Cardinals' Top Prospects Attend Club's Offseason Development Program

Less than three weeks after the playoffs ended in the Minor Leagues, the St. Louis Cardinals have many of their top prospects back at work at their Spring Training facility in Jupiter, Fla.

Monday marked the first day of the Cardinals’ 2026 Fall Off-Season Program, a six-week session that brings together select Minor League players, coaches and performance and development staff. The Cardinals invited 41 Minor League pitchers, five catchers/first basemen, 10 infielders, 10 outfielders and three utility fielders to the camp.

Top prospects Rainiel Rodriguez and Liam Doyle and 2026 first-round draft pick Trevor Condon were invited to attend the Fall Off-Season Program. Rodriguez, who doesn’t turn 20 years old until Jan. 4, is coming of a historic season at Double-A Springfield and he could be working on his positional versatility this offseason to potentially speed up his trek to the big leagues.

Other prospects expected to attend the fall camp: No. 5 Alexander Frias, No. 6 Tanner Franklin, No. 7 Trevor Condon, No. 9 Brandon Clarke, No. 10 Tegan Kuhns, No. 12 Jurrangelo Cijntje, No. 13 Yhoiker Fajardo, No. 15 Jesus Baez and No. 16 Rocco Maniscalsco. The player rankings are from MLB Pipeline. Rodriguez is ranked No. 10 in all baseball, while Doyle sits at No. 40.

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The Cardinals say that the program is designed to provide individualized training to build physical capacity, while also creating competitive, team-oriented environments that can potentially fuel culture and connection across the organization.

Other top prospects – such as No. 14 Tekoah Roby and No. 17 – are part of the Cardinals’ nine-player contingent competing in the Arizona Fall League. Appearing in his first game in more than 15 months after working his way back from elbow ligament repair surgery, Roby threw three scoreless, hitless innings on Friday in the AFL. He struck out six in three innings of work.

As for Peete, the center fielder acquired by the Cardinals last February from the Mariners in the deal centered around All-Star infielder Brendan Donovan, the speedy lead-off hitter has been one of the standouts of the league through five games. Peete is hitting .400 with a homer, a double, two RBI and four stolen bases. The 21-year-old outfielder’s best game of the AFL came last week when he had three hits and three stolen bases.  

Clarke, the left-handed starter with the 102-mph fastball, was originally scheduled to pitch in the Arizona Fall League, but he recently underwent an arthroscopic procedure to have loose bodies removed from his left elbow. Clarke, 23 is expected to be fully recovered in time for the club’s Instructional Camp for Minor League players in January.

Left-handed pitcher Alex Cornwell is the oldest Cardinals’ prospect invited to the Fall Off-Season Program at 27 years old, while Alabama high school shortstop Rocco Maniscalco is the youngest at 17 years of age.

The Cardinals took the 18-year-old Condon with the No. 13 pick in the July MLB Draft, while they snagged the 21-year-old Kuhns with the No. 32 pick out of the University of Tennessee. Maniscalco, the youngest player to be picked in the 2026 MLB Draft, was taken by the Cardinals with the No. 50 overall pick. Outfielder Andrew Williamson and pitcher Dawson Montesa, the Cardinals Competitive Balance B picks in the draft at No. 68 and 70, are also expected to take part in the camp.