As the St. Louis Cardinals continue to push in a new era by focusing on the development of their prospects and attempting to rewrite the culture, Will Leitch of MLB.com has a surprising member of the Opening Day bullpen. Leitch has a former Cardinals top prospect and current No. 15 prospect according to MLB Pipeline, Tink Hence, breaking camp, who the team has shifted away from starting after multiple injuries have slowed his development.

“The way we’re looking at Tink is keeping him on a reliever schedule,” Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol told Jeff Jones of the Belleville News-Democrat.“ One inning to two innings at a time, multiple times per week, and then at the end of spring, evaluating what the next steps are. For the time being, he’ll kind of keep that schedule, and not building up as a starter.”

This could be the change that Hence needs, often compared to another injury-prone Cardinals pitching prospect, Alex Reyes, who also made the shift from starting to relieving after injuries derailed his career timeline. While Reyes never truly panned out, there is still hope for Hence, who bulked up over the winter, his arsenal can play, and if he focuses on compressed short outings opposed to building up to go deep into games, he could find himself on the right side of the line come Opening Day.

With the future of the Cardinals being up in the air and the lack of reserved spots in the bullpen, it is not that far-fetched that Hence could make his way on the Opening Day roster with a strong spring training. Thus far, the Cardinals' right-hander has appeared in two spring training games and has thrown an inning and two-thirds, giving up three runs and striking out two. While this is not the start that Hence would want in his effort to break camp, there are plenty of games left this spring to dial himself back in and show that he can be an effective contributor at the start of the regular season.

Even if Hence is unable to lock a spot on the Opening Day roster, there is a very high chance that the Cardinals call him up during the season, as they will rotate their bullpen to keep arms fresh. He could even be a nearly full-time participant in the bullpen during the final stretch of the season if the Cardinals are to trade a couple of their veteran bullpen arms at the deadline this season, as they did last year.

Only about three weeks remain until Opening Day on March 26, and the Cardinals' bullpen has plenty of question marks inside of it. Hence has the opportunity to make a strong push, and with the depth of starting pitching in the organization, a shift to the bullpen could be the fastest path for the Cardinals right-hander to make it to the big leagues.

If Hence were to find himself on the roster to start the season, with limited roles outlined for the Cardinals' bullpen this season, he would be in a position to prove himself and earn one of the spots that could keep him in St. Louis for the entire season.