St. Louis Cardinals rookie Dakota Hudson gained valuable confidence while making 26 relief appearances last season.
Saturday night will mark his first career start in Major League Baseball, but it doesn’t seem to faze the 24-year-old right-hander. Bring on the defending National League Central champion Milwaukee Brewers and a hostile atmosphere at Miller Park.
“I feel very comfortable going into it,” Hudson said. “I feel like I’ve been working on the right things. And I’ve some leadership and guys to talk to and ‘spitball’ ideas off of.”
Hudson was 4-1 with a 2.63 ERA in 2018, scattering 19 hits, 18 walks and 19 strikeouts across 27 1/3 innings. He also shined in the minors, helping Triple-A Memphis to a Pacific Coast League championship while garnering Pitcher of the Year honors in the PCL and St. Louis’ farm system.
His competition for one of the Cardinals’ final rotation spots entering the 2019 season included fellow young arms Austin Gomber and Daniel Ponce de Leon. Hudson earned his place with a sterling spring, compiling a 1.72 ERA in 15 2/3 innings.
In his final spring training outing, on March 23, Hudson pitched six innings of scoreless, three-hit relief to preserve a 4-4 tie against the Washington Nationals. Increased command and harnessed mechanics — a product of consulting with Cardinals pitching coach Mike Maddux — helped Hudson get 10 ground-ball outs.
“There were some things ‘Mad Dog’ and I worked on with my hand break,” Hudson said. “I think it’s starting to make me more consistent. I feel like I’m in the same spot every time.”
Added Cardinals manager Mike Shildt: “The sky’s the limit.”
The Brewers organization feels similarly about Hudson’s opponent on Saturday. While Milwaukee right-hander Brandon Woodruff boasts more starting experience than Hudson — 12 starts in 27 career appearances over parts of two seasons — he also is viewed as a developing arm.
Woodruff — 26, and, like Hudson, a Mississippi State product — evolved into a reliable weapon during the Brewers’ bullpen-led charge to the 2018 National League Championship Series.
After striking out 20 and holding opponents to a .175 batting average in four postseason appearances covering 12 1/3 innings last fall, Woodruff will settle into a role in the Milwaukee rotation.
Whenever he pitches, Woodruff figures to channel a newfound sense of urgency and aggressiveness on the mound.
“I think I took a lot of lessons last year from going deep in the playoffs and just attacking guys and trying to have those quick innings, and I think it allowed me to have some success,” Woodruff said. “I think coming into this spring that was a huge thing for me, was just trying to get quick outs.”
The Brewers and Cardinals split the first two games of the season-opening, four-game series, with Milwaukee winning 5-4 on Opening Day before St. Louis answered with a 9-5 victory on Friday.
Cardinals first baseman Paul Goldschmidt sparked St. Louis’ 14-hit attack in the second game of the series, going 4-for-5 with three home runs and five RBIs. It was the second three-home run game of Goldschmidt’s career. He was acquired in an offseason trade with Arizona and signed a five-year, $130 million contract extension with St. Louis near the end of Spring Training.