photo: Graysen Tarlow and Jurrangelo Cijntje (Brian Walton/The Cardinal Nation)
Springfield Cardinals release
The St. Louis Cardinals and Springfield Cardinals have announced the 2026 Springfield Cardinals Opening Day Roster. The defending Texas League Championship club features seven Top-30 St. Louis prospects and two former first-round draft picks in LHP Liam Doyle and SHP Jurrangelo Cijntje.
The 2026 Springfield Cardinals Opening Day Roster is as follows:
Pitchers (17):
- Tyler Bradt
- Mason Burns
- Jurrangelo Cijntje (#5 St. Louis, #88 MLB)
- Randel Clemente
- Braden Davis (#27 St. Louis)
- Liam Doyle (#2 St. Louis, #32 MLB)
- Hunter Hayes
- Chen-Wei Lin (#25 St. Louis)
- Austin Love
- Mason Molina (#30 St. Louis)
- Ryan Murphy
- Edwin Núñez
- Domenic Picone
- Hancel Rincon (#28 St. Louis)
- Darlin Saladin
- Brandt Thompson
- Michael Watson
Catchers (4):
- Chase Adkison
- Ryan Campos
- Carlos Linarez
- Graysen Tarlow
Infielders (5):
- Jon Jon Gazdar
- Dakota Harris
- Deniel Ortiz (#23 St. Louis)
- Trey Paige
- Jeremy Rivas
Outfielders (4):
- Chase Davis
- Travis Honeyman
- Zach Levenson
- Miguel Ugueto
Utility (1):
- Noah Mendlinger
Introducing your 2026 Springfield Cardinals! Featuring two first rounders and seven Top-30 Prospects, the Texas League Championship title defense begins on Friday, April 3 in Amarillo, TX.
Read more: https://t.co/9cm0KDWeUe pic.twitter.com/NGnGJFlSeo
— Springfield Cardinals (@Sgf_Cardinals) April 1, 2026
ABOUT LIAM DOYLE
2025 first-round draft pick Liam Doyle leads a star-studded cast of some of baseball’s brightest young arms. The southpaw was selected fifth overall out of Tennessee last year and became the highest St. Louis draft pick to ever pitch for Double-A Springfield on September 13, 2025 against the San Antonio Missions at Hammons Field. The 2026 season is set to be his first full season in professional baseball after making just two appearances during his draft year.
ABOUT JURRANGELO CIJNTJE
The 15th overall selection from the 2024 MLB Draft, Jurrangelo Cijntje (pronounced Say-n-juh) has been shipped across the Texas League entering the season, last playing for the Arkansas Travelers of the Seattle Mariners system. A trade involving former Springfield Cardinal Brendan Donovan landed the switch-pitcher in the St. Louis organization back in early February. The 22 year old from Curaçao made 26 appearances in 2025 while in the Mariners organization, striking out 120 batters in 108.1 IP, and figures to be a large piece of the Springfield rotation alongside Doyle.
The 2026 Opening Day roster features 23 active players who played a role in a historically successful 2025 season for Springfield, which ended in the franchise’s second-ever Texas League Championship. With six Top-30 prospects on the pitching staff, the 2026 squad looks to follow in the footsteps of last year’s team, which led the Texas League in ERA (3.55) and set a franchise record for strikeouts (1,324) for the second consecutive season under returning pitching coach Eric Peterson.
The Springfield Cardinals begin their 22nd season on the road in Amarillo, TX on Friday, April 3, but return home for a six-game series against the Tulsa Drillers (Los Angeles Dodgers) beginning on Tuesday, April 7. Opening Day festivities at Hammons Field include Opening Day Fireworks, a Bar-S Foods Magnet Schedule giveaway for 2,000 fans, our annual Chevy Dealers of the Ozarks Pregame Truck Parade and specialty Championship Gold jerseys. Tickets and RED Access Memberships are available right now at SpringfieldCardinals.com/Tickets.
Brian Walton’s take
To the release above, I added the number of players at each position to help arrive at a team total. It is 31. Since only 28 can be active at once, three of the above will either be placed on the injured list or the development list prior to Friday’s Opening Day.
Another Springfield player not mentioned here but who will likely be placed on the team’s 60-day injured list is lefty Cooper Hjerpe.
Comparing this to my Springfield Roster Prediction article coming out of Spring Training, I identified all 31 of these players plus two others who did not make the Double-A roster. They are starting pitcher Blake Aita and infielder Anyelo Encarnacion.
The rotation looks to be the strength of the 2026 team with six ranked members, per The Cardinal Nation’s prospect rankings. It will be very interesting to see how the group is handled as there are six clear starters in Doyle, Cijntje, Rincon, Lin, Molina and Davis. I expect former starter Thompson to work in long relief.
While the bullpen and position player ranks are experienced, they lack the star power of recent Springfield clubs.
For roster and player information
The team rosters here at The Cardinal Nation are kept up to date daily. To access them, click on “ROSTERS/PLAYERS/MOVES” located on the red menu bar on the left of the page beneath The Cardinal Nation site logo.
To see the Cardinals’ entire system by level and position on one page along with every player transaction for every club all year long, check out the always current Roster Matrix at The Cardinal Nation. It is kept updated daily and is accessible from the same menu as team rosters.
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