Former Magnolia star pitcher Adam Kloffenstein was involved in a big Major League Baseball trade Sunday.

Kloffenstein, a 22-year-old 6-foot-5, 243-pound righthander, was sent from the Toronto Blue Jays to the St. Louis Cardinals in a deal that landed the Blue Jays righthanded reliever Jordan Hicks. The Cardinals also got righthander Sem Robberse in the deal.

Kloffenstein was drafted by Toronto with the 88th overall pick in the third round of the 2018 MLB Draft and has enjoyed an excellent 2023 season in Double-A ball so far. He holds a 3.24 ERA with 105 strikeouts to 34 walks in 89 innings pitched.

The Blue Jays reportedly worked with Kloffenstein to adjust the pace of his delivery and lower his arm slot prior to this season. His sinker and slider are considered exceptional, and Kloffenstein has a terrific ground-ball rate that hovers around 50 percent, per FanGraphs.

Kloffenstein is a starting pitching prospect and fits in with the Cardinals’ current direction of promising, contract-controllable young talent. He is ranked No. 23 in St. Louis’ system, per MLB Pipeline. The Cardinals promoted Kloffenstein and Robberse to Triple A on Monday morning.

Kloffenstein was The Courier’s Montgomery County Player of the Year in 2018 when he posted an 11-1 record with a 1.25 ERA and 113 strikeouts to 17 walks for Magnolia.

St. Louis boasts former Montgomery County standouts Paul Goldschmidt (The Woodlands) and Luken Baker (Oak Ridge) on its 40-man roster.