The St. Louis Cardinals have called up infield prospect Thomas Saggese, the team announced Tuesday. The addition comes as Brendan Donovan continues to be limited by a foot injury. Donovan has served as the team's primary second baseman since Nolan Gorman was optioned back to Triple-A in August because of his struggles at the plate. In a corresponding move, Victor Scott II was demoted to Triple-A.
As for the 22-year-old Saggese, the Cardinals acquired him from the Texas Rangers as part of the five-player trade that sent Jordan Montgomery to Texas in July of last year. Coming into the 2024 season, our R.J. Anderson ranked Saggese as the No. 3 prospect in the Cardinals' system. Here's part of his write-up:
"Saggese, acquired from the Rangers as part of the return on Jordan Montgomery, might end up being a better player than he is a prospect. That is to suggest that he's consistently outperformed expectations, to the extent that there might be something under the hood that the eye test doesn't capture. Saggese projects to be an above-average hitter with enough defensive versatility to ping-pong between second and third as needed. This may prove to be sweet on the profile, but that's the catch with this type: you risk being too high (or low) on them until they force your hand. We think Saggese has done just that."
This season, Saggese has batted .253/.313/.438 in 125 games for Triple-A Memphis with 20 home runs, 23 doubles, and nine stolen bases. While the overall numbers are a bit disappointing for Saggese, he's been much more productive over the latter half of the season. As well, Saggese for the first time in his career has spent the majority of his defensive innings at the shortstop position.
For his minor-league career, the former fifth-rounder has batted .285/.354/.488 across parts of four professional seasons.
Saggese will join a Cardinals team that is presently 72-71 and 6 1/2 games out of the third and final wild-card spot in the National League. He's hitting seventh and playing shortstop Tuesday night against the Reds.
