PEORIA, Ariz. — It was just one inning in relief amid a Resounding victory 13-4 for the Scottsdale Scorpions against the Peoria Javelinas on Wednesday afternoon, but for the Cardinals left-hander Cooper Hjerpeit was more than just a clean frame of the Arizona Fall League.
Hjerpe was St. Louis’ first-round pick (22nd overall) in 2022, a Golden Spikes Award finalist after a strong junior season as an Oregon State ace. His combination of stuff, command and deception made him look like the type of college performer who could move quickly through a system and help a big league rotation sooner rather than later. A hot May with High-A Peoria certainly made it feel like the Cardinals No. 7 prospect could earn a promotion to Double-A and move onto the fast track.
But after pitching six shutout innings on May 23, Hjerpe didn’t throw another competitive pitch until September because he required surgery to remove loose cartilage from his left elbow. He had two short outings in the final month of the season and continues to make up some of the lost time in short stints here this fall.
“You don’t really realize how much an injury can hurt your career until it happens to you,” Hjerpe said. “Luckily it only lasted four months for me. Tommy John is a year and change. It’s tough, it’s tough, but you have to stay mentally prepared and get through it.”
After Wednesday’s hitless streak, Hjerpe went scoreless in four of his six outings, racking up 12 strikeouts while allowing four earned runs in 6 1/3 innings this fall. Results are somewhat secondary to the 22-year-old as he is simply trying to get back into the rhythm of throwing in real game situations.
“Right now it’s just a build-up, that’s why I’m coming out of the bullpen,” said Hjerpe, who has made six relief outings this fall. “Next spring training I’ll still be a starter. I missed four months and threw 40 innings. It was just eating up innings and getting that competitive nature back and feeling what it’s like to play ball in October and November.”
Much of Hjerpe’s success comes from his ability to throw four average or better pitches for strikes from a lower slot and great, deceptive cross-court shots. A scout at Wednesday’s game who saw Hjerpe throw in college felt that his deception, lunge and release point appear to be in place, but that his arm life and extension are not. quite back to Oregon State levels. The southpaw admitted he’s still working on this process to find it consistently, even if it all clicks at times.
“This also happens during rehabilitation,” Hjerpe said. “You start to feel some things that you did when you were at the top and in your game. There are a few mechanical things that are different, but I think it’s more of an offseason thing.
“For the most part, it’s exactly the same as when I was in college. Getting that feeling back and being that funky again without having to think about it internally when you’re on the mound is a big part of what I did. got to now.”
There was some relief when Hjerpe learned his elbow problem was caused by a loose body and not a torn ligament. An injury of this nature could have caused him and the Cardinals to rethink the effectiveness of his unorthodox delivery. Instead, he sticks to what got him here and tries to put the hurt in his rearview mirror. Going one inning at a time every few days is definitely different, and while Hjerpe clearly still sees himself as a future member of the Cardinals’ rotation, he doesn’t mind the one-and-done mentality that he had to adopt this fall.
“It’s definitely very different from the beginning,” he said. “The early days, you had a certain day where you went and you had a routine the next six, or five, or whatever. I think the main thing for me in the Fall League just came from the pen, it It’s finding that routine that I can stick to, getting out of the pen on days when you don’t even know when you’re throwing. It’s a big difference.
“I like it. One-run relays are cool. You go out there, throw as hard as you can and get out of there. As a starter, you try to keep your heart rate down, when you get out From the bullpen for one inning, it’s a little irrelevant.”
