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#8 – Cooper Hjerpe – 25 years old, flew up the rankings from #11 to #8, simply because he is pitching for the first time in two years.
I got a chuckle out of that one LA. If Hjerpe could stay on the IL longer he might make it to number 1.
Sometimes, we can get too hung up on absolute numbers for less than absolute possibilities. As a person who puts numbers on players every month, I make the same warning. Many times when ranking, I’ll have trouble with no names I feel great about to rank from eighth or 10th on, plus a bunch of guys I’d like better in the 20’s. But the reality is that we don’t leave big blanks or gaps in the rankings.
So, yes, an injured player might actually move up – IF someone above him graduates, OR if someone above him suffers a major decline in performance, OR if no one else emerges from below who deserves the spot better than him.
A possibility is that perhaps only about 10 of the players in the system right now might once become regular MLB players, anyway. But sorting them out from the other 200 is never an exact science.
With Hjerpe, return to previous form is at least plausible. As far as we know, his injury is limited to the type of elbow trouble that can be fixed with TJ surgery most of the time. But with minor leaguers, injury history and status is opaque, so we really have no idea until we see sustained results. His timeline is unusual in that he seems to have wasted a year trying to avoid elbow surgery, so he was out two years. I mentioned elsewhere that he has a runway problem as a result. I fear that Ixan Henderson might be going down that same road, but his situation is as opaque as it gets, so we don’t know.
bling said:
I mentioned elsewhere that he has a runway problem as a result. I fear that Ixan Henderson might be going down that same road, but his situation is as opaque as it gets, so we don’t know.
I disagree. Henderson has three minor league option years remaining so will be able to remain under team control through at least 2029 without having to stick on the big league roster. A lot can and will change in the next 3 1/2 years.
Hjerpe will be out of options after the 2028 season, so he has “just” 2 1/2 more years to reach StL and stay there. I have a high level of confidence we will know all we need to know about him by then.
So I don’t consider either to have a “runway problem” at this time. If nothing changes in the next two years or so, then we can revisit.
Sorry for the duplicate post, but this belongs both on the Draft thread and the monthly rankings thread.
Where to place the #stlcards’ draft class into The Cardinal Nation’s Top 50 Prospect List led to a lot of discussion by @kyler416 and me. Our new rankings are free, but to see our individual votes and read our detailed commentary, please subscribe. https://t.co/XJlMl5oRGX pic.twitter.com/Zxn2ZObmzS
— Brian Walton (@B_Walton) July 21, 2026
I haven’t read the subscriber article yet but i am surprised Condon is 10th below all the hospital case/bionic arm pitchers. I thought i read where somebody, maybe BA or MLB had him 4th on our top 30.
You are surprised over differences of opinion on the MLB potential of a teenager who has yet to play a professional game?
Please share your rankings like some other posters have done on the thread pasted to the top of the forum.
My list is a mess right now, but I have these 5 at the top. I may shuffle the order.
Baez
Mathews
Condon
Franklin
Kuhns
My next 5, but not in any order yet are
Doyle
Rodriguez
Clarke
Fajardo
OdleNice selections, Blingster. I was toying around with my top 20 on Sunday night. My rough draft would totally….blow……your……mind. Thus, I’ll save myself the criticism and embarrassment until I have time to refine them.
My list has a lot to do with who I am not real excited about. It was easy to slide the top picks in near the top as they have not yet had an opportunity to be disappointing or get hurt.
Bling, I’m curious what Rainiel has done to disappoint then. He is only 1 year older than Condon, but already is performing quite well at AA. He had to adjust at first which is expected for a 19 year old in AA and still with that initial struggle is hitting 16% better than league average.
He has performed well, but also scounts love his swing mechanics and his tools. He has a simple, short lever swing that he he is able to generate very loud contact and actually do damage with it since it isn’t only ground balls. He has the best combo of hit and power by far in the system.
If you want a reason to be scared about Baez, look at his performance difference between fastballs and off speed pitches. I still have him high, but there are major question marks I have about him and fear his hitting profile may be like Gorman 2.0
Condon has pedigree being the 13th overall pick having played in the US in Georgia where there is plenty of visibility and was very well regarded. Roderiguez materialized as a 16 year old in the DR. I do not say Rodriguez has disappointed, rather he has risk factors. He is hitting up a storm as a 19 year old and his body will be all different in a few years. I guess he was playing with an academy for who knows how long prior to signing. He appears to be a catcher or nothing. Catcher prospects are high risk if you are talking potential first string MLB catcher. Especially so in the Cardinals org in my opinion. Despite all that, he is easily in my top 10. Remember Herrera was top 5 for a couple years when he was around 20, catcher of the future, and what do you know, he isn’t even a catcher. Maybe he will make it as a DH, who knows. We will see what happens with Rainiel.
My understanding is Baez can undoubtedly handle a spot in the OF at the ML level. We need an outfielder with some thump in his bat and there will undoubtedly be an opening in the ML outfield. He will likely be better than Walker was early on.
I tried to make it clear that all we did this month is add the draftees to the June list. No other changes were made. So, in August, with everyone moving, it will be chaotic.
As an aside, in the past, I only used AB’s and IP’s for qualification because there is no place that I am aware of that documents service days as they are accrued daily and I did not want to manually track each player.
However, for August, we will probably remove Crooks, Jordan, Gastelum and Torres. Kyle prefers to graduate prospects as soon as they reach MLB, even if for only one day.
I will reiterate this on the podcast for others wondering the same thing.
I know Raniel Rodriguez is constantly referred to as a catcher. But I listened to him say in an interview while playing in Springfield that he needs to work on his catching. It’s a little late for a kid to start working on his catching at AA. I see Rodriguez as our future first baseman. I like Burleson a lot but he could bring a substantial return in a possible future trade. Bernal, IMO, is our future catcher.
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