Prospect with 103 MPH Heat Could be Moved to Cardinals' Bullpen

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 starter Brandon Clarke, a power pitcher who must prove that he can stay healthy and might project more as a reliever instead of a starter. 

Player name: Brandon Clarke

Age: 23

How acquired: The Cardinals acquired Richard Fitts and Clarke in a trade with the Red Sox for Sonny Gray on Nov. 25, 2025.

2026 statistics: 10 games-10 starts, 0-1, 3.34 ERA, 29 2/3 IP, 14 hits, 11 earned runs, 2 HR allowed, 44 strikeouts, 17 walks.

MLB Pipeline rankings: NR MiLB/No. 9 with Cards 

Key numbers: The hard-throwing lefty returned from offseason surgery for blood-flow issues and hit 103 mph on the radar gun in July. He struck out 44 hitters in just 29 2/3 innings. His one start for Double-A Springfield was a gem: four innings, one hit, zero earned runs, seven strikeouts and one walk on Sept. 9.

Looking back at 2026: Six-foot-four left-handers with 103 mph velocity aren’t exactly abundant, so it’s easy to see why the Cardinals gambled on the enormous promise of Clarke. The issue, however, is Clarke’s health – something that continues to be an issue. His high school career was hampered by Tommy John surgery and his 2025 in the Red Sox system was cut short by blisters on his fingers. Then, he needed surgery for the blood-flow issues not long after being acquired by the Cardinals. That surgical procedure knocked him out until July and led to him making rehab stats in the Florida Complex League, Class-A Palm Beach and High-A Peoria before finally reaching Double-A Springfield in September. Because of that missed time, the Cardinals planned to have Clarke pitch in the Arizona Fall League, but those plans were scrapped when Clarke needed an arthroscopic procedure to remove loose bodies in his left elbow. The club says he will be ready for its Instructional League in January, but time will tell if the electrifying, 23-year-old prospect can finally find an extended stretch of good luck with injuries.    

Looking forward to 2027: From the time he first came on the radar of MLB’s scouts, Clark’s fastball and slider were given 70 grades on an 80/20 talent scale. His control, however, was graded at 40. Some wonder if Clark’s overpowering fastball and wipeout slider mix might better suit him for a bullpen role instead of in the starting staff. The Cardinals might experiment with him as a reliever to see if that allows him to stay healthy while also maximizing one of the best fastballs in the Minor Leagues. He’s never pitched more than 38 innings in professional baseball, so altering Clarke’s role might be greatly beneficial for his career. Because of his age, Clarke will likely start 2027 at Double-A Springfield and he could be moved to Triple-A Memphis early in the year. If he stays healthy and can throw enough strikes, Clarke could possibly make it to St. Louis as a high-leverage reliever by 2027.