Yohel Pozo became one of the most heartwarming and unlikely storylines in all of Major League Baseball during the 2025 season. His rise, resilience, and contributions off the bench made him a fan favorite in St. Louis and earned him widespread respect around the league. Yet, despite his uplifting narrative and a surprising statistical impact, the St. Louis Cardinals chose not to offer him a contract on Friday, making him a free agent. This decision came as part of MLB’s non-tender deadline, when teams must decide whether to offer contracts to players who have accrued fewer than six years of service time.
Pozo’s release was especially surprising given how effective he was in one of the most difficult roles in baseball: pinch-hitting. He finished the season ranked second in the entire league in pinch-hit runs batted in, collecting seven RBIs in that role. Only Rowdy Tellez surpassed him, finishing with 11 pinch-hit RBIs while splitting time between Seattle and Texas. Despite Pozo’s ability to deliver in high-pressure at-bats late in games, the Cardinals chose to move in another direction with their roster.
Joining Pozo among those not tendered contracts were three other players: left-handed reliever John King, Minor League pitcher Sem Robberse, and right-handed reliever Jorge Alcala. In King’s case, the decision came as part of a broader bullpen reshuffling. Robberse was still in the recovery stage from major elbow surgery, and Alcala had already been removed from the active roster earlier in the week.
By declining to tender them contracts, the Cardinals effectively released all four players, allowing them to immediately become free agents. Still, there remains a realistic possibility that Pozo could return to the organization later on a Minor League deal. The team is known to value his positive personality, professional attitude, and versatility as a pinch-hitter and part-time catcher, first baseman, and designated hitter. The Cardinals organization, coaches, and fans have grown especially fond of his energy and determination, and that connection may not be fully severed by this move.
While these four players exited the organization’s contract structure, several others remain in line for arbitration deals going into the 2026 season. Seven Cardinals players now qualify for salary arbitration: relief pitcher JoJo Romero (who is entering his third arbitration year), breakout All-Star Brendan Donovan (second year of eligibility), outfielder Lars Nootbaar (also in his second year), and pitchers Andre Pallante, Matthew Liberatore, and infielder Nolan Gorman, all entering their first round of arbitration. In addition, David Burleson, who claimed a Silver Slugger Award for his offensive excellence, is also arbitration-eligible for the first time.
Meanwhile, established veterans Nolan Arenado, Sonny Gray, and Willson Contreras remain under the protection of long-term, guaranteed contracts. Alongside them, 27 additional players currently occupying places on the Cardinals’ 40-man roster were officially offered pre-arbitration contracts, solidifying them as part of the team’s immediate plans heading into the offseason.
Pozo’s journey to this point has been anything but ordinary. Back in 2020, when the Minor League season was canceled due to the global pandemic, he found himself without a paycheck and, at one point, without stable housing.
At the same time, he was caring for a newborn son suffering from serious health complications. Those hardships might have ended the career of many players, but Pozo persevered through it all. He continued working, grinding, and waiting for another opportunity, never walking away from his dream of playing baseball at the highest level.
That persistence finally paid off in 2025, when he emerged as a useful and sometimes critical piece of the Cardinals’ bench. In just 67 games, he stepped to the plate in a variety of roles and delivered whenever he was called upon. He finished the season with a .231 batting average, five home runs, eight doubles, and 19 RBIs. Those numbers might not jump off the page at first glance, but when viewed in the context of his role and limited at-bats, they tell a story of efficiency and clutch performance.
One of Pozo’s defining moments of the season came on July 5 at Wrigley Field, one of baseball’s most iconic stadiums. Facing the Cardinals’ long-time rivals, the Chicago Cubs, Pozo stepped in as a pinch-hitter and crushed a home run that would ultimately lift St. Louis to victory. The moment was not just a turning point in that particular game, but also a symbolic victory for a player who had faced far greater challenges off the field than anything a pitcher could throw at him.
While Pozo’s departure is rooted more in business and roster management than performance alone, John King’s situation carries a slightly different tone. King has never been a flashy pitcher. He doesn’t boast triple-digit velocity or strikeout records that make headlines, but he has been a consistent and dependable presence in the Cardinals’ bullpen. The left-hander, who relies on a sinking fastball to generate ground balls, has quietly been one of the most effective ground-ball pitchers in baseball over the past two seasons.
After coming to St. Louis in 2023 as part of the trade that sent left-hander Jordan Montgomery away, King became an important cog in a bullpen that evolved into one of the organization’s greatest strengths. In 2024, he recorded an outstanding 61.5% ground-ball rate, ranking him in the 98th percentile across Major League Baseball. He followed that up with another impressive 60% rate in 2025, once again placing him among the league’s elite when it comes to keeping the ball on the ground.
However, performance isn’t measured by one metric alone. While King remained effective in inducing weak contact, his overall results took a step backward in 2025. After recording an ERA of 2.85 in 2024, that figure rose sharply to 4.66 in the past season. This increase, combined with the rising cost of arbitration—he earned $1.6 million in 2025 and was set to enter his third arbitration year—likely played a role in the front office’s decision not to tender him a new deal.
Off the field, King recently welcomed his first child, a major life milestone that coincided with a challenging season on the mound. Even so, his contributions to St. Louis over the past two years will not be forgotten, as he played a crucial part in stabilizing the bullpen during a period of transition for the pitching staff.
Another player affected by the non-tender announcements was Sem Robberse, a young 24-year-old right-hander from the Netherlands. Robberse was once considered a promising future option for the Cardinals rotation, but his progress was cut short when he required Tommy John surgery on his pitching elbow in 2025. Prior to the surgery, he made just four starts for Triple-A Memphis.
The previous season, however, had shown more encouraging signs. In 2024, Robberse split time between Single-A Palm Beach and Triple-A Memphis, compiling a respectable 4-4 record with a 4.38 ERA and recording 80 strikeouts over 90 and one-third innings. Despite those promising numbers, the uncertainty surrounding his recovery timeline and future performance led the Cardinals to choose not to commit a contract to him for 2026.
The final non-tendered player, Jorge Alcala, had already been designated for assignment earlier in the week. His removal from the roster was necessary to create space after the Cardinals added three highly regarded Double-A prospects to their 40-man roster: Leonardo Bernal, Joshua Baez, and Brycen Mautz. These moves were made strategically to protect the young players from being selected by other teams in the upcoming Rule 5 Draft scheduled for December.
Altogether, Friday’s decisions represent a significant moment in St. Louis’ ongoing roster makeover. While the departures of Pozo, King, Robberse, and Alcala were difficult, they highlight the reality of Major League Baseball’s business side, where performance, budget, future potential, and timing all intersect. Players can go from inspirational to expendable in a matter of days, no matter how endearing their stories might be.
Still, for someone like Yohel Pozo, this is unlikely to be the end of the road. His perseverance through personal and professional adversity has already proven that he is capable of defying long odds. Whether it is with the Cardinals once again on a Minor League deal or with a different organization seeking a clutch bench bat and a high-character veteran presence, Pozo will almost certainly get another opportunity.
And if the past is any indication, he will make the most of it.
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