The Cardinal Nation is proud to roll out our 20th annual choices of the top players at each level of the St. Louis Cardinals system, following stats leaders and season recaps by affiliate. Articles run daily from Monday, September 28 into early November.
Continuing our annual tradition into its 20th year, the staff of The Cardinal Nation recap the just-completed season at each level of the St. Louis Cardinals system. We then crown three award winners for each team – The Cardinal Nation Minor League Starting Pitchers, Relievers and Players of the Year.
Our selections will be unveiled, one team recap or award daily, from Monday, September 28 into early November. We begin with the system’s top hitting and pitching performers by various statistical measures. Club recaps from rookie to Triple-A are next, then the Dominican Summer League (DSL) Reliever of the Year, all the way through the Memphis Redbirds Player of the Year.
Several special awards follow, including our top players across the entire Cardinals minor league system for 2026 as well as the best performing rookies. The series will conclude with our choice as the top manager in the organization.
Those at the keyboard are our team of locally-based reporters – covering the Cardinals minor league affiliates first-hand – as they select the very best of the best at each level and overall.
Participating TCN staff members include Tabarius White (Memphis), Jamie Santner (Springfield), Steffen White (Peoria), Bryce Malcolm (Palm Beach), Paul Ivice (Florida Complex League) plus Leonda Markee (Dominican Summer League). Brian Walton will single out the top first-year players, system-wide stats leaders and award winners.
Clockwise from upper right: Bryce Malcolm, Tabarius White, Jamie Santner, Steffen White and Michael Goff.
Note: While the team reports and all winning names are made available to everyone as this master article is updated daily, the detailed commentary behind most of the player awards in this series are exclusively for The Cardinal Nation members.
This 37-article series includes analysis from our local reporters as to tradeoffs made and what we saw in the best players to take the field at each level of the Cardinals system during the 2026 season.
Once the articles are published, click on the highlighted names below to read them if you missed them the first time.
The Cardinal Nation 2026 Award Winners/Schedule
Stat recaps |
Writer | Counting stats |
Rate stats |
Speed |
|
| Offensive leaders | Brian Walton | link | Tue 9/29 | Wed 9/30 | |
| Pitching leaders | Brian Walton | Thu 10/1 | Fri 10/2 | ||
| Team | Writer | Season review (free) | Reliever |
Starter |
Player |
| DSL | Brian Walton | Sat 10/3 |
Fri 10/9 | Thu 10/15 | Wed 10/21 |
| FL Complex | Paul Ivice | Sun 10/4 |
Sat 10/10 | Fri 10/16 | Thu 10/22 |
| Palm Beach | Bryce Malcolm | Mon 10/5 |
Sun 10/11 | Sat 10/17 | Fri 10/23 |
| Peoria | Steffen White | Tue 10/6 |
Mon 10/12 | Sun 10/18 | Sat 10/24 |
| Springfield | Jamie Santner | Wed 10/7 |
Tue 10/13 | Mon 10/19 | Sun 10/25 |
| Memphis | Tabarius White | Thu 10/8 |
Wed 10/14 | Tue 10/20 | Mon 10/26 |
| Rookies of Year |
Writer | Pitcher | Player | ||
| Brian Walton | Tue 10/27 | Wed 10/28 | |||
| Players of Year |
Writer | Reliever | Starter | Player | |
| Brian Walton | Thu 10/29 | Fri 10/30 | Sat 10/31 | ||
| Manager of Year |
Brian Walton | Sun 11/1 | |||
| Season Wrap Up |
Brian Walton | Mon 11/2 | |||
| Player Awards |
Brian Walton | Tue 11/3 |
Click on the name highlighted in the table above to be taken to that detailed article. In addition, select each team name to read the 2026 overall summary for that level.
Then, join the daily discussion at The Cardinal Nation’s free message board, as each selection is unveiled.
If you ever forget the location of this article, you can always return by using the permanent link on The Cardinal Nation homepage. Underneath the site logo in the left column, click on “Season Recaps/Top Players”, and select the year.
Our annual Cardinals Top 50 Prospect Ranking countdown for 2027 will begin in November after this series concludes. Please remember that the two processes are separate and distinct.
This effort is to recognize the top performances on the field in 2026, whether the players are projected to have a big-league future down the road or not. In other words, this is all about current year results at the assigned level of play, not future potential.
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