ÁñÁ«ÊÓƵ

JUPITER, Fla. — The catchers changed through Tekoah Roby’s years of youth baseball as a rising fireballer from Florida, but the sign that beckoned that fastball never did.

Drop the horns.

Bring the bull.

If whoever was catcher wanted an elevated fastball — and with Roby’s fastball, the catcher wanted that a lot — he would extend his index and pinky fingers and tuck the other two back with the thumb: like Texas’ ‘Hook ‘em Horns,’ but pointed down. Roby knew exactly what it meant.

“Let it rip,� Roby said. “Put a little extra on it.�

He was about to learn exactly what set it apart.

What he knew as “hop� or “zip,� the liveliness of his fastball or its “run,� the rise of it or, a generation or so ago, the giddyup, can be measured now as vertical break, and Roby’s is top-shelf. After selecting him in the third round of the 2020 draft, the Texas Rangers showed Roby the data, explained what it meant, and encouraged him to “lean into it.� That pitch is the right-hander’s superpower. It makes him who he is as a pitcher. A change in teams to the Cardinals hasn’t changed that, but two seasons riddled by injuries left him searching and uncertain. This spring seems like a sign — as pointed as the horns.

From his first outings against hitters this spring with the Cardinals, Roby has impressed with his stuff. He had an elite vertical break of 20 inches-21 inches in an early outing, and this spring he ranks among the best in camp for the blend of that break, high-octane velocity that reaches 98 mph, and command at the upper-limit of the zone. He became the first Cardinals pitcher to complete three innings in a Grapefruit League game Friday against Houston, and afterward his breaking ball got the praise.

“One of the most electric arms in camp,� manager Oliver Marmol said. “If he’s healthy, really interesting arm.�

That is the catch, as much a part of Roby’s career as his fastball.

The potential prize of the Cardinals’ first trade deadline sell-off in a generation, Roby came from the Rangers in July 2023 along with infielder Thomas Saggese and lefty reliever John King for pitchers Jordan Montgomery and Chris Stratton. In the deal, the Rangers got pitchers who contributed to a 2023 World Series championship. The Cardinals got King, a steadying presence in the big-league bullpen, and Saggese, the Texas League MVP who is auditioning this spring for a utility role in the majors. In three other deals that week, the Cardinals acquired a total of seven pitchers, six of whom are still in the organization, five in spring camp.

Roby has arguably the highest ceiling of the players acquired, and what the Cardinals develop in him will determine how they did at the deadline — what win they got from the losing.

Finding out starts with keeping Roby on the mound.

The 23-year-old right-hander has dealt with elbow and shoulder injuries throughout his pro career. He went on the injured list in May 2024 and missed stretches of three months. He’s been limited to 24 starts in the past two years, and when he did pitch in 2024, he mostly struggled. In 10 starts, Roby had a 6.57 ERA, and not even a strong strikeout-per-nine (9.2) could suppress his hits-per-nine rate (11.0).

The Post-Dispatch asked Roby on Saturday morning if missing time due to injury challenged his confidence, introduced more questions and concerns than the “let it rip� days.

“Very often you’ll have that thought of something doesn’t feel right, and is this happening again?� Roby said. “But I think just trusting what everybody has told me helps. ‘You’re healthy, go pitch.’ It really comes down to understanding how your mind can play tricks on you based on what’s happened in the past. Fear is very powerful if you allow it. Making sure that just as that fear creeps in I’m able to come back with, hey, I’m healthy. I’m OK. This (new) routine. I trust it. I trust that I’m healthy. Don’t go searching for things. Do not allow that (fear) to control your narrative.�

Roby described how he took his back this offseason.

Unsettled by the injuries, the limited innings, and what he called “the poor performance� within those innings, Roby huddled with his agent, the Cardinals, and others he trusted to look at things to change.

“It came down to me not really feeling super-confident in who I was,� Roby said. “I didn’t have a strong foundation. I had an idea of what I was as a pitcher, but ultimately, I was trying to figure it out. What we did this offseason was build a foundation. It’s like a true north that whatever is going on, I can return to this. It’s peace of mind that this is who I am. This is what I do.�

Roby visited a training facility in Atlanta, where he went through an evaluation that included motion-capture technology and an analysis of his frame, mechanics, and pitches. He left with a new plan for how he prepares between starts. It’s all about the volume. There were bullpen days that Roby would make 100 throws, or afternoons he would set as a minimum day of 25 throws that became 45 to 50 throws because he was searching for a feel, and, seriously, he’s a pitcher what’s a few more throws? It’s his living.

“Throwing more doesn’t really suit me,� he said of his frame. “If I wasn’t careful, I was trying to work on things, and I didn’t really have a good understanding of boundaries.�

This is first spring training with the new throw-conservation routine, and it’s too early in the schedule to know if it will reduce the injuries. A year ago, the Cardinals planned to give him a start — to show off their deadline score — but back tightness interrupted. This spring, as he bids to be a part of the Class AAA Memphis rotation for most of the summer, Roby has yet to miss a scheduled throw. And he’s performed in them.

He averaged 97.1 mph in his first spring outing, touched 98.2 mph, and had more than twice as many swings and misses (five) as he had balls in play (two). For an encore Friday, he complicated his appearance with two hits and two walks but minimized the damage to one run. He unnerved a few hitters with a breaking ball and the fastball sizzled.

Catchers no longer put down the horns for it.

There are new, more complex signals, and there’s PitchCom these days.

Signs change. The fastball doesn’t.

Asked Saturday if he knows who he is as a pitcher again, Roby nodded.

“I’m a pitcher who is always going to have his fastball,� he said. “I think it’s a good fastball. I like to challenge hitters with it. I like to attack hitters with it. I think one thing I do really well when I’m at my best is I compete. It is a relentless attack of the zone. I might not have it every day, but even when I don’t have that I still chose to believe that is who I am. I attack hitters. I give myself a shot no matter what.�

And health?

“And,� he smiled, “I’m healthy.�