St. Louis Cardinals prospect Trevor Rosenthal pitching during last year’s Midwest League All-Star Game.

FOXSportsMidwest.com writer B.J. Rains reported late last night that the St. Louis Cardinals will promote RHP Trevor Rosenthal to the big-league club to pitch out of the bullpen. Rosenthal, whose best pitch is a power fastball, will make the jump from the Double-A Springfield Cardinals, for whom he is 8-6 with a 2.78 ERA and 83 strikeouts in 17 starts. He pitched an inning in last month’s Texas League All-Star Game, giving up a walk and no hits and striking out one batter.

Rosenthal started in Double A this year after spending the entire 2011 season with the Quad Cities River Bandits. He started the Midwest League All-Star Game, pitching a perfect inning, and went 7-7 with a 4.11 ERA and 133 strikeouts in 120.1 IP during the regular season.

In his last start for the Springfield Cardinals, Rosenthal threw six scoreless innings with his fastball topping out at 100 mph. It was the first time he pitched in 11 days, having been shelved due to lower back spasms.

UPDATE: According to Baseball-Reference.com, Rosenthal will become the 2,000th player in Cardinals history when he makes his debut. In fact, he will be the first player in major-league history to be the 2,000th player for ANY franchise.