St. Louis Cardinals Promote Mel-High Grad, Eastern Florida Standout Jake Walsh to Major Leagues

Made major league debut last Wednesday in a 10-1 victory over the Baltimore Orioles

ST LOUIS, MISSOURI – Space Coast native Jake Walsh made his major league debut last Wednesday in a 10-1 victory over the Baltimore Orioles and returned to the bump Friday night appearing in the 8th and 9th inning striking out four in the Cardinal’s loss to the San Francisco Giants.

Walsh, 26, was born in Brevard County and grew up playing South Beaches Little League. He graduated from Melbourne High School and then attended Eastern Florida State College and Florida Southern College.

In 2017, as a junior at Florida Southern, Walsh started 16 games and went 12-1 with a 2.80 ERA over 99+2⁄3 innings. Following the season’s end, he was selected by the St. Louis Cardinals in the 16th round of the 2017 Major League Baseball draft.

Last Wednesday, the Cardinals recalled Walsh from Triple-A Memphis. In nine games in relief in Memphis this season, he allowed one earned run in 11 innings. He has a 0.82 ERA with six saves and has struck out 16 and walked five batters.

Walsh signed with St. Louis and then made his professional debut with the Johnson City Cardinals of the Rookie-level Appalachian League, going 5-0 with a 0.95 ERA over 28+1⁄3 innings.

He spent the 2018 season with the Peoria Chiefs of the Class A Midwest League and the Palm Beach Cardinals of the Class A-Advanced Florida State League, appearing in 25 games (24 starts) with both clubs in which he went 9-5 with a 2.51 ERA and 116 strikeouts.

Walsh appeared in only two games in 2019 due to injury and did not play a minor league game in 2020 due to the cancellation of the minor league season caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

In 2021, Walsh missed time due to injury but still appeared in 17 games with the Springfield Cardinals of the Double-A Central and the Memphis Redbirds of the Triple-A East, going 2-2 with a 2.86 ERA and 34 strikeouts over 22 relief innings.

He was selected to play in the Arizona Fall League for the Glendale Desert Dogs after the season.

In November of last year, the Cardinals selected Walsh’s contract and added him to their 40-man roster. He then returned to Memphis to begin the 2022 season, and on May 11, the Cardinals promoted Walsh to the big leagues.

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