A Cardinals Minor League system that has slipped a bit in recent months in the eyes of some could receive a major injection of talent with the club possessing seven picks in the first day of the MLB Draft. The Cards will pick No. 13, 32, 50, 68, 72, 86 and 114 to try and restock their talent base.
With the newly condensed MLB Draft a day away from starting, prospect talk will be gripping Major League Baseball throughout the weekend before the break for the MLB All-Star Game.
As it relates the Cardinals’ Minor League system – one that the club refurbished over the winter with the prospects acquired in the trades involving veteran players Nolan Arenado, Sonny Gray, Willson Contreras and Brendan Donovan – there is a bit of bad news and some good news to appropriately balance it out.
In a new ranking of Minor League systems just released by Baseball America, the Cardinals fell from No. 2 in MLB before the season to No. 6 by the midseason mark. Another dash of bad news is that the rich keep getting richer with the National League Central-leading Brewers climbing from No. 3 in the preseason to No. 1 with a staggering nine Top 100-ranked players, per Baseball America.
Here’s the good news for a Cardinals’ Minor League system that the club expects to be the lifeblood of the organization by consistently churning out MLB-ready talent: St. Louis will go into Saturday’s MLB Draft with the most Day 1 picks (seven) of any MLB club.
The Cardinals will have picks 13, 32, 50, 68, 72, 86 and 114 with which to try and restock the talent pool in their Minor League system. The Cardinals also possess a bonus pool allotment of $16.6 million – the sixth-largest such pool to use to lure talent away from college baseball and into their system.
From all the way back to his introductory news conference last October, Cardinals’ president of baseball operations Chaim Bloom said drafting and developing players is of the utmost importance to the franchise, and the club is heading into the draft with that mindset.
“Our top priority will be to build out talent base for the long term – that may mean hard decisions and short-term sacrifices, but to get where we want to go, we can’t take shortcuts and we won’t,” Bloom stressed. “How we work, how we scout, how we train, how we develop and how we play – those are things we control, and we get to decide that every day. We will get after them with intent.”
Cards hope to capitalize on Competitive Balance picks
The Cardinals picked No. 7 in 2024 and No. 5 in 2025, picks they used to snag standout rookie JJ Wetherholt and prized pitching prospect Liam Doyle. After falling in the December Draft Lottery, the Cardinals first pick on Saturday will be at No. 13.
Their second pick falls at No. 32 as part of the Competitive Balance A round. After the 25 picks of the first round, the Braves get the No. 26 pick for catcher and Missouri State product Drake Baldwin winning the National League Rookie of the Year – a position the Cards could find themselves in a year from now if Wetherholt becomes their first Rookie of the Year since Albert Pujols in 2001. The Mets pick at No. 27 – a 10-pick penalty for exceeding the second surcharge threshold with their payroll. The Astros pick at No. 28 after rookie Hunter Brown finished in the top three in AL Cy Young voting. At No. 32, the Cardinals will be picking fourth in the Competitive Balance A round, behind the Giants (No. 29), Royals (No. 30) and Diamondbacks (No. 31).
For the first time since 2023, the Cardinals will have a second-round pick (No. 50). Their next two picks – No. 68 (from the Mariners) and No. 72 (from the Rays) – were acquired by the Cardinals when they dealt Donovan to Seattle.
Bloom, who once had 12 of the first 89 picks in the 2011 MLB Draft when he was running the Rays front office, knew the Cardinals needed more draft picks to serve as building blocks for the future. As for Bloom’s luck from the 2011 MLB Draft, he used one of those picks to select two-time Cy Young award winner Blake Snell for Tampa Bay.
“(The Competitive Balance picks) were obviously really important,” Bloom said. “The (Donovan) deal would not have happened without their inclusion. The value of those shots in the top 100 picks of the Draft is real. Obviously, it's on us now to maximize them.”
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