photo: JJ Wetherholt (Memphis Redbirds)
The annual The Cardinal Nation St. Louis Cardinals All-Prospect Team is the top prospect at each position and includes 12 players – eight position players plus four pitchers – left and right-handed starters and relievers. In an indication of the level of change across the organization, nine of the 12 spots turned over from 2025 with no. 1 prospect JJ Wetherholt team captain. FREE article!
The next subject in our Top 50 St. Louis Cardinals Prospects for 2026 series is to recognize the organization’s best minor league prospects at each position. At the end, all Top 50 members are shown by their position groupings in an organizational prospect depth chart.
The selection process is very straightforward. We have already unveiled our Top 50 prospects in the system. Putting together this year’s All-Prospect Team is as simple as culling the top-ranked player at each position from that Top 50.
The annual The Cardinal Nation St. Louis Cardinals All-Prospect Team consists of 12 players – eight position players, including two corner outfielders, plus four pitchers – left and right-handed starters and relievers.
Listed are each player’s ranking in our 2026 Top 50, age and highest level played in 2025. (The exception in 2025 first-rounder Liam Doyle, who made one appearance at Double-A Springfield at the end of the season. For this exercise, the lefty was placed at his prior level, Low-A.)
The Cardinal Nation St. Louis Cardinals 2026 All-Prospect Team
| All-Prospect Team 2026 | Player | Rank | Age | 2025 Lvl |
| Catcher | Rainiel Rodriguez | 3 | 18 | A+ |
| First Base | Deniel Ortiz | 15 | 21 | A+ |
| Second Base | Cesar Prieto # | 39 | 26 | MLB |
| Shortstop | JJ Wetherholt C * | 1 | 22 | AAA |
| Third Base | Jesus Baez | 14 | 20 | A+ |
| Corner Outfield | Joshua Baez | 8 | 22 | AA |
| Corner Outfield | Ryan Mitchell | 19 | 18 | Rk |
| Center field | Nathan Church | 20 | 24 | MLB |
| LH Starter | Liam Doyle | 2 | 22 | A |
| RH Starter | Tink Hence * | 10 | 23 | AA |
| LH Reliever | Michael Watson | 36 | 23 | AA |
| RH Reliever | Luis Gastelum | 21 | 24 | AA |
* returning member
C unofficial captain
# position change
For the second time in three years, there is an unusually high level of turnover on our All-Prospect Team with nine new members, same as in 2024. Coming into 2025, after a year in which the Cardinals did not trade extensively, the total fell to a more typical five.
With nine new members, that means that only three of the 12 are holdovers, denoted by an asterisk (*) and hash sign (#) above.
Right-handed starting pitcher Tink Hence is the only All-Prospect Team member remaining from either 2022 or 2023. Back for his fifth year, Hence is the senior member of the All-Prospect Team. However, the top-ranked right-handed pitcher has dropped from second to 10th in our rankings.
For that reason, the two-time no. 1 prospect in the system, shortstop JJ Wetherholt is our captain in his second year on the All-Prospect Team.
The other repeater from 2025, infielder Cesar Prieto, has been shifted from third base to second for 2026.
The nine new members of the team come from four different sources, including five players drafted by the Cardinals and two signed as international free agents.
From the group of prospects joining the organization via trade in July 2025 is third baseman Jesus Baez. The final member is domestic free agent signing Michael Watson, our left-handed reliever.
Of the seven new homegrown prospects, two came from the 2025 Draft, Doyle and outfielder Ryan Mitchell. Earlier Cardinals draft picks are first baseman Deniel Ortiz (2024) plus outfielders Nathan Church (2022) and Joshua Baez (2021).
The two international free agents among the 12 team members are catcher Raniel Rodriguez and right-handed reliever Luis Gastelum.
TCN St. Louis Cardinals All-Prospect Teams – 2022 through 2025
All-Prospect Team members from the previous four seasons are included for comparison purposes.
| All-Prospects | ||||
| 2025 | 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | |
| C | Jimmy Crooks | Leonardo Bernal | Ivan Herrera | Ivan Herrera |
| 1B | Josh Kross | Chandler Redmond | Luken Baker | Juan Yepez |
| 2B | Thomas Saggese | Thomas Saggese | Anyelo Encarnacion | Nolan Gorman |
| SS | JJ Wetherholt | Masyn Winn | Masyn Winn | Masyn Winn |
| 3B | César Prieto | Noah Mendlinger | Samil De La Rosa | Jordan Walker |
| COF | Won-Bin Cho | Won-Bin Cho | Jordan Walker | Lars Nootbaar |
| COF | Chase Davis | Chase Davis | Alec Burleson | Alec Burleson |
| CF | Victor Scott | Victor Scott | Joshua Baez | Joshua Baez |
| LHS | Quinn Mathews | Cooper Hjerpe | Matthew Liberatore | M. Liberatore |
| RHS | Tink Hence | Tink Hence | Tink Hence | Michael McGreevy |
| LHR | none | none | Zack Thompson | none |
| RHR | Zack Showalter | Edwin Nuñez | Freddy Pacheco | Tink Hence |
Eight players left the 2025 All-Prospect Team, not nine, because there was no left-handed reliever on last year’s Top 50. Those eight departed in just two ways. Two, Thomas Saggese and Victor Scott, graduated to the majors, the year after just one All-Prospect Team member moved up, Masyn Winn.
The other five were simply passed by better prospects at their respective positions.
At catcher, there is the fourth name in four years. For 2026, Rodriguez replaces Jimmy Crooks, though the latter is still a Top 10 prospect. The same thing happened the year before, as Crooks took the place held by Leonardo Bernal. For the three years prior to that, Ivan Herrera was the top-ranked backstop.
At first base, Ortiz replaced Josh Kross, who is still in the 2026 Top 50.
2025 team members in the outfield, Chase Davis and Won-Bin Cho, did not repeat in 2026. Davis remains on the new Top 50, though ranked much lower, but Cho dropped off completely.
Among pitchers, Doyle replaced Quinn Mathews as the top left-handed starter and right-handed reliever Gastelum passed Zack Showalter, with the latter no longer ranked.
The annual highest turnover position is third base with Jesus Baez the sixth new choice in the last six years.
Age and experience – 2022-2026
| All-Prospect Team | 2026 | 2025 | 2024 | 2023 | 2022 |
| Average age | 21.9 | 22.4 | 21.7 | 21.4 | 20.9 |
| Average experience | AA | AA | AA | AA | AA |
At an average age of 21.9 years on January 1, 2026, the 2026 All-Prospect Team is half a year younger than the 2025 group. However, it is still the second oldest group since 2020 (22.3).
This is the fourth All-Prospect Team in the last five to average under 22 years of age after eight straight years of averaging older than 22.
Though this is nothing against them, the 26-year-old second baseman Prieto and the pair of 24-year-olds Church and Gastelum pulled up the All-Prospect Team average age for 2026. At the other end of the age spectrum are Mitchell and Rodriguez at 18.
The level of play reached by the average All-Prospect Team member is Double-A, same as last four years. However, the 2026 group is below the Double-A line, and just a bit less experienced than the 2025 group.
Depth at the full season levels is showing with both rookie ball teams shut out of the All-Prospect Team for the third straight season. However, this is done with an asterisk, as though Mitchell has yet to play, his likely 2026 professional debut will be in the Florida Complex League.
For more
As always, our top prospect lists and associated analysis articles from each of the last 20 years can be accessed via “PROSPECT RANKINGS” permanently displayed on the red menu bar on the left side of The Cardinal Nation homepage, just underneath the site logo.
To reference our entire list of Top 50 Cardinals prospects for 2026 and read about each individual player, see the article below.
50 Days, 50 Nights, 50 St. Louis Cardinals Prospects for 2026
Next up
In upcoming articles in this series, we dig into the top prospects by level of play and their expected MLB debuts. Also coming are the players who just missed the personal Top 50s of Brian Walton and Kyle Reis, plus their 2026 deep sleeper picks.
As always, join the daily discussion about each article at The Cardinal Nation’s message boards.
Bonus for members of The Cardinal Nation
2026 Top St. Louis Cardinals Prospects – 2025 Picks and Pans
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Brian Walton can be reached via email at brian@thecardinalnation.com. Follow Brian and The Cardinal Nation on X/Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and Bluesky.
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