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A response could be to try to find some pitchers who have the potential to be dominant but have not damaged their arm already.
You can find guys who have not damaged their arms that are starters who have a deeper pitch repertoire and better command.
Also, most players who attend the combine submit to pre-draft physicals. So medical experts can see if there is any arm damage.
For every Bryan Woo (failed college reliever turned successful MLB starter), there are probably at least 50 college starters turned successful MLB starters.
If it is close in terms of preference, choose the overwhelming statistical odds.
there could be some idea that the most dominant 18 year old or 21 year old may not be the best bet for long term future performance. A response could be to draft some dominant types and some others who have appealing metrics but whose arm is hopefully not already baked.
I get that you may want to avoid drafting HS pitchers even if everything but their age says they are the best player on the board.
However, college relievers are generally guys who couldn’t make the rotation. Most college starters were bullpen guys as freshman, then worked their way into the rotation as sophomores then were the ace or #2 as juniors.
Drafting college relievers with ERAs over 5.00 is anything but “dominant type.”
They did get some decent guys vut when ypur draft includes guys not ranked in top 500, that has to take away from your draft regardless of why you took them.
Also, no team drafted entirely Top 500 guys. The Chicago White Sox had 11, the Tampa Rays had 9, the Cardinals had 8.
The White Sox and Rays had much larger bonus pools than the Cardinals.
@Albert – you asked whether it was Minasian or Moreno who came up with the Angels’ rush-them-to-the-majors strategy. This article seems to confirm it was Minasian:
Under former general manager Perry Minasian particularly the strategy was unyielding: draft a polished, low-ceiling college player, rush them to the major leagues in record time, and hope they patch a leaking roster.
“Since Mo has come in he’s really empowered me to run the room the way I want to run the room,” said Mcllvaine noting that every GM is different. The Angels scouting director explained that Mozeliak did not come to the meeting with noted for the scouts to follow. Rather, he listened to the scouting department’s input.
This is a huge change from the way Perry Minasian operated the front office. Perry would come in with objectives then trust the scouts to try and find him players that fit certain criteria.
I dont know the site but they ranked the cardinals the 4th best draft class. Thats hard to believe. They did get some decent guys vut when ypur draft includes guys not ranked in top 500, that has to take away from your draft regardless of why you took them.
I would probably put them in the Top 5 this year. I would have preferred they maximized talent by going underslot in Round 1 and then going deeper in the draft with Top 100 guys, but I didn’t expect them to do so.
I liked how the Cardinals draft started, but grew a little frustrated that almost all their pitching prospects seemed to be college relievers who weren’t very good at keeping runs off the board.
But we’ll get to see how truly wonderful the new pitching development team is if they can turn these guys into TOR starters.
According to a source in an X post by D1Baseball’s Daniel Allen, “Because no assigned slot values exist for draftees selected beyond the 10th round, the internal expectation within OSU’s program was that Ritchie would return for his senior season as soon as he slipped past that point.”
This is probably because OK State will offer him more than $175k to stay there.
So are you saying those doing the evaluating for MLB didn’t know he had 67 strike outs? Or is there some reason they use some different ranking criteria than the 30 teams do?
They get things wrong all the time. You listen to them, they only like left-handers and HS prospects.
But most of the high strikeout guys fell way beyond where they were projected to go – Aiden Robbins and Camden Johnson are the two I can think of off the top of my head…
Guys that strikeout that much don’t do well in professional ball…
The Cards spent just under 100% in 2025 for the first time in many, many, many years.
This year, my initial sense is there are more underslot guys than over, but we will see. I just hope ownership didn’t throttle their spending, which could have affected their players selected.
I don’t see how they are spending their full bonus pool + 5% this year. They didn’t go after any high profile players after the first 10 rounds.
Most of the pitchers they drafted were college relievers.
I guess they like high velocity, low mileage arms that they can mold rather than successful college starters.
We’ll see if it pays off in the long-run.
Cardinals 20th round pick #594….is MLB’s 84th ranked player Kollin Ritchie Okla. State OF
One wonders why he slid that far.
Because he had 67 strikeouts.
Think Elijah Cabell, only worse.
I *think* the Cards probably liked Grindlinger (so did I), but Mo swooped in and took him out from under us.
Yeah, Grindlinger was linked to the Cardinals a lot, and you wonder if Mo had some organizational insight or chose him to spite the Cardinals.
but it feels a long way from last year’s pick on this area (Franklin).
I don’t know. Franklin was a failed college reliever who could throw 100 mph and had two pitches. Montesa is a failed college starter who can throw 98 mph and has four pitches.
I know people are saying Ferraro played OF at Texas Tech, but he really didn’t. He primarily played DH. He was brought up in a few of the BA podcasts, where they described his position as “hitter”.
Looking up his fielding stats this year, he had 26 putouts and 1 assist on the season.
He is basically Luken Baker with better swing decisions and worse defense.
But in the era of the DH, I don’t mind using a pick on him to save money (if that is what they are actually going to do).
Ferraro sounds like a bit of a Gurevitch clone.
Except Gurevitch can play defense.
Overall, I like the draft so far. The only pick that I truly did not like was Montesa, as there were a lot of more valuable players on the board.
We shall see.
So far, I am liking this draft a lot better than previous years.
Their three biggest weaknesses heading into the draft were pitching, outfield and 3B, and they addressed the first two with their first two picks.
Questions about Condon include size, power and swing mechanics.
Questions about Kunhs are pitch repertoire. But I like that he was a draft-eligible sophomore.
It is amazing to me how a sport so heavily based on statistics ignores statistics against it’s own self interest.
My point is, you should only be drafting HS players if you have a 90+% conviction they are going to be superstars. Otherwise, the statistics tell you to draft college players.
I would be ok with that over going with a college catcher or shortstop, for sure.
The statistics say you are far better off drafting college players…
They might see what they could get for Crooks and/or Bernal since it is a position of depth.
But they are not going to be contributors for a playoff stretch, so they are better traded in the offseason.
The players the Cardinals will likely shop if they are on the outside looking in are May, Romero, Nootbaar and Pages.
May is #2 in quality starts in the Cardinals rotation, #3 in innings and WHIP and #4 in ERA. The lists I have seen have not shown him among the top starters available at the deadline.
If Nootbaar is made available, he should bring back the best prospects, because of the extra year of control.
With May, Romero & Pages, they should focus on higher upside prospects further away from the majors rather than “major league ready pitchers” that they have been focused on the last few years…
A game like this makes it easier to decide which way to go at the trade deadline.
I think that was the purpose.
It’s funny how we think that guys that are terrible for the Cardinals are worth something to teams that are actually trying to contend.
