore through a nine-outing stint with Palm Beach, posting a 1.91 ERA and 13.9 K/9 before getting the bump to Peoria in late May.
As his 6-foot-5, 210-pound frame would indicate, Odle gets down the mound well and backs it up with some premium velocity. His four-seamer is the star of the show, parking at 96-98 mph routinely, but he also has a sinking heater that gives batters fits from his high release point.
While the OPS discrepancy between righties and lefties wasn’t drastic, he buzzsawed lefties by holding them to just a .177 average. His above-average 82-86 mph curveball routinely backfoots opposite-side hitters, causing them to swing over the top. Despite 41 more plate appearances, lefties produced fewer total bases than their righty counterparts vs. Odle this year.
Across his 96 innings at the two levels, Odle finishes with a 3.19 ERA and 143 strikeouts, second-most among all Cardinals Minor Leaguers in 2026, while his .199 average-against ranks third in the system (min. 90 innings pitched).
But for all of the overwhelming positives, there’s also a catch: Odle concludes the year with a 15.5 percent walk rate, the fifth-highest in the Minors under the same innings parameters. Even if he slots into a relief role long-term, where his electric stuff can play up in shorter stints, he’ll need to cut that number down, at least slightly.
Take a look across the St. Louis farm and a theme emerges: There is a bevy of high-octane arms. Liam Doyle (STL No. 2/MLB No. 44), Tanner Franklin (STL No. 5) and Brandon Clarke (STL No. 9) all operate with 70-grade fastballs, while recently acquired Sandro Santana (STL No. 24) is one of just nine ranked prospects in baseball with a 70-grade slider.
None of that group — including Odle — has pushed up to Triple-A Memphis yet. While in an ideal world, they all would emerge as rotation options in the big leagues, the reality is that the fast lane to Busch Stadium could come in different roles.
COMPLETE CARDINALS PROSPECT COVERAGE
The Cardinals face a conundrum with Odle — who will turn 23 years old in November — this offseason. Set to be Rule 5 Draft-eligible, the club would need to add an arm that hasn’t reached the upper Minors to its 40-man roster or risk making him available to 29 other organizations, albeit one who would be appealing for the reasons laid out above.
No matter how it plays out, Odle has parlayed his first full pro campaign into a St. Louis pitching development success story.