Baseball America Projects 2030 Lineup for Revamped St. Louis Cardinals

Projecting the future can sometimes be downright foolish, and that's especially true when trying to pick out which 18-to-22-year-old baseball players will someday be able to play the game at the highest level. 

Baseball America, who released its Top 10 rankings for the prospects in the St. Louis Cardinals' Minor League system on Friday, went as far as picking a projected lineup for the 2030 season. Somewhat surprisingly, their picks include very few holdovers from the current Cardinals squad that is already one of the youngest rosters in all of MLB.

Of course, it is likely that not all of the Cardinals’ highly rated prospects will pan out at the big-league level. Still, that did not stop Baseball America from projecting what the 2030 Cardinals’ lineup could look like with the player's ages in that season in parentheses:

Catcher: Leo Bernal (26)

First base: Rainiel Rodriguez (23)

Second base: Yairo Padilla (23)

Third base: Jesus Báez (25)

Shortstop: JJ Wetherholt (27)

Left field: Trevor Condon (22)

Center field: Tai Peete (24)

Right field: Josiah Ragsdale (26)

Designated hitter: Joshua Báez (27)

Starting pitcher: Liam Doyle (26)

SP: Tanner Franklin (26)

SP: Tekoah Roby (28)

SP: Jurrangelo Cijntje (27)

SP: Quinn Mathews (29)

Closer: Sandro Santana (25)

Notable free agents before 2030: Alec Burleson, Jordan Walker, Masyn Winn and Ivan Herrera