Under is an evaluation of the prospects within the farm system of the St. Louis Cardinals. Scouting reviews have been compiled with info offered by business sources in addition to our personal observations. That is the fourth yr we’re delineating between two anticipated aid roles, the abbreviations for which you’ll see within the “place” column beneath: MIRP for multi-inning aid pitchers, and SIRP for single-inning aid pitchers. The ETAs listed typically correspond to the yr a participant needs to be added to the 40-man roster to keep away from being made eligible for the Rule 5 draft. Handbook changes are made the place they appear acceptable, however we use that as a rule of thumb.
A fast overview of what FV (Future Worth) means could be discovered right here. A a lot deeper overview could be discovered right here.
All the ranked prospects beneath additionally seem on The Board, a useful resource the location provides that includes sortable scouting info for each group. It has extra particulars (and up to date TrackMan knowledge from numerous sources) than this text and integrates each group’s listing so readers can examine prospects throughout farm programs. It may be discovered right here.
Different Prospects of Notice
Grouped by sort and listed so as of desire inside every class.
Developmental Relievers
Ettore Giulianelli, RHP
Jovi Galvez, RHP
Jose Suriel, RHP
Augusto Calderon, RHP
Giulianelli is a 21-year-old Italian righty whose excessive overhand slot is akin to Oliver Drake’s. He’s so excessive of the ball that he can create arm-side motion on his curveball. He may have sufficient of a fastball/curveball combo to make the large leagues if he can hone his management. Galvez, Suriel, and Calderon have been 2023 DSL or A-ball pitchers with mid-90s or higher arm energy and poor really feel for location.
Excessive-Variance Children
Ronny Oliver, RHP
Sammy Hernandez, C
Jonathan Mejia, SS
Oliver is a projectable pitcher on the Jupiter advanced with a really athletic drop-and-drive supply. His rise/run, low-90s fastball and pure sweeping breaker give him a pitch combine much like a junior school prospect who goes within the fourth spherical of the draft or so. Hernandez is a uncooked, athletic catcher who got here again from Toronto within the Génesis Cabrera commerce final yr. He must develop as a defender (his crouch remains to be comically excessive) and enhance his plate self-discipline, however he has uncommon bat pace for a catcher. Mejia was as soon as a outstanding beginner prospect, however his 2023 was so unhealthy that he wants a rebound yr to have commerce worth (he’s off to a superb begin).
Double-A Depth
Nathan Church, OF
Jeremy Rivas, SS
Max Rajcic, RHP
Adam Kloffenstein, RHP
Church is a light-hitting outfielder with nice really feel for contact who may very well be a platoon man if his hit instrument actually maxes out. Rivas, 21, is a slow-twitch Double-A infielder with clean actions who early in 2024 is placing up a mean line for the primary time in his profession. Rajcic (sitting 93, has a reasonably good curveball) and Kloffenstein (sinkerballer) are depth starter sorts.
Large Energy, Restricted Profile
William Sullivan, 1B
Chandler Redmond, DH
Each gamers right here have substantial energy however are bottom-of-the-spectrum defenders with below-average hit instruments. Sullivan’s TrackMan knowledge from 2023 was fairly nutty, however his low-ball swing has been uncovered early in 2024. Redmond, 27, has a profession .481 SLG, however he’s again at Double-A, the place he first performed in 2021.
Injured
Travis Honeyman, OF
Drew Rom LHP
Wilking Rodríguez, RHP
Honeyman, St. Louis’ 2023 third rounder, has but to play a professional recreation because of a number of accidents. There have been already some causes to be skeptical of his offensive efficiency (he was simply tied up inside in school), and he hasn’t had an opportunity to alleviate that skepticism but. Rom has been written up as a backend/depth starter for some time and at last made his large league debut in 2023, however shoulder surgical procedure has him shelved in 2024. Rodríguez, 34 (not a typo), is recovering from a shoulder surgical procedure of his personal. He’s sufficiently old to have signed with the Satan Rays again once they have been nonetheless known as that, a time so distant that the transactions on Rodríguez’s MiLB participant web page don’t return far sufficient to incorporate his signing date. Previous to signing with St. Louis, Rodríguez final pitched in affiliated ball in 2015 with the Yankees earlier than he started touring overseas professional leagues. His velocity exploded throughout a few 10 month window and he was sitting 97-plus when he was final wholesome.
System Overview
It is a below-average system that’s gentle on high-upside gamers. It has barely below-average general depth and may be very imbalanced, with many extra pitching prospects than place gamers. Exterior of Therefore and Roby on the prime finish of this listing, the Cardinals have an abundance of arms who match the “high-floor/low-ceiling” archetype. A typical theme amongst a variety of the pitchers on this system is that they’ve deeper than standard arsenals together with a mixture of really feel and/or deception, and St. Louis additionally has a variety of soft-tossers who haven’t been capable of finding extra velocity in professional ball.
Regardless of the relative lack of hitters right here, the Cardinals system is pretty sturdy up the center, with 4 of their 5 highest-rated place gamers taking part in both catcher, shortstop, or heart area. Each Masyn Winn and Victor Scott II have already gotten their first style of the majors, and whereas that has clearly include various levels of success to this point, each of them are secure bets to remain at premium positions long-term and have thrilling offensive profiles in their very own distinct methods. There are some thrilling hitters on the decrease ranges of the minors, like Leonardo Bernal and Received-Bin Cho, who’ve actually taken developmental steps ahead with their bats not too long ago, in addition to gamers with defense-driven profiles, like Jimmy Crooks and Lizandro Espinoza, who will undoubtedly present run-prevention worth on the highest degree.
Whereas it’s nonetheless too quickly to put in writing off Chase Davis, the Cardinals’ 2023 first spherical choose, their final three prime picks (Davis, Cooper Hjerpe, and Michael McGreevy) are all monitoring to be sub-50 FV gamers. A lot of the depth on this system could be attributed to current commerce returns, stable finds within the middle-to-late rounds by their beginner scouting workers, and comparatively low-cost signings within the worldwide market. The Cardinals have tended to gravitate towards beginner pitchers who throw strikes fairly than ones who’re exhausting throwers, and plenty of of their arms have fastball shapes that trigger their heaters to minimize. There are different groups (just like the Mariners) that take athletic younger strike-throwers after which get them to throw more durable, however that hasn’t occurred in St. Louis.
