As the St. Louis Cardinals became sellers at the Major League Baseball trade deadline, it became pointless for former South Alabama standout Brendan Donovan to put off surgery any longer. The Cardinals placed Donovan on the injured list on Tuesday, and he will miss the remainder of the 2023 MLB season.

Donovan hasn’t played in the field since July 4. But he’s appeared in 19 games since then as a designated hitter or pinch-hitter.

Donovan couldn’t play in the field because of ligament damage in his throwing arm. He’ll have surgery to repair the issue in his right forearm on Wednesday and is expected to be ready for spring training.

“It wasn’t getting better regardless of how much downtime we gave (it),” Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. “The throwing program didn’t go well, so at the end of the day, it made the most sense to not continue to drag it along and potentially run into spring training. …

“This is what I love about Donovan is he could have done this two, three weeks ago, and he refused to get it done until we got to this point. And he just wanted to push as long as possible. But then you were going to have to make the decision of losing a portion of next year. It makes sense to get it done now.”

RELATED: FORMER ALABAMA MR. BASEBALL PART OF BUSY MLB TRADE DAY

St. Louis entered Tuesday with a 47-60 record and in the cellar of the NL Central.

A prep star at Enterprise, Donovan finished the 2023 season with a .281 batting average – the same as he had as a rookie in 2022. In 95 games, Donovan had 48 runs, 11 home runs, 34 RBIs, five stolen bases and a .362 on-base average this season.

Donovan won the National League Gold Glove for fielding excellence by a utility player and finished third in the balloting for the National League Rookie of the Year Award in 2022.

This season, Donovan had appeared in 34 games at second base, 21 in left field, 18 at designated hitter, 14 at first base, nine in right field, six at third base and one at shortstop.

Donovan was a seventh-round selection by the Cardinals in the 2018 draft after he batted .311 in three seasons at South Alabama.

Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter at @AMarkG1.