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It’s nice to see Baez highly ranked by BA. I hope he turns out to be a solid MLB right fielder. We need so much outfield help.
Ryan Mitchell, Deniel Ortiz, and Jack Gurevitch were BA’s choices for Cardinals potential breakout players
Agree with all of those as good options.
For those that have seen more of him than I, is Ernie Clement of the Blue Jays a decent comp for Ortiz?
Didn’t Ortiz already break out? Sort of an odd choice there. I guess he could cut the Ks and run the same slash line at AA or AAA.
STL, who would you compare him to? I thought the Clement kid was a reasonable comp? Or a faster Matt Carp? Either would be fine by me!
Where is Quinn Matthews? Has he fallen that much?
I’d like to see more of Baez. His Springfield numbers are on point but let’s see how he goes into AAA.
Unfortunately yes, the reason for these two not being top 100….
6.7 BB/9 – Mathews
6.4 BB/9 – Brandon ClarkeThat’ll get ya not invited to the top 100 list.
STL, who would you compare him to? I thought the Clement kid was a reasonable comp? Or a faster Matt Carp? Either would be fine by me!
Mid teens round pick from a midlands community college, not great athleticism but gets a lot out of it by being smart about the way he plays, Kyle Reis even said it multiple times in his writeup…there’s really only one comparison, #5! Lol. Kidding, of course.
Late career Carpenter probably is apropos. He’s not fast and he Ks more than one would hope. But he’s sneaky good on the base paths and in the field, and is legitimately a top 20 prospect in our system with the chance for more damage this year. He’s still pretty young, will be his age 21 year and should make Springfield.
BA ranks the Cardinals system no. 2 in baseball. Pirates #1, Brewers #3.
https://www.baseballamerica.com/stories/2026-mlb-farm-system-rankings-for-all-30-teams/
NL Central taking the podium. The Pirates at #1 isn’t who I expected though. They have Griffin and Chandler for top end talent, but after that there is a drop off and they don’t have as much depth. They only have 11 guys with a 40 or higher while the Cardinals had 20 guys. I expected MIL to be #1 as they have top end talent and depth (17 40 FV or higher).
If you consider depth, the Cardinals I think will be top 5 on all farm system rankings. If you use the only top 100 approach some sites do, then you will have them lower but a farm system is much more than just the top handful of players.
So far, BA is by FAR the most optimistic so they will get the most fan attention. The other three national raters I have seen have StL between 8th and 11th for 2026. I haven’t seen Pipeline, BP or Fangraphs lists yet.
As an aside, when Geoff Pontes of BA recently called the Cards farm system “most improved,” it was widely and incorrectly portrayed as the system being no. 1, instead of having made the biggest jump from last year. The two are not the same. Even BDW Jr. misstated this at Winter Warm Up, that the Cards have the no. 1 farm system. I cringed when he said it.
Cardinals desperately need Joshua Baez to develop into a solid major league OF, I assume he will be at AAA most of the year, they are really short on OF talent at AA and AAA
Hopefully Chase Davis has a similar breakout year in development at AA like Baez did last year
Even BDW Jr. misstated this at Winter Warm Up, that the Cards have the no. 1 farm system.
The man is obviously dilutional. He might believe that the Cardinals are even money to win the NL pennant.
Could BDW Jr have been talking about the Fangraphs ranking of the system? A few months back they were #1 in farm value.
I don’t necessarily agree that they have the best system, but I think it’s edging toward top 5 at the least and depending on how things go this summer, could end up higher (will need someone to replace Wetherholt for sure and possibly Mathews but most guys should stay on the list til after the draft at least.
So far, BA is by FAR the most optimistic so they will get the most fan attention. The other three national raters I have seen have StL between 8th and 11th for 2026. I haven’t seen Pipeline, BP or Fangraphs lists yet
My personal trust of the sources is:
#1 Fangraphs
#2 BA
Decent Drop
#3 MLB Pipeline
Big Drop
#4 The Athletic
#5 ESPN#1 would really be the average of the top 3 which I do keep track of.
FG will have the Cards most likely as a top 3 per farm value I assume based off last year’s end of year ranking and then them adding more prospects like Cijntje as well
The Baseball America prospect handbook came out recently. There are a lot of pitchers in the top 30. The only thing that I noticed was a lack of top of the rotation starters among the top 30. Doyle and Clarke ae noted, but they both have reliever risk. Fajardo isn’t ranked which is a surprise, IMO. Maybe the youth of this group, and for the most part they are at class A this season explain the uncertainties. Cinjtje was not yet in Cards section of book yet.
In BA's first Top 100 Prospect List update of 2026, #stlcards OF Joshua Baez moved up 12 spots to no. 42 nationally. pic.twitter.com/v4Rl1SYwJM
— Brian Walton (@B_Walton) April 3, 2026
BA does a Statcast Standouts each week and Patrick Galle the player to be later acquired in the Sonny Gray deal sounds like a very interesting RP option.
Galle features a 99 mph fastball with great life, sitting well above the expected vert line. That will likely come down a little, as the MLB ball doesn’t get the same amount of movement. However, it still projects as a double-plus pitch from a stuff standpoint.
An 87 mph split change with zero inches of vert will usually grade well from a stuff perspective. This could be another double-plus weapon for Galle if he can command it. He also mixes in a potential deathball slider and cutter, though we’d need more data on all his non-fastballs to have more confidence in those pitches.
It’s a dynamic four-pitch arsenal that would play extremely well at the back end of a bullpen.
Boston couldn’t have been overly enamored with young Patrick……can someone name a PTBNL whom had a successful MLB career? Patrick kind of comes across to me as a bucking wild stallion that needs to be broken in, which is always a daunting task.
Yeah, he panned out pretty good. The first player of that oft times dubious status that I recall to have had a real nice career was Moises Alou.
In Baseball America's updated National Top 100 prospects, here is #stlcards movement from April:
JJ Wetherholt graduated
Rainiel Rodriguez up from 33 to 31
Joshua Baez down from 42 to 57
Liam Doyle down from 31 to 61— Brian Walton (@B_Walton) May 6, 2026
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