photo: Travis Honeyman (Boston College Athletics)
By Blake Newberry and Brian Walton
The second of three days of the 2023 Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft, with the St. Louis Cardinals selections’ being made by AGM/Scouting Director Randy Flores, consists of eight selections in rounds 3-10 on Monday, July 10.
St. Louis’ initial Day 2 selection at no. 90 overall is Boston College outfielder Travis Honeyman, MLB Pipeline’s no. 61 draft prospect.
Overall, encompassing these eight picks and the first-round selection named on Sunday, outfielder Chase Davis, the Cardinals have been allocated $6,375,100, a signing bonus total which they will almost certainly not exceed by more than 5% as players are signed in the upcoming days.
See the Cardinals full 2023 Draft Day 1 details here.
Update: Draft day 2 recap
The early focus on the outfield was a bit of a surprise as the Cardinals followed up their first-round outfield pick on Sunday with two more out of their next three selections. In between, in the fourth round, was the first of their five pitchers taken on Monday, a potentially money-saving senior selection.
Here is another way to put the attention on outfielders into perspective. The slot values of the picks used on the three outfielders taken in rounds 1, 3 and 5 represent almost 75% of the organization’s total signing budget for rounds 1-10.
Overall, the Cardinals took four outfielders, two left-handed pitchers and three right-handers through the first two days. For the second year in a row, the organization is waiting for day 3 to add infielders and this year, catchers, as well.
St. Louis passed over high schoolers completely with seven college juniors and two seniors. The latter, in the fourth and seventh rounds, may be earmarked as below slot signings, freeing up cash to be used elsewhere to sign others in the draft class.
For more
Return to this article at The Cardinal Nation often on Monday afternoon and evening as information about all St. Louis’ day 2 draft picks will be posted shortly after they are made.
To reference the Cardinals’ new draft class on an ongoing basis here at The Cardinal Nation, each player will have a profile located on a holding team called “DRAFT UNSIGNED PLAYERS”. This can be accessed at the bottom of the drop-down menu in the red column in the left menu called “ROSTERS/PLAYERS/MOVES” or click here.
All player scouting reports are written by The Cardinal Nation scouting analyst Blake Newberry.
St. Louis’ selections – 2023 Draft Day 2
Third round, 90th overall
Travis Honeyman, outfielder
Boston College, junior
6’2/190 pounds
Bats/Throws: R/R
· Lifetime .307/.382/.502 (104-339) with 12 home runs, three triples, 24 doubles, 51 RBI, and .883 OPS in 94 games over three seasons at Boston College.
· Slashed .304/.383/.534 (49-161) with six home runs, two triples, 15 doubles, and 30 RBI in 39 games this Spring.
· Named a 2022 Cape Cod League All-Star, hitting .289 (24-83) with 4 HR, 10 RBI in 24 games.
The Cardinals took a power hitting college outfielder with their first pick and then pivoted to a more contact oriented outfielder with their next pick. The tools aren’t as loud with Honeyman but he was a strong college performer in his last two seasons with Boston College, tallying an OPS over .900 in both seasons after rarely playing as a freshman.
He has an aggressive approach at the plate as he doesn’t walk much (7.1% walk rate in 2023) and is willing to expand the zone but he’s able to keep his strikeout rate down (11.5% strikeout rate in 2023) by making a lot of contact. I would like to see him improve his swing decisions but his bat-to-ball skills are good.
In terms of swing mechanics, the right-handed hitter starts with an open stance and has a big leg kick to get himself in line but also crouches down during his loading process. There’s also a lot of head movement in the swing though he does keep it pretty level once he starts striding forward. I wouldn’t be shocked to see the Cardinals try to get him to quiet his swing a bit once he moves into pro ball.
Honeyman’s power didn’t show up much in college (12 career HRs) but he did have a solid 89 mph average exit velocity in 2023 and a 111 max exit velocity in his career so he’s probably around 60-grade raw power. He also hit a lot of ground balls in college which really limited his power output. That makes me think there’s more power production to come, especially given his 6’2”, 190 pound frame that looks capable of adding more strength in pro ball as he does look a bit wiry.
Defensively, Honeyman has played all three outfield positions and has a chance to stick in center field, which may be where he starts his career. He’s not a plus runner but he’s probably above average which should help him be at least an average fielder even if he can’t stick in center.
The risk with Honeyman is twofold. For starters, he does have a bit of an injury history behind him but the Cardinals are unlikely to have taken him this early if they had long term questions about his health. The second issue is that his initial profile makes him look like a bit of a tweener. He may not have enough power to profile well in the corners but he may not be a good enough defender to stick in centerfield.
Now, on the flip side, Honeyman showed more power in the summer wood bat leagues, with an ISO of .241 in the Cape Cod League in 2022 and an ISO of .333 in the New England Collegiate Baseball League. That’s a good sign that there’s more power to come and the fact that he dealt with a lot of injuries (mostly lower body but he did have a shoulder injury earlier this year) could be another reason why his raw power didn’t completely transfer into game power.
So, that’s where the promise lies with Honeyman. If he can prove capable of hitting for power while continuing to swing and miss at a low rate, he has a chance to be a solid hitter worth taking much earlier than the third round.
I’ve seen differing opinions from the major scouting sites on Honeyman with some believing in his bat more than others and that’s the real question for Honeyman. Probably an average defender with an average-ish arm so his ability to turn raw power into game power by elevating more and improving his swing decisions will be what sets his ceiling.
The pool amount for this pick is $759,600.
Fourth round, 122nd overall
Quinn Mathews, pitcher
Stanford, senior
6’5/188 pounds
Bats/Throws: L/L
· Fourth-year senior at Stanford, pitched out of the rotation in 2021, followed by a swingman/multi-inning relief role in 2022 and served as the Cardinal’s Friday night starter this Spring.
· Named 2023 Pac-12 Pitcher of the Year, after going 10-4 with a 3.75 ERA and 158 strikeouts over 18 starts (19 games) across 124.2 innings pitched.
· Ranked 2nd in NCAA Division I with 158 strikeouts in 2023, also the second-most in Stanford baseball history.
· Previously drafted in the 19th round of the 2022 Draft by the Tampa Bay Rays, but did not sign.
· Posted a 9-2 record with a team-best 3.08 ERA and nine saves over 27 appearances (nine starts) as a junior in 2022.
Mathews was MLB Pipeline’s number 86 prospect coming into the draft.
From the moment I first watched Quinn Mathews pitch earlier in the spring, I had the Cardinals connection in my head. Left-handed? Check. Commands a 4-pitch arsenal? Check. College performer? Check. Pitchability? Check.
Don’t take that to mean that Mathews won’t miss bats. In fact, he had 158 Ks in 124 ⅔ innings this year with Stanford and I expect him to miss more bats in pro ball than 2021 first rounder Michael McGreevy. With that being said, I don’t expect him to be a high strikeout guy. Nor do I expect him to be a low strikeout guy.
But before I get into the arsenal, I want to talk about Mathews’ claim to fame – his 156 pitch, 16 strikeout, complete game effort against Texas in the super regionals. For as incredible of a performance as it was, it wasn’t particularly rare for Mathews. The lefty cleared 100 pitches in 15 of his 19 outings, cleared 110 pitches in 14 of his 19 outings, and broke the 120 pitch mark 3 times.
That’s the definition of a bulldog mentality on the mound but it does bring a lot of mileage for a young arm. As such, don’t expect to see Mathews pitch much, if at all, in the Cardinals system this year.
Let’s get into the arsenal now.
The lefty’s fastball sits in the low 90s and isn’t overpowering, in the few outings that I saw of Mathews, he looked comfortable commanding both up and down in the zone. It’s an average pitch at best that won’t improve without extra velocity but that’s certainly possible considering that Mathews is only listed at 180 pounds, despite standing at 6’5”.
What’s really enticing about Mathews is his secondary stuff. His changeup is his left pitch and gets a lot of usage against righties, and, in particular, in two strike counts. The pitch has good fade and he throws it with fastball arm action which gives it deception. It gets a plus grade from me and is probably Mathews’ only above average pitch.
The next best pitch is a slider that Mathews will throw to both righties and lefties. It sits right around the low 80s and gets a decent amount of sweep and depth but not a ton. He does command it pretty well though and likes to back foot righties with it. It may struggle a bit at the upper levels of the minors, particularly against right-handed hitters, unless he can add some extra velocity and/or break to it. It’s still a pretty good breaking ball that’s probably average and can play up with his command.
Mathews also throws a curveball but it’s more of an early count strike stealer than a bat misser. It’s a clear fourth pitch that sees a lot less usage than his changeup and slider.
Overall, this is the profile of a polished pitchability guy but I do think Mathews has the chance to be more than that. There is legitimate potential for him to add velocity and that would not only help his fastball, which is at its best up in the zone, play up, but it could also give his slider the extra juice that could really help it in the upper levels against more advanced hitters.
Mathews made some key improvements this year as moved into the full time rotation for the first time. The lefty dropped his BB/9 from 4.4 to 2.9 while seeing a corresponding uptick in K/9 (10.1 in 2022 to 11.4 in 2023). The southpaw also dominated a 4-start stint in the Cape Cod League in 2021, earning a 1.56 ERA and racking up 22 Ks in 17 ⅓ innings.
Mathews isn’t a loud pitching prospect but his advanced feel for pitching, good sequencing, plus changeup, solid slider, and potential to add velocity all give Mathews some extra intrigue that isn’t always present for nearly 23-year-old college draftees. I don’t see a ton of reliever risk here, though the bullpen is always an option for any pitcher as they climb the organizational ladder.
The pool amount for this pick is $541,700.
Fifth round, 158th overall
Zach Levenson, outfielder
University of Miami (FL), junior
6’2/211 pounds
Bats/Throws: R/R
· Career .295/.406/.546 hitter in two seasons with the Hurricanes, with 21 HR, three triples 22 doubles, 73 RBI, and a .951 OPS in 114 games played.
· Named to All-ACC Third Team after swatting a team-leading 17 doubles with 14 HR and 45 RBI while hitting .292 (68-233) this Spring.
· Transferred to Miami from Seminole State College of Florida after his freshman year where he was named Second Team All-Mid-Florida Conference after hitting .291 with team-high 12 home runs and 39 RBI in 44 games.
Levenson was MLB Pipeline’s number 204 prospect for the 2023 draft.
Another pick, another outfielder. And another power hitting outfielder at that. Levenson clubbed 14 home runs with the Miami Hurricanes this year after hitting 7 last year and posted a 107 mph 90th percentile exit velocity, according to Baseball America. That actually puts him just a tick behind first rounder Chase Davis, though Levenson has more swing and miss in his game with an 18.8% strikeout rate this year which is still an improvement from the 22.3% rate he finished with in 2022.
The slugger has a much quieter swing than the two outfielders chosen by the Cardinals before him, with a simple toe tap and very little movement of the head or hands but he really explodes through the baseball.
I don’t have a ton of knowledge about Levenson’s defense as I haven’t seen much of him in the field but it’s a clear corner profile, unlike Honeyman and Davis who may get the chance to play center field to start their professional careers. But the defense isn’t the story with Levenson, the bat is. He’s a slugger with enough power to play the corners and it’s his bat that will add the most value going forward. Before I move away from the defense, I do know that Levenson played some DH at Miami.
Prior to his time at Miami, Levenson played junior college ball at Seminole State College of Florida and he also played two summers of summer ball, dominating both the Northwoods League in 2022 (.938 OPS) and the Valley Baseball League in 2021 (1.160 OPS). Between the two leagues, the outfielder cranked 11 home runs in just 236 plate appearances, and that kind of power production with a wood bat is a sweetener to the plus power that Levenson showed in college.
Levenson also doesn’t chase too often, as emphasized by his 12.6% walk rate this year and his consistent double digit walk rates throughout his college and summer ball career. Power and discipline is a good combination, though Levenson does have some swing and miss concerns, even though he did make progress in that area in his final college season and his strikeout rate isn’t concerningly high for someone with such a powerful bat
The Cardinals managed to find a power hitting outfielder in the fifth round with 90th percentile exit velocities comparable to first rounders in a deep draft. Combine that with the fact that Levenson doesn’t have any glaring flaws (not to say that he doesn’t have any flaws overall) and this is a good value pick that could easily outplay his draft position if he pushes toward his ceiling.
The pool amount for this pick is $381,300.
Sixth round, 185th overall
Jason Savacool, pitcher
University of Maryland, junior
6’1/210 pounds
Bats/Throws: R/R
· Pitched three seasons at Maryland, compiling 24 career wins and 269 career strikeouts, ranking second and third-most in school history, respectively.
· Named to the All-Big Ten Second Team this Spring after leading the conference with nine wins and ranking 5th with a 4.12 ERA, helping Maryland win both the Big Ten regular season and tournament titles.
· Earned 2022 All-Big Ten First Team honors after helping Maryland win its first Big 10 regular season title in 2022 with a team-leading 2.93 ERA and eight victories. His 123 strikeouts were the 4th-most in a single season in school history.
Savacool is MLB Pipeline’s no. 199 prospect for the 2023 draft.
The Cardinals stuck to their type yet again with Jason Savacool, snagging a college performer with a low-90s fastball and more pitchability than stuff. Curiously, the right-hander took a step back this year, following up a strong 2022 campaign that saw him post a 2.93 ERA with a 2023 campaign in which he finished with a 4.22 ERA and saw his BB/9 rise from 2.3 to 3.7 and his K/9 drop from 10.2 to 8.9.
Despite the stats moving in the wrong direction, there is clearly some arm talent and deception with Jason Savacool. He’s got a little bit of funk in his delivery that can look a bit herky-jerky, which probably gives him a bit of reliever risk but he has a big enough arsenal that he should have a good chance of sticking in the rotation.
The 21-year-old throws a low 90s fastball with some sink and run and a fastball that looks a bit straighter, so I would guess that he throws both a sinker and a four-seamer. Neither pitch is overpowering but he does command them well. The slider is really the go-to swing and miss pitch, though. It’s more vertically oriented but does get a bit of horizontal movement too and looks to be most effective when buried below a hitter’s knees as it can be a bit more hittable when left up.
The right-hander throws a curveball too but I grade it behind the slider as it has a bit of a hump that makes it more identifiable to hitters whereas the slider just dives down. The curveball is workable and could improve with some refinement but is probably his worst pitch right now.
The final pitch in Savacool’s arsenal is his changeup, which I honestly don’t think he throws enough. The pitch gets good sink and fade and, in an interview that he gave, he mentioned that he throws it with a split finger grip. It’s used as more of a weapon against lefties but I want to see him throw it more overall as I think there’s a real chance that it could end up better than his slider.
The fastball, slider, changeup combination have a chance to keep him pitching effectively in the rotation and the curveball has the potential to give him 4 average or better pitches. Maybe not a ton of strikeout potential here, which isn’t surprising, but a good overall arsenal and a history of success in a Power 5 conference.
The pool amount for this pick is $302,300.
Seventh round, 215th overall
Charles Harrison, pitcher
UCLA, senior
6’1/195 pounds
Bats/Throws: R/R
· Four-year member of the UCLA baseball program from 2020-23, pitched to a 3.15 ERA exclusively out of the bullpen during his Bruin career with 87 strikeouts over 80 innings (72 appearances).
· 2023 All-Pac-12 Honorable Mention after a breakout senior season, going 1-0 with a 1.38 ERA and .214 batting average against over 26 innings (22 appearances)
· Finished 2023 with the lowest ERA on the team and limited opponents to an anemic .106 batting average with runners on base while stranding 13 of his 14 inherited runners for the season.
At UCLA, Harrison’s teammate was St. Louis’ sixth round selection in 2022, right-handed starter Max Rajcic, who is now with Peoria.
Charles Harrison is another senior sign for the Cardinals so they may be saving some bonus pool money for someone later (or earlier) in this draft.
It really took Harrison until his senior year to break out but now he’s a seventh round pick despite working solely as a reliever in college. However, there’s a chance he could be used in the rotation in pro ball given his four pitch arsenal and good control.
Harrison’s fastball sits 92-93 but can reach as high as 96 and, to my eye, it seems a bit underrated from some of the scouting reports that have it as more of a fringy pitch. It looks like a true four-seamer that stays straight and doesn’t drop much. I have no idea what the movement numbers are on the pitch, but it’s certainly a workable fastball with decent velocity.
It’s the secondaries that really set Harrison apart, though. The righty has a wipeout mid-80s slider that generated around 2600 rpms and a ton of whiffs in college, particularly against righties. It gets a lot of sweep and is definitely his go-to pitch and a large reason why he racked up 12.8 strikeouts per nine innings.
The right-hander also has a pretty good changeup with a lot of depth which gives him a third viable pitch, thus giving me the view that he may be able to start in pro ball even though he never started in college. It’s this pitch that will be important to his development as he’ll need something to pair with his sweepy slider to keep lefties at bay. The pitch could be average or a tick better at its peak but developing it is a key for him.
The fourth pitch is a curveball that isn’t as good as his slider and is a fourth pitch to me.
What’s perhaps most impressive about Harrison’s breakout this year is that he not only increased his strikeout rate by more than 4 batters per nine, but he also cut his BB/9 to 2.8. That helped him to a 1.38 ERA in his 26 innings.
Harrison has all the makings of a solid relief arm if the Cardinals want to keep him in that role, and if that does happen, I wouldn’t be shocked to see him focus on his fastball/slider combination long term with some changeups mixed in to combat lefties but the full arsenal does lend itself to a starter’s role. The issue with that will be building the stamina for Harrison to pitch deeper into games as he primarily worked one inning stints in college. That could be a real challenge and I’m curious to see which path the Cardinals take.
The pool amount for this pick is $236,700.
Eighth round, 245th overall
Ixan Henderson, pitcher
Fresno State, junior
6’2/180 pounds
Bats/Throws: L/L
· Earned All-Mountain West First Team honors in back-to-back seasons at Fresno State from 2022-23.
· Made 15 appearances as the Friday night starter for the ‘Dogs in 2023, pitching 89.0 innings with a team-leading 3.74 ERA while striking out a Mountain West-leading 100 batters.
· Started a team-leading 14 games as a sophomore in 2022, topping the Mountain West with 98 strikeouts while leading the Bulldogs with seven wins.
Prior to the draft, MLB Pipeline ranked Henderson 166th among draft eligible players.
Ixan Henderson led the Mountain West Conference in strikeouts in each of the past two years, racking up 100 strikeouts and a 26% strikeout rate this year. While that’s not an overwhelming rate, it’s easy to see how he missed bats.
The left-hander has a long arm and low arm slot that works across his body a bit and likely wreaks havoc on left-handed hitters. It also makes his fastball particularly deceptive as he generated a 26% whiff rate with the pitch, according to Baseball America, despite sitting in the low 90s and topping out at 94.
His best pitch is a sweepy slider that’s his primary swing-and-miss offering but it comes in pretty slow and would benefit from adding velocity to get a bit sharper. The other breaking ball is a slower, loopier curveball with depth but it’s thrown in the low 70s and doesn’t look like a super effective pitch. It’s possible that Henderson could tweak it but he may be better off focusing on his slider and developing his changeup as a viable third offering instead.
On the plus side, Henderson shows good feel for both of his breaking balls and his feel for his curveball is ahead of his feel for the changeup, so right now he’s mostly a fastball/slider guy with two other pitches that lag behind.
The problem with his curveball is that it’s hard to separate it from his slider due to his arm slot. Because he comes in so far from the side, it’s hard for him to get a distinct vertically oriented breaking ball without raising his arm slot. If he keeps his arm slot the same then the two pitches have a tendency to blend together. I’m not recommending that he drops the curveball this early, but rather that he will likely have more long term success by focusing on his changeup as a third pitch.
That would be beneficial anyway as sweepers tend to have larger platoon splits than regular sliders and the changeup would give Henderson a weapon against right-handers. There’s some potential in the changeup too, even though he doesn’t throw it much, as it gets good movement despite the developing feel for the pitch.
The 21-year-old has an intriguing arsenal by itself but there’s still some projection in Henderson’s body as he has a lean 180 pounds on his 6’2” frame. Adding some strength and gaining a few more ticks of velocity would help an already deceptive fastball play up even more and would help tighten up a good sweepy slider.
On top of that, Henderson is athletic on the mound and has a good strike-throwing ability which really rounds out his profile. There’s some projection and development needed here but there’s some real talent too and Henderson has a chance to end up being one of the better pitchers in this Cardinals draft class.
The pool amount for this pick is $193,800.
BOT 6 | Six strikeouts tonight and counting for Ixan Henderson! That is his 69th strikeout of the season thus far. #GoDogs | #ForTheV pic.twitter.com/mx3Qoic38K
— Fresno State Baseball (@FresnoStateBSB) April 22, 2023
Ninth round, 275th overall
Christian Worley, pitcher
Virginia Tech, junior
6’1/170 pounds
Bats/Throws: R/R
· Appeared in 26 games, all out of the bullpen, during his three-year career at Virginia Tech, going 3-0 with a 4.42 ERA across 36.2 innings pitched.
· Struck out multiple batters in 11 of 14 appearances in 2022 and 4 of 5 appearances in 2023.
· Had a 57:12 strikeout-to-walk ratio in his career at Virginia Tech.
Christian Worley is a pitcher who belongs higher in the draft based purely on arm talent but likely fell because he missed most of the 2023 season with an arm injury. In fact, Worley hasn’t pitched very much throughout his college career, throwing just 26 ⅔ innings through his first two seasons prior to tossing just 10 innings before his injury this year.
I’m going to breeze right over the college numbers since Worley barely pitched in college and just say that he had a 5.04 ERA in each of his first two years and likely would have broken out this year had he not gotten hurt. He’s been a high strikeout guy all three years but never walked a ton of hitters either. Again, I want to emphasize that it really feels like the Cardinals got a steal here.
Worley’s fastball sits around 94 and has been up to 96 and looks to have good shape. It misses a lot of bats and works really well at the top of the zone with good ride. He backs that up with a tight 82-84 mph slider that also misses a lot of bats. The real question for him is if he can develop a viable third offering. He throws a changeup that gets a good amount of run but doesn’t get a ton of drop and is thrown a bit too hard at 87-89 mph. I would like to see more velocity separation on the pitch to make it play a bit better off his fastball and he would really benefit from adding some vertical break to the pitch as well.
He reportedly throws a mid-to-upper 70s curveball too but it doesn’t get great spin efficiency and would need some development to really become a viable pitch, especially at the upper level. So that’s the weakness – a lack of a true third pitch – but keep in mind that Worley hasn’t pitched much, and won’t pitch much this year as he recovers from his arm injury.
I wouldn’t be shocked to see him make gains with his development of a third pitch when he gets back on the mound. There’s a lot to work with here, though. The right-hander has an electric arsenal that starts with a good fastball which everything else can play off of. He’s also athletic on the mound and has shown good control when healthy. In fact, if he had been healthy this year, I wouldn’t have been shocked to see him play his way into the first three or four rounds. His stuff is that good.
Worley was strictly a reliever in college (though I expect he would have moved into the rotation later in the year with Virginia Tech if healthy) and while he may stay a reliever in pro ball, his arm is talented enough where I think he’ll get the chance to start. He can get by with two good offerings at the lower levels of the minors while he builds his durability and I think he has enough arm talent and athleticism to develop a workable third or even fourth pitch down the road.
In terms of pure stuff and arm talent, I think Worley is better than any other pitcher drafted by the Cardinals so far. He’ll need to get healthy and add some refinement but there’s a whole lot to work with here.
The pool amount for this pick is $175,600.
𝙁𝙡𝙮𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙝𝙞𝙜𝙝 🐦@cworley45 has been selected during the 𝟗𝐭𝐡 round by the St. Louis #Cardinals at 𝐍𝐨. 𝟐𝟕𝟓 𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐥𝐥.#ProHokies 🦃⚾️ pic.twitter.com/zbdBMG9Tqs
— Virginia Tech Baseball (@HokiesBaseball) July 10, 2023
.@Hali_Baseball starter 2020 Christian Worley (Virginia Tech) 86-87 t.88 for the Comets with a 75-77 BB in his first two innings of work. @PBRVirginiaDC pic.twitter.com/el2dHSR9QS
— Jerry Shank (@jerry_shank) March 20, 2019
10th round, 305th overall
Caden Kendle, outfield
Cal Irvine, junior
5’11/195 pounds
Bats/Throws: R/R
· Named 2023 Big West Co-Field Player of the Year after ranking 2nd in the conference with 56 RBI and 5th with a .434 on-base percentage, while also setting career-highs with a .335 batting average, 16 doubles and eight home runs.
· Tied a UC-Irvine single-season record with 69 runs scored this season, which led the Big West. Reached safely in 54 of 55 games in 2023 and ended his collegiate career on a 43-game on-base streak and 16-game run scored streak. From his sophomore season, Kendle reached safely in 92 of his last 93 games.
· 2022 First Team All-Big West selection, leading Irvine with a .328 average, .465 on-base percentage and .533 slugging percentage in 46 games.
The Cardinals rounded out the second day of the draft with yet another college outfielder with pop in his bat. It’s a profile they have targeted this year, which isn’t too surprising given the recent emphasis on power in the draft, as seen by the picks of Nolan Gorman, Jordan Walker, Joshua Baez, Elijah Cabell, and others in recent years.
Kendle may not have the slugging stats of the other power hitting outfielders selected before him, but he still has pop in his bat due to his quick hands and that helped him hit 8 homers and 27 extra base hits with UC Irvine this season.
He also proved his power in the Alaska Baseball League last summer, crushing seven homers in just 136 plate appearances with a wood bat. The outfielder has a strong 5’11”, 195 pound frame that doesn’t have much projection left but does help him make lots of solid contact.
From a swing perspective, Kendle keeps things simple with little to no head movement and basically zero hand movement. The right-handed hitter starts with an open stance and uses a toe tap to bring his feet parallel and then uses another toe tap forward as his stride. All the while, he starts his hands from his launching point so there is very little motion in his load.
Despite that, there is some swing-and-miss to Kendle’s game with a 16.4% strikeout rate, that is actually a bit up from his 13.4% strikeout rate the year before. That will be something to watch as he enters the professional ranks, especially considering that he’s coming from the Big West conference school and not a bigger conference school.
Because of that, he’s probably a power over hit player going forward though neither are likely to be plus tools.
Kendle’s walk rate also took a step back this year, dropping from 12.1% last season to 10.3% this year. He was still a strong hitter overall, though, posting a .969 OPS and batting .335. Obviously not as much potential here as some of the other bats taken before him, but it is the tenth round after all. There’s still some tools to work with.
Defensively, Kendle has played all three outfield positions, including playing center field exclusively in Alaska. He does have decent speed, so there’s a chance he’ll get a trial run up the middle and could stick there but his arm is good enough to handle either of the corner spots too after he threw out 6 runners from the outfield grass this year.
Kendle has a bit of an all around profile but doesn’t seem to have any real standout tool.
The pool amount for this pick is $165,900.
Your authors
As noted above, Blake Newberry is writing the player scouting reports and Brian Walton is filling in the rest.
What is next?
Check back at The Cardinal Nation on Tuesday for details of Day 3 of the 2023 MLB First-Year Player Draft.
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