#21 - RHP Juan Gerardo Salas
Scouting grades: Fastball: 50 | Changeup: 50 | Slider: 45 | Curveball: 40 | Command: 55 | Overall: 40
Background: The Cardinals signed Salas as an amateur free agent out of Mexico in 2019. He spent his first few seasons in the DSL and FCL before getting a brief taste of the Florida State League at the end of his 2023 season. He started the following year with Palm Beach and quickly became one of the most underrated pitchers on a loaded pitching staff that helped lead the Cardinals to a Florida State League title.
Scouting Report: In his short time with Palm Beach in 2023, what immediately stood out about Salas was his arm action. His delivery starts with a slow leg kick, but he explodes with lightning-fast arm speed. He’s able to maintain that arm speed on his offspeed and secondary offerings, which is key to their effectiveness. Despite the aggressive arm action, Salas provided durability for the Cardinals' pitching staff, throwing 113 ⅓ innings in 2024. Salas sits around 92 MPH on his four-seam fastball, topping out at 95.6 MPH, though I think there’s more in the tank for him to add velocity. The pitch features some of the best riding life in the organization, generating 18.1 inches of induced vertical break from a near-average 5.8-foot vertical release height. He also has a strong feel for locating the pitch in the top third, where it plays best.
Despite the relatively flat approach angle, Salas’ arm slot is fairly over-the-top, making it easier for hitters to pick up. While the whiff numbers are underwhelming, the heater helps his secondary offerings, especially considering his ability to maintain arm speed. The biggest benefactor of that is his changeup, which is his go-to offspeed pitch against lefties, thrown 32% of the time. Salas struggles to kill vert with his higher slot, but the pitch still has about 7 inches more depth and horizontal compared to his fastball, along with a nine-MPH velocity separation. It looks identical to his heater coming out of his hand before falling off the table arm-side. Left-handed hitters posted just a .200 wOBA against it with a 34% whiff rate. He currently throws it almost exclusively to lefties, but I’d like to see him incorporate it more against righties.
Salas’ highest-used secondary against righties is his curveball, which didn’t perform all that well. It sits around 78 MPH with -8 inches of induced vertical break and -6 inches of horizontal break. At that shape, I wish the pitch had a bit more velocity. While I don’t think it’s unusable, I was surprised by how much he relied on it against righties, and I wouldn’t expect him to use it as much as he moves up the system. His remaining usage (~20%) against righties is taken up by an 82 MPH gyro slider. He shows solid feel for spinning the pitch, and it has a near-pure bullet profile with 2 inches of induced vertical break and 4 inches of glove-side movement. It was his best performing offering against righties, holding opponents to a .189 wOBA. I’m interested to see how Salas’ stuff plays as he climbs the system. He’s a more flyball-oriented pitcher, and I’d expect his home run rate to tick up once he gets out of the pitcher-friendly Florida State League.
Future: Though there are still some questions about how his stuff will play in the upper levels, Salas’ command, solid fastball characteristics, and diverse pitch mix give him a shot at developing into a back-end starter. If that doesn’t come to fruition, a few more ticks of velocity could also open the door for a bullpen role.
