Cardinals' Teen Blessed with Elite Speed, Hit Tools and Swagger

A student of the game, president of baseball operations Chaim Bloom will regale anyone who will listen about how it was the St. Louis Cardinals and then-team president/GM/field manager Branch Rickey that invented the Minor League system in 1919.

Frustrated with his inability to nab young talent through open bidding – sound familiar, Cardinals fans? – Rickey convinced owner Sam Breadon to purchase controlling interests in Minor League franchises in Houston and Fort Smith, Ark., that would develop and produce young talent for the big-league club.

Bloom, who just completed his first season while running the Cardinals’ front office, has done extensive studies on Rickey’s work more than a century ago and how many of the franchise’s 11 World Series titles were fueled by a Minor League system that was far more developed than any other in baseball for decades.

When that system fell into disrepair, it was Bloom’s job to fortify a player development process that the Cardinals know must be their lifeblood in a free-agency world. Rightly so, Bloom made re-tooling the franchise’s Minor League system his top priority – in terms of adding coaches, evaluators, analytics staff and top-tier players.

While trading veterans Sonny Gray, Willson Contreras, Nolan Arenado and Brendan Donovan and later Dustin May, JoJo Romero and Lars Nootbaar, Bloom’s return was more than a dozen prospects and draft picks. All his work, while adding prospects such as Alexander Frias, Josiah Ragsdale, Tai Peete, Trevor Condon, Tegan Kuhns, Jurrangelo Cijntje, Yhoiker Fajardo, Sandro Santana and Daniel Eagen, allowed the Cardinals’ Minor League system to zip to No. 2 in the MiLB rankings, per Baseball America and No. 4, per MLB Pipeline.

Over the next few weeks, we’ll be breaking down the top 30 prospects in the Cardinals’ Minor League system. Today’s prospect capsule is on left-handed hitting centerfielder Trevor Condon, the Cardinals’ teenaged first-round draft choice who has already drawn comparisons to Pete Crow-Armstrong because of his speedy, daring play both defensively and on the bases.

Player name: Trevor Condon

Age: 18

How acquired: The Cardinals selected Condon at No. 13 in the 2026 MLB Draft.

2026 statistics: Seven games (at Class-A Palm Beach), .321/.387/.536/.923, one homer, three doubles, five RBI, two stolen bases, six strike outs and three walks.

MLB Pipeline rankings: NR MiLB/No. 7 with Cards 

Key numbers: Showing no intimidation after going from high school in Georgia to Class-A Palm Beach, Condon had two hits in each of his first two professional games. He started his career with a four-game hitting streak and he registered hits in six of his seven games with the Class-A Cards.  

Looking back at 2026: The Cardinals were bummed when they fell to No. 13 in MLB’s new Drafty Lottery system, but they were delighted to see that Condon was still available when they selected. The 5-foot-11, 178-pounder, who inked a $5.1 million signing bonus with the Cards, has arguably the best hit tool/speed combination of any player in the 2026 high school class – skills that have already caused scouts to liken him to Crow-Armstrong. Scouts label Condon’s speed as “double plus” and his speed was graded as a 70 on an 80/20 scale. He uses that speed to aggressively take extra bases and keep pressure applied to the defense. And that speed certainly comes in handy in center field where he has the ability to run down balls in the gap. With a 60-grade defensive tool and 55-grade arm strength he projects as a plus center fielder at the big-league level.  

Looking forward to 2027: Condon, who doesn’t turn 19 years old until Jan. 9, could return to Palm Beach in 2027 or the Cardinals could advance him to High-A Peoria because of his advanced skills. He did land on the Injured List twice during his stay in Palm Beach, and he will need to prove that he can hit against left-handed pitching. (He faced just two lefties at Palm Beach and struck out twice.) However, his multi-faceted abilities shined through in his first and last games with Palm Beach. He had two hits, a double and a stolen base in his first pro game against Fort Myers on Aug. 18. Then, on Sept. 3 against Daytona, he went 2 for 3 with two doubles and two RBI.