- LOUIS, Mo., June 6, 2025 – The St. Louis Cardinals today announced their selections for Minor League Player and Pitcher of the Month for May, with Springfield Cardinals (AA) right-handed starting pitcher Tekoah Roby and Palm Beach Cardinals (A) catcher Rainiel Rodriguez (pronounced rah-EE-nee-el) taking home the honors.
Rodriguez, 18, slashed .370/.520/.852 and led all qualified Cardinals minor leaguers in OBP, SLG, OPS (1.372), home runs (7), extra-base hits (12) and runs (22), while also posting 16 RBI (T8TH ), 16 walks (T2nd ), and 46 total bases (3rd) in just 18 games with the Rookie-level FCL Cardinals. He homered in a career-high four straight games from May 13-17, and reached base safely in his first 17 games to begin the season.
“Rainiel’s early season success has not come by chance. One of our hardest working players in Florida, his daily processes and routines are extremely intentional, thorough, and effective,” said Cardinals Director of Player Development Larry Day. “Whether he is training in the gym, the cage, or behind home plate, Rainiel is on a mission to improve. We are very happy that Rainiel is yielding in-game success from his hard work.”
Recently promoted to Single-A Palm Beach on June 3, Rodriguez was signed as an international free-agent out of the Dominican Republic in April 2024 and appeared in 41 games with DSL Cardinals last season where he slashed .345/.462/.683 with 10 HR and 38 RBI as a 17-year-old. Rodriguez was named the Florida Complex League Player of the Month by Minor League Baseball after leading all FCL hitters in OBP, SLG, OPS, HR, XBH and runs scored in May. He becomes just the fifth player at the Rookie level to win organizational monthly honors since the team began recognizing minor leaguers in 1995 and the first since 3B Malcom Nuñez with the DSL Cardinals in August 2018.
Roby, 23, posted a 2-1 record with a 3.86 ERA (10 ER/23.1 IP), 1.03 WHIP, 33 strikeouts and just four walks across five Double-A starts. Among qualified Cardinals minor league hurlers, Roby ranked first in SO, SO/9 (12.73) and SO/BB (8.25) ratio, while also ranking 3rd in WHIP. His month was highlighted by a career-high 11 strikeout outing on May 16 vs. Amarillo.
“Eric Peterson and the rest of our pitching team have done a great job partnering with Tekoah to train towards an athletic delivery that ultimately leads him to working in advantageous counts from the get-go. This can be seen in the increase in his K% and decrease in BB% over the last month,” stated Day. “TK’s ‘in-between-starts’ routines have really solidified recently through intentional throwing programs and deliberate bullpens. While his recent production comes as no surprise to those that know TK as a worker, we are thrilled that he is experiencing in-game success.”
Originally selected in the 3rd round of the 2020 MLB Draft out of Pine Forest High School in Pensacola, Florida, Roby was acquired by the Cardinals at the 2023 trade deadline along with INF Thomas Saggese and LHP John King in exchange for pitchers Jordan Montgomery and Chris Stratton. Ranked as the No. 6 prospect in the Cardinals organization entering the season, Roby has compiled a 4-2 record with a 2.49 ERA, 0.96 WHIP and 57 strikeouts across 10 starts with Springfield this season. He joins teammate LHP Ixan Henderson as the second Springfield pitcher to earn the Pitcher of the Month award this year.
— STL —
