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#6 Tanner Franklin
Mid season I wasn’t as confident with Franklin, but he really upped his game to end the year after a mid season slump. He has good stuff albeit not Doyle’s level but with better command. Franklin needs to keep building innings, but he seems like a guy with a very high probability of making an MLB impact. He should have mid rotation upside as well.
Voting for #6 is indeed closed. Your 2027 TCN Community #6 prospect is Tanner Franklin, RHP. Way to go, Tanner!
1. Rainiel Rodriguez, C
2. Quinn Mathews, LHP
3. Liam Doyle, LHP
4. Leo Bernal, C
5. Joshua Baez, OF
6. Tanner Franklin, RHPVoting is now open for the #7 prospect. Voting will close at 12 PM CT/1 PM ET on Monday, October 19th.
#7 Trevor Condon
Cardinals 1st round pick, 2026 draft, #13 overall. 60 Hit Tool, 70 Speed Tool, 55-60 Defense Tool. Only 18, and showed pretty well in his limited time in the FSL. 9 hits in 7 games, .321 BA, .923 OPS…that’s what he was advertised as pre draft, and he delivered…in a small sample size. His arm is very accurate, no matter the throw….to 3B, HP, 2B.
I had a chance to see him play in Cary, NC in July, 2025. I came away impressed by Condon, especially with the speed and in the field. That day I also got to see Taj Marchand, Gio Rojas, Kole Koeninger, Coleman Borthwick play. Loaded future HS class of 2026.
Condon is commonly comped with PCA, and some fans have added, “But you don’t want to punch him in the face”. If he grows into more power as he gets older, we’ll be blessed to have drafted him. CF of the future, something the MLB team needs, a CF that can hit and field at the same time.
White Hoodies will be a new trend in St. Louis. 😀
#7 Jurrangelo Cijntje, RHP 45+/50, Risk Med
Our favorite (and only) (potential) switch pitcher is next on my list. It’s possible I’m underrating Jurrangelo, given that I wasn’t that bullish on him when we got him from Seattle. His results on the surface don’t look that awesome. But he did fairly well what you’d expect an on-the-raw-side Top 100ish guy in his first taste of AAA to do. He ate some innings, struck out quite a few (one off the minor league lead for the year, in fact), and was wild at times, while giving up more HRs than you’d wish and mixing some dominant starts with some clunkers. But Jurrangelo persevered and was arguably at his best at season’s end, which is a good sign for a prospect who spent the whole year on the roster without injury. He did a good job in September, although the Ks were a little down, of limiting base runners. Now that it seems that he’s gotten the switch pitching out of his system, he can focus on growing as a right handed starter, with some reliever fallback in case things don’t work out fully.
Cijntje can dial his fastball up to 99, even late-ish in outings, as he did a couple of times in the 6th inning in his September starts. The shape and spin are not elite, so he has to get by with higher velocity to be successful. His slider is also solid and the changeup is growing as well. The downside his 2026 is that after dominating righties to the tune of a .480 OPS allowed in 2025, he bumped all the way to .771 OPS allowed against same side hitters in 2026. He had the look of a starter with late inning fallback in 2025, and it’s similar again this year.
Condon #7
I put Trevor Condon next. Our 18 y.o. 1st rd, selection in ’26.. He plays with high intensity…. runs extremely well, hits well (needs to add some power and probably will) good arm and plays the game like it should be played. He should be fun to watch and follow through the minors.
Sebastian Dos Santos at #7, please.
(For the record, I think Tanner Franklin was an excellent choice at #6. Just not my first choice. I have Franklin & Fajardo [sounds like a vaudeville act] right after the duo of Dos Santos and Miguel Hernandez.)
I’ll stubbornly stick with SDS here, not just for his hitting exploits, but also his glovework and baserunning. Regarding the former, Clay Davenport’s projection system figures Sebastian to be worth about 10 runs above average at shortstop, in his prime. And as for the latter, the young man has been a pretty good basestealer over his two professional seasons. In fact, let’s extrapolate ALL of his minor league numbers to a 160-game total:
Dos Santos over 160 would look like this: .271 with 27 homers, 8 triples, 36 doubles, 55 steals, only 3 double plays grounded into, and 128(!) walks drawn.
@Bob Reed. Those two are a fantastic duo. Unfortunately I have them just outside my Top 10. I like Hernandez’s defense better than SDS’s. I think that was because of his surprising footwork at 3B, when he was forced to that position post draft. He was really good at 2B and SS, too.
It’s incredible to think about Peoria’s infield defense next season with Padilla, Hernandez and Dos Santos in the lineup…if they allow both to join Padilla in Peoria. I don’t think Henne and Kennedy did well enough at all to start ahead of them in Peoria.
Exciting to see all these young position players clogging up our rankings…very nice change.
And we haven’t even started talking about Luna, Estrella, and Rojas yet.
#7 Hjerpe. Hopefully his control will become more reliable as he continues working back from the elbow surgery. Proximity and short path to a rotation slot are factors.
I’m glad to get through that group of 5 after Raniel. While they didn’t come out in the exact order I had them, those were the clear group of next 5 prospects.
My next level of grouped prospects includes 7 guys. I don’t currently have dos Santos or Miguel Hernandez in this group but Bob’s arguments are causing me to consider them here. Condon, Hjerpe, and Cijntje as mentioned above are all in this range for me so I was happy to see them thrown out above.
First up in this group for me is Yhoiker Fajardo. He is very young (just turned 20 a couple weeks ago) and had very good success in the upper levels of the Minors at AA this season after graduating Peoria. He gets a lot of ground balls, limits home runs, and strikes out a respectable amount of hitters, especially given his age. His changeup may be the best in the system. He also pitches with a lot of poise, which I love to see. The knock on him is his mediocre fastball. That all sounds like McGreevey is many ways and I think that’s likely where Fajardo lands – a solid number 3 or 4 pitcher who is durable and provides innings because he induces lots of grounders and stays composed on the mound even when he gets into some trouble. There’s some potential for a bit more upside than McGreevey due to the quality of Fajardo’s offerings. A very high floor for him as he is mostly ready now and just needs a bit more experience under his belt to make the final refinements to be a MLB pitcher.
7. Fajardo
I agree with Bling on this one, and have Cooper Hjerpe at #7. I think he will be with the club out of ST and contribute in 2027. (whenever the season actually starts in 2027!)
While I know basing too much off of minor league pitching stats is a mistake, I can’t ignore Yhoiker Fajardo. Fajardo had over 11 K/9 and a respectable 3.82 ERA and 1.332 WHIP across High-A and Double-A this season. He also walked just 7.6% of batters faced and did all of this in his age 19 season. The strikeouts took a hit in AA, but Fajardo proved to be able to handle the offense of the Texas League. He is a year or two younger than every pitcher we selected in this year’s MLB draft, with only Condon and Rocco Maniscalco being younger amongst the hitters. I’m not going to lie and say I watched him pitch in the White Sox or Red Sox system, the stats back up that this was not a one year wonder and he’s been consistently productive throughout his time in the minors thus far. He’s not the most exciting or flashy profile at the moment, but give me the now 20 year old pitcher at AA with great command any day of the week.
#7 Yhoiker Fajardo
#7 Jesus Baez
As I mentioned last round this guy surprised me more than anyone in the system in 2026. If he can develop a more elite work ethic he could go a long way.
It’s very tight on my picking between, Baez 2, Ragsdale, Peete,Fajardo, and Frias. But I like Ragsdales combo of power, speed, and hit tools. He has speed and defense. Baez showed tremendous power and hit better at Springfield. Peete, Ragsdale, and Frias give us the best group outfield prospects we’ve had possibly ever. Fajardo is just 20, and likely get to Memphis sometime next year. Another consideration is Roby, as his AFL outings give us hope he can get past his injury history. Tough choices. Ragsdale is my pick for this round.
Wow. This is an embarrassment of riches.
Je Baez
Cijncje
Condon
Dos Santos
Fajardo
Frias
Hjerpe
Ragsdale
Plus…..The Cardinals are already at a point where they could vastly overpay for the likes of a Dustin May and JoJo Romero.
I have to go with the 20 year old who’s already knocking at the door of the Majors.
#7 – Fajardo
I liked all these picks until Ragsdale. I have him as most likely to end up as a 4th or 5th outfielder on a good team so maybe a couple year starter on a bad one. That’s still valuable, but not top 10 with how deep our system is. I may be low, but I have him at 22. Even if I look at him with rose colored glasses I just can’t put him above 15. Maybe it’s just that he left a bad taste in my mouth because he was pretty average at Springfield after coming over from the Brewers and I don’t see him being able to handle CF. We have a later round pick who is almost 23 and is a corner outfielder with modest power and good speed who played inconsistently at AA. That’s what I see anyway. I’d love to hear why I have him too low if someone wants to talk him up.
#7 Fajardo
Fajardo is very advanced for his young age and has flew up the minors. He has posted excellent SwStr% at every stop and generates a lot of swing and miss with his changeup. His fastball isn’t as highly rated, but I see Fajardo as a guy who has such good feel of the changeup he will make guys look silly. As young as he is, he should be able to keep improving and could have more velo in the tank.
Add me to the list of folks who are now in tough to decide territory. Those 6 were my top 6, but now I change my mind a lot. I’m thinking of Hjerpe, Fajardo, Je Baez, Clarke, Condon, Roby, Peete, Cijntje, and now, based on Bob’s arguments, Dos Santos. I think Hjerpe, Clarke, and Roby keep jumping out at me the most. I’m probably not thinking about health enough.
Hjerpe at 7 for me.
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