Matthew Joseph Liberatore (born November 6, 1999) is an American

professional baseball Professional baseball is organized baseball in which players are selected for their talents and are paid to play for a specific team or club system. It is played in baseball league, leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world. Mod ...

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw ...

for the

St. Louis Cardinals The St. Louis Cardinals are an American professional baseball team based in St. Louis. The Cardinals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) Central division. Since the 2006 season, the Cardinals ha ...

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

(MLB). Born and raised in the suburbs of

Phoenix, Arizona Phoenix ( ; nv, Hoozdo; es, Fénix or , yuf-x-wal, Banyà:nyuwá) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities and towns in Arizona#List of cities and towns, most populous city of the U.S. state of Arizona, with 1 ...

, Liberatore was selected by the

Tampa Bay Rays The Tampa Bay Rays are an American professional baseball team based in St. Petersburg, Florida. The Rays compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League East, East division. Since its inception ...

in the first round of the

2018 Major League Baseball draft The 2018 Major League Baseball (MLB) First-Year Player Draft began on June 4, 2018. The draft assigned amateur baseball players to MLB teams. The draft order was determined based on the reverse order of the 2017 MLB season final standings. In a ...

out of high school. He signed with the Rays and played in their minor league system for two seasons before he was traded to the Cardinals prior to the 2020 season. He played in their minor league system before making his MLB debut in 2022.

Amateur career

Liberatore graduated from Mountain Ridge High School in

Glendale, Arizona Glendale () is a city in Maricopa County, Arizona, Maricopa County, Arizona, United States, located approximately northwest of Downtown Phoenix. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it had a population of 248,325. History In the la ...

. In July 2017, he played in the

Under Armour All-America Baseball Game The Under Armour High School All-America Baseball Game is a high school baseball all-star game held annually to spotlight the United States' top high school players who are juniors or seniors. The game is played in late July or August, at Wrigley ...

and was named the game's

most valuable player In team sports, a most valuable player award, abbreviated 'MVP award', is an honor typically bestowed upon an individual (or individuals, in the instance of a tie) whose individual performance is the greatest in an entire league, for a particu ...

after throwing three scoreless

inning In baseball, softball, and similar games, an inning is the basic unit of play, consisting of two halves or frames, the "top" (first half) and the "bottom" (second half). In each half, one team bats until three outs are made, with the other team ...

s. Later in the summer, he played for the USA Baseball 18U National Team. As a senior at Mountain Ridge in 2018, he posted an 8–1

win–loss record In sports, a winning percentage is the fraction of games or matches a team or individual has won. The statistic is commonly used in standings or rankings to compare teams or individuals. It is defined as wins divided by the total number of match ...

with a 0.93

earned run average In baseball statistics, earned run average (ERA) is the average of earned runs allowed by a pitcher per nine innings pitched (i.e. the traditional length of a game). It is determined by dividing the number of earned runs allowed by the number ...

(ERA) with 104

strikeout In baseball or softball, a strikeout (or strike-out) occurs when a batter accumulates three strikes during a time at bat. It usually means that the batter is out. A strikeout is a statistic recorded for both pitchers and batters, and is deno ...

s in innings and was named Arizona's Gatorade Baseball Player of the Year. Liberatore committed to the

University of Arizona The University of Arizona (Arizona, U of A, UArizona, or UA) is a public land-grant research university in Tucson, Arizona. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, it was the first university in the Arizona Territory. T ...

to play

college baseball College baseball is baseball that is played on the intercollegiate level at institutions of higher education. In comparison to football and basketball, college competition in the United States plays a smaller role in developing professional pl ...

Professional career

Tampa Bay Rays

The

selected Liberatore in the first round, with the 16th overall selection, in the

. He signed with the team for a $3.5 million

signing bonus A signing bonus or sign-on bonus is a sum of money paid to a new employee (including a professional sports person) by a company as an incentive to join that company. They are often given as a way of making a compensation package more attractive ...

. He was assigned to the

Gulf Coast Rays The Florida Complex League Rays are a minor league baseball team in Port Charlotte, Florida, competing as a Rookie-level team in the Florida Complex League as an affiliate of the Tampa Bay Rays. Prior to 2021, the team was known as the Gulf Coa ...

of the Rookie-level

Gulf Coast League The Florida Complex League (FCL) is a rookie-level Minor League Baseball league that operates in Florida, United States. Before 2021, it was known as the Gulf Coast League (GCL). Together with the Arizona Complex League (ACL), it forms the lo ...

. After posting a 0.98 ERA in eight starts, Liberatore was promoted to the

Princeton Rays The Princeton Rays were a Minor League Baseball team in Princeton, West Virginia, operating as an Advanced Rookie-level team in the Appalachian League. The team was affiliated with several Major League Baseball (MLB) franchises, primarily the Ta ...

of the Advanced Rookie

Appalachian League The Appalachian League is a collegiate summer baseball league that operates in the Appalachian regions of Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia, and North Carolina. Designed for rising freshmen and sophomores using wood bats, its season runs from ...

. He pitched in one game for Princeton to end his first professional season. Liberatore began the 2019 season in extended spring training before he was assigned to the

Bowling Green Hot Rods The Bowling Green Hot Rods are a Minor League Baseball team of the South Atlantic League and the High-A affiliate of the Tampa Bay Rays. They are located in Bowling Green, Kentucky, and play their home games at Bowling Green Ballpark, which open ...

of the Class A

Midwest League The Midwest League is a Minor League Baseball league established in 1947 and based in the Midwestern United States. A Class A league for most of its history, the league was promoted to High-A as part of Major League Baseball's 2021 reorganizat ...

on May 15, with whom he spent the remainder of the year. Over 16 games (15 starts), Liberatore went 6–2 with a 3.10 ERA, striking out 76 batters over innings.

St. Louis Cardinals

On January 9, 2020, Liberatore was traded to the

(along with Edgardo Rodriguez and the Rays’ Competitive Balance Round B Draft Pick) in exchange for José Martínez,

Randy Arozarena Randy Arozarena González (born February 28, 1995) is a Cuban- Mexican professional baseball outfielder for the Tampa Bay Rays of Major League Baseball (MLB). He previously played for the St. Louis Cardinals. In 2020, Arozarena set the MLB reco ...

, and the Cardinals’ Competitive Balance Round A Draft Pick. He did not play in a minor league game in 2020 due to the cancellation of the season due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

. For the 2021 season, Liberatore was assigned to the

Memphis Redbirds The Memphis Redbirds are a Minor League Baseball team of the International League and the Triple-A affiliate of the St. Louis Cardinals. They are located in Memphis, Tennessee, and are named for their Major League Baseball affiliate. The Redbir ...

of the

Triple-A East The International League (IL) is a Minor League Baseball league that operates in the United States. Along with the Pacific Coast League, it is one of two leagues playing at the Triple-A level, which is one grade below Major League Baseball ...

. In late May, he was placed on the temporarily inactive list while he competed for a spot on the

United States national baseball team The United States national baseball team represents the United States in international-level baseball competitions. The team is currently ranked 5th in the world by the World Baseball Softball Confederation. Team USA won the Olympic baseball to ...

, in advance of the

2020 Summer Olympics The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July. Tokyo was selected as the host city during the ...

. He was subsequently named to the roster of the national team for the Americas Qualifying Event. Team USA qualified for the Olympics, but Liberatore was ultimately not named to the roster in part due to the Cardinals' lack of organizational depth. In June, he was selected to represent the Cardinals (alongside

Nolan Gorman Nolan Brian Gorman (born May 10, 2000) is an American professional baseball second baseman for the St. Louis Cardinals of Major League Baseball (MLB). Born and raised in Phoenix, Arizona, Gorman was drafted by the Cardinals out of high school i ...

) in the

All-Star Futures Game The All-Star Futures Game is an annual baseball exhibition game hosted by Major League Baseball (MLB) in conjunction with the mid-summer MLB All-Star Game. A team of American League-affiliated prospects competes against a team of National League ...

Coors Field Coors Field is a baseball stadium in downtown Denver, Colorado. It is the home field of Major League Baseball's Colorado Rockies. Opened in 1995, the park is located in Denver's Lower Downtown neighborhood, two blocks from Union Station. The ...

. Over 22 games (18 starts) with Memphis, Liberatore went 9–9 with a 4.04 ERA and 123 strikeouts over innings. The Cardinals named him their Minor League Pitcher of the Year. Liberatore returned to Memphis to begin the 2022 season. After going 3-3 with a 3.83 ERA and 46 strikeouts over forty innings, the Cardinals announced on May 19 that they would be selecting his contract and promoting him to the major leagues. He made his MLB debut on May 21 as the starting pitcher versus the

Pittsburgh Pirates The Pittsburgh Pirates are an American professional baseball team based in Pittsburgh. The Pirates compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) Central division. Founded as part of the American Associati ...

, throwing innings and giving up seven hits, four earned runs, and two walks while striking out three. They optioned him back to Memphis the next day, but he was recalled one day later after Steven Matz was placed on the injured list. On May 29, he earned his first career win, tossing 5.0 scoreless innings against the

Milwaukee Brewers The Milwaukee Brewers are an American professional baseball team based in Milwaukee. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) National League Central, Central division. The Brewers are named for t ...

while striking out 6. Liberatore was optioned to Triple-A Memphis to begin the 2023 season.

Personal life

Liberatore has been friends with fellow 2018 first round pick and Cardinals teammate,

, since they were five.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Liberatore, Matthew 1999 births Living people People from Peoria, Arizona Baseball players from Arizona Major League Baseball pitchers St. Louis Cardinals players Gulf Coast Rays players Princeton Rays players Bowling Green Hot Rods players Memphis Redbirds players United States national baseball team players