Matt Pushard

Organization Prospect Rankings

• 
  Ranked St. Louis Cardinals #29 prospect in 2026
  BA Grade/Risk: 40/Average
  
  Adjusted Grade: 30
  
  Track Record: Pushard signed with the Marlins as an undrafted free agent out of Maine in July 2022. He has moved quickly throughout the minor leagues and reached Triple-A in 2024. He returned to the level in 2025 and pitched to a 3.61 ERA with 73 strikeouts across 62.1 innings. After a full season with Jacksonville, he was left unprotected by the Marlins for the Rule 5 draft. He was selected by the Cardinals with the seventh pick.
  
  Scouting Report: A pure relief prospect, Pushard is a big-bodied righthander who throws exclusively from the stretch. He mixes five pitches in a four-seam fastball, cutter, sweeper, curveball and changeup. A majority of his usage is split between his four-seam fastball, cutter and sweeper. His four-seam fastball sits 94-96 mph and touches 97 with average ride, plane and extension. It was an excellent bat-missing pitch at Triple-A and should be an above-average pitch in the majors. His cutter is his most thrown secondary pitch at 87-89 mph with cut-slider shape. It’s less of a swing-and-miss pitch and more of a bad-contact driver. Pushard’s sweeper is a good bat-misser that drove whiffs at a rate of 35% in 2025. His curveball is a change-of-pace pitch that plays well off his two other breaking ball shapes.
  
  The Future: Pushard will try to stick with the Cardinals as a reliever. If not, he risks being returned to the Marlins.
  
  Scouting Grades: Fastball: 55 | Curveball: 45 | Changeup: 30 | Cutter: 50 | Sweeper: 55 | Control: 50