I saw a little bit of surprise that Leonardo Bernal, voted as the sixth best prospect in the system, wasn\u2019t voted in the top 5. I am not surprised. Doing this for three years, catchers usually end up lower than I expect, not higher. Bernal was ranked 8th last season and that definitely surprised me (I had him 5th). I can\u2019t think of an instance where a catcher outkicked their coverage in the way that, say, Victor Scott did when he was voted 2nd. It just doesn\u2019t happen. Catchers are not trusted by this voting bloc. And yes, I know Rainiel Rodriguez was voted 3rd, however I\u2019m talking relative to expectations and 3rd in the system is pretty much in line with what national publications think. And I think a good many of us don\u2019t think he will actually be a catcher. That leaves the current list at:<\/p>\n
JJ WetherholtLiam DoyleRainiel RodriguezQuinn MathewsJoshua BaezLeonardo Bernal<\/p>\n
Once again, here is a very immediately relevant comparable player poll. I won\u2019t say that the winner will be on the next vote, but that whomever wins will determine who gets added next. That\u2019s because one of these players has already been in this feature a couple times. Once the voting has established what you, the readers, think of a player, I can learn more information about the complete unknown player I am comparing him to.<\/p>\n
Yhoiker Fajardo is the complete unknown. I didn\u2019t really know when to add him and I\u2019d like a little more information first. Acquired from the Boston Red Sox in the package for Willson Contreras, Fajardo will be 19 heading into the 2026 season. He pitched part of the season in the complex league and part of the season in Low A and he did well at both, striking out over 27% of hitters, walking 9% and getting groundballs over 50% of the time at both levels. Presumably he will be in High A.<\/p>\n
Tanner Franklin was last year\u2019s 72nd overall pick out of Tennessee. On a stacked Tennessee team, he was relegated to the bullpen, striking out 32% of hitters and walking just 5.5%. With an MLB ready fastball, the Cardinals will attempt to transition him to starting. He pitched at both Low A and High A last season, although only 6 innings in 3 appearances. He will be 22 next season and I\u2019m guessing also at High A.<\/p>\n
This will be the last time Franklin is in this section. I just really liked this comparison. Both should be at the same level and probably for just about the entire season, due to Fajardo\u2019s age and Franklin needing to establish a starter\u2019s workload. Franklin has better stuff and a better floor, but threw 30 less innings than Fajardo and is three years older. They are similar in terms of future value, but represent different types of prospects philosophically.<\/p>\n
I thought it was about time to add Yairo Padilla, the teenage prospect who got very overshadowed by Rainiel Rodriguez. Who could have known Rodriguez would explode in his stateside debut? Anyway, last year Yairo Padilla finished 15th, which is both why I\u2019m adding him now and also why he\u2019s being added this late.<\/p>\n
This might be a good time to ask about a few players I have no intention of ever adding to the vote who did make last year\u2019s top 20 since Padilla is one of the last players. Last year\u2019s #13 player, Sem Robberse, got DFA\u2019d and is going to miss most of the 2026 season. Last year\u2019s #14 player, Matt Koperniak, is now 28, got DFA\u2019d and is coming off a poor season. #17 prospect Zack Showalter did not build off his 2024, suffered a few more injury problems, and could not throw strikes when he did pitch. #20 (or #21, the voting results have been lost) prospect Max Rajcic was bad in AAA and barely made the list.<\/p>\n
Those seem straightforward. I also kind of think #16 prospect Darlin Saladin doesn\u2019t need to go in the voting either. He\u2019s more borderline than the above, but I feel like he was only on the top 20 because his stats made it impossible to not include him, and then he pitched worse at a level it seemed like he already conquered. The scouting on his pitches was never that great, so I\u2019m not sure what the hook would be to get him on a top 20 now. Let me know if I\u2019m right about these players. I\u2019m asking so that I don\u2019t have to include them on this section either for the record.<\/p>\n
Stats (High A): 416 PAs, .244\/.327\/.397, 10.3 BB%, 18.5 K%, .153 ISO, .270 BABIP, 116 wRC+, 121 DRC+<\/p>\n
Scouting (FG): 30\/45 Hit, 35\/50 Game Power, 50\/55 Raw Power, 40\/40 Speed, 40\/45 Fielding<\/p>\n
I think Baez is bound to get overlooked in this ranking, because it does not seem like recent trade acquisitions do not do particularly well in the voting – fans haven\u2019t had a chance to attach themselves to them yet. On top of that, Baez did not play particularly well as a Cardinal, although he did finish strong. But Baez can\u2019t legally drink for a few more weeks, had a fairly successful season at High A and if he doesn\u2019t start the year in AA, he\u2019ll be there soon. The scouting doesn\u2019t love his approach, although it\u2019s not really seen in his stats yet, but the Cardinals\u2019 success with Alec Burleson does give me some hope with Baez.<\/p>\n
Stats (Low A): 3 GS, 9.2 IP, 47.2 K%, 5.6 BB%, 68.8 GB%, .125 BABIP, 0.93 ERA\/0.98 FIP\/1.32 xFIP\/3.66 DRA<\/p>\n
High A: 11 GS, 28.1 IP, 31.2 K%, 18.1 BB%, 62.5 GB%, .254 BABIP, 5.08 ERA\/4.17 FIP\/4.74 xFIP\/4.75 DRA<\/p>\n
Scouting: 60\/60 Fastball, 70\/80 Slider, 40\/50 Change, 30\/40 Command<\/p>\n
I could say the same thing for Clarke. The Cardinals just got Clarke, so fans do not yet have an attachment to him. One could argue that leads to a more objective view of a player, but one could also argue their attachment to other prospects causes them to overrate them and thus put them above the \u201cobjective\u201d prospect. In either case, Clarke had sort of a Tink Hence season, where he didn\u2019t remotely convince you he\u2019s more likely to avoid his downside, but he still pitched good enough to believe in the possibility of his upside. That\u2019s a hard player to rank honestly.<\/p>\n
Stats (AAA): 98 G, 430 PAs, .274\/.337\/.441, 8.4 BB%, 26.5 K%, .167 ISO, .352 BABIP, 105 wRC+, 106 DRC+<\/p>\n
MLB: 15 G, 46 PAs, .133\/.152\/.244, 0 BB%, 37 K%, .111 ISO, .185 BABIP, 5 wRC+, 67 DRC+<\/p>\n
Scouting: 35\/40 Hit, 40\/45 Game Power, 50\/50 Raw Power, 20\/20 Speed, 60\/70 Fielding<\/p>\n
I don\u2019t know where I stand on Crooks. I reflexively defend players who seem to drop when I\u2019m not really sure why. Or I don\u2019t like the reasons. Interestingly, I think I disagree with the scouting on Crooks by Fangraphs, although it might lead to the same place. I am a little skeptical of their defensive scouting, but at the same time, they might be lower on his offense than I\u2019d predict too. I wouldn\u2019t be surprised if he could manage a 90 wRC+ or so, and I think a 40 hit tool with below average power describes a worse hitter than that.<\/p>\n
Stats (Three levels): 8 G, 21.1 IP, 27.9 K%, 15.1 BB%, 45.8 GB%, .255 BABIP, 2.95 ERA\/3.80 FIP\/4.18 xFIP, 4.56 DRA<\/p>\n
Scouting: 45\/45 Fast, 50\/55 Slider, 60\/70 Change, 45\/55 Command<\/p>\n
One thing about Hence that might not quite come across if you just look at last season is that I think he\u2019s absolutely ready for AAA. If you look at his 2024 season, I don\u2019t see how you wouldn\u2019t come to that conclusion. He didn\u2019t pitch in AAA last year for health reasons and that\u2019s it. He never quite got past the rehab status. He spent most of his season working his way up to AA, struck out 8 to 1 BB in 4.1 IP where he didn\u2019t allow a hit. He then got rocked in his next start and made just one more start after that where he was removed after just 11 batters. I imagine they wanted him to throw 5 innings before they promoted him and it never happened. Of course, Hence isn\u2019t on the list yet because of health, so that isn\u2019t exactly comforting.<\/p>\n
Stats (AA): 25 GS, 132 IP, 25.2 K%, 9.6 BB%, 37.1 GB%, .278 BABIP, 2.59 ERA\/3.16 FIP\/4.00 xFIP\/4.51 DRA<\/p>\n
Scouting: 50\/60 Fastball, 45\/50 Slider, 30\/40 Change, 40\/45 Cutter, 40\/50 Command<\/p>\n
As more of a stat follower than someone who scouts players or even looks at scouting reports of players, I am rather surprised how Fangraphs rates his pitches. If forced to guess, I would have predicted his secondaries were good, but his fastball was below average. It\u2019s almost the opposite. I don\u2019t know if this is accurate of course. But he\u2019s a fastball\/slider pitcher who needs a third pitch – according to this person\u2019s opinion of course. Certainly, these scouting numbers for his pitches suggest an easy transition to the bullpen at the least.<\/p>\n
Scouting: 55\/55 Fastball, 55\/60 Slider, 50\/50 Change, 45\/50 Cutter, 45\/50 Command<\/p>\n
It is easy enough to see why Hjerpe is still making top 20 lists despite having the durability of Mark Prior. And this is only kind of a joke – the mechanics of a Carter Capps. He has the stuff to start. Look at that scouting. Two above average pitches, including a strong putaway pitch, and two other average pitches (or we hope in the case of the cutter). That\u2019ll play. We just need Cooper Hjerpe to actually play.<\/p>\n
Stats (AA): 25 GS, 114.2 IP, 28.6 K%, 7.1 BB%. 41.2 GB%, .286 BABIP, 2.98 ERA\/3.58 FIP\/3.20 xFIP\/4.54 DRA<\/p>\n
Scouting: 45\/45 Fastball, 55\/55 Slider, 40\/45 Curve, 35\/40 Change, 45\/55 Command<\/p>\n
2026 will prove to be an important year for Mautz. I feel like we\u2019ve seen a few of the underwhelming scouting starters who nonetheless manage to pitch well reach AAA and just hit a roadblock. I will say that usually that type of pitcher doesn\u2019t strike out 28.6% of batters in AA however. That gives me more hope that he either has better stuff than what the scouting says or that he\u2019s better at utilizing and knowing his stuff than pitchers in the past. Either way, it\u2019s hard to argue with his results.<\/p>\n
Stats (Low A): 320 PAs, .285\/.406\/.446, 15.3 BB%, 27.5 K%, .162 ISO, .386 BABIP, 145 wRC+, 119 DRC+<\/p>\n
High A: 130 PAs, .336\/.438\/.500, 13.8 BB%, 22.3 K%, .164 ISO, .436 BABIP, 168 wRC+, 97 DRC+<\/p>\n
Speaking of players with underwhelming scouting whose stats force you to pay attention to them, welcome to the poster child. I don\u2019t actually have scouting on Ortiz, that\u2019s how under the radar he was last year. He was a 16th round pick back in 2024, so it\u2019s hard to blame the scouts. The Cardinals would have drafted him higher if they knew this 2025 was in him. They probably saw something in him that other teams didn\u2019t certainly, but it\u2019d be wild to wait 16 rounds – which is well past the point where you expect anything from your draft picks – and you just gambled correctly that nobody would pick him.<\/p>\n
Stats (CPX): 38 G, 148 PAs, .283\/.396\/.367, 12.2 BB%, 14.2 K%, .083 ISO, .340 BABIP, 119 wRC+<\/p>\n
I honestly did not know how long I could or should wait to put Padilla into the voting. The main reason was that I didn\u2019t know how much success at a rookie league improved a player\u2019s stock in these type of rankings. And that goes for me and where I\u2019ll rank him personally. Padilla was not in my top 20 because I don\u2019t trust the DSL. He will be in my top 20 this year. Where, I have no idea at the moment. Because he certainly took a big step in showing he could succeed in the states – Jonathan Mejia very much failed this test for example. I will be curious if the Cardinals put him in Low A to begin the 2026 season. It will tell us a lot.<\/p>\n
Stats (AA): 10 GS, 47 IP, 31.1 K%, 6 BB%, 42.9 GB%, .273 BABIP, 2.49 ERA\/2.90 FIP\/2.73 xFIP\/4.56 DRA<\/p>\n
AAA: 6 GS, 31.1 IP, 22.6 K%, 6 BB%, 44.7 GB%, .319 BABIP, 4.02 ERA\/4.01 FIP\/4.04 xFIP\/4.50 DRA<\/p>\n
Roby had Tommy John surgery in July of 2025, so his ability to pitch next year is a little more in question than Hjerpe. But he pitched well last year, re-establishing himself as a prospect. Without the injury, I wonder how high he would be selected. I also feel that Roby was an example of a prospect that didn\u2019t get as much love because he was a deadline acquisition so there was less attachment. However, fans have gotten familiar with him for now two and half seasons, so he\u2019s probably not harmed by this effect anymore.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"I saw a little bit of surprise that Leonardo Bernal, voted as the sixth best prospect in the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":550418,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2403],"tags":[5,160,4,6213,673,67,4311,4310,38503],"class_list":{"0":"post-550417","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-st-louis-cardinals","8":"tag-baseball","9":"tag-cardinals","10":"tag-mlb","11":"tag-st-louis-cardinals-news","12":"tag-st-louis","13":"tag-st-louis-cardinals","14":"tag-stlouis","15":"tag-stlouiscardinals","16":"tag-veb-daily"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116001398080610047","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/550417","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=550417"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/550417\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/550418"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=550417"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=550417"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=550417"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}