Could Brewers Trade Acquisition Reach MLB, Cardinals in 2027?

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 Josiah Ragsdale, one of the two outfield prospects that the Cardinals acquired in the Aug. 3 MLB Trade Deadline deal that involved JoJo Romero and Dustin May being dealt to the Milwaukee Brewers.

Player name: Josiah Ragsdale

Age: 22

How acquired: The Cardinals acquired outfielder Alexander Frias and Rasdale in an Aug. 3 trade with the Milwaukee Brewers for right-handed starter Dustin May and left-handed reliever JoJo Romero.   

2026 statistics: (At High-A Wisconsin, Double-A Biloxi and Double-A Springfield), 113 games, .295/.418/.536/.954, 24 homers, 25 doubles, three triples, 65 RBI, 37 stolen bases in 40 tries, 135 strikeouts and 86 walks.

MLB Pipeline rankings: NR MiLB/No. 11 with Cards 

Key numbers: While splitting time with three teams, Ragsdale became a member of the 20-double (25), 20-homer (24), 20-stolen base (37) club in 2026.

Looking back at 2026: Ragsdale, who spent three years in college at Iona and Boston College prior to being a seventh round pick by the Brewers in 2025, is further along in his development than most Minor League players and it showed in 2026. He proved to be an eye-catching talent everywhere he played and he was a driving force on the Springfield team that reached the Texas League Championship Series after being acquired by the Cardinals. In 30 games with Springfield, the speedy center fielder had four doubles, a triple, five homers and 14 RBI. Also, he stole six bases in six attempts. Ragsdale set a school record during his one season at Boston College by swiping 30 bases in 56 games. In two professional seasons, Ragsdale has stolen 46 bases while he has been thrown out just six times.

Looking forward to 2027: Ragsdale, who will turn 23 years old on Dec. 21, will likely begin 2027 at Triple-A Memphis where he would be one step away from an MLB call-up. With Nathan Church and Victor Scott II still working down an everyday role in center field for the Cardinals, Ragsdale could get a look by midseason if he handles Triple-A pitching well. A powerful stroke that swatted 24 homers last season does come with some swing and miss. He struck out 135 times in his 116 games, while walking 86 times. If he can duplicate the .355 on-base percentage that he posted in Springfield last season, he could be up at the big-league sooner rather than later in 2027.