photo: Cooper Hjerpe (Brian Walton/The Cardinal Nation)
Opening the top 10 of The Cardinal Nation’s prospect countdown for 2023 is the organization’s first rounder from 2022. Where will lefty Cooper Hjerpe open his career and how fast will he advance? FREE report!
Position: Pitcher
Age: 21 years old
Bats/Throws: L/L
Height/Weight – 6’3/200
Acquired: Selected in the first round, 22nd overall, in the 2022 First-Year Player Draft
Home: Capay, California
Opened 2022: did not pitch
Primary team in 2022: did not pitch
Finished 2022: did not pitch
Prior Top 50 ranking – not applicable
Click on the above photo to be taken to Hjerpe’s player page at The Cardinal Nation, with additional biography and history information.
Blake Newberry’s scouting report
Blake’s ranking – no. 10
(current grade/future grade)
| FB | SL | CH | Command | FV |
| 50/60 | 45/55 | 45/55 | 45/55 | 50 |
No professional stats in 2022
I love Hjerpe and I fear that my initial ranking of him is too low. He’s just so unique. The lefty is essentially a sidearm thrower and releases the ball from a super low arm slot. That usually portends a fastball with a lot of running and fading action but that’s not the case for Hjerpe. His fastball does get plenty of run, but it also has hard riding action too, which is impressive since it can be hard for a pitcher to put backspin on the ball while throwing from that angle.
It sits in the low 90s and touches 94-95 so it doesn’t have much more than average velocity at best, but its unique look makes it a clear plus pitch for me. His motion and delivery give him plenty of deception and it’s rare to find a fastball that can pair running action with a rising effect.
He has good command of the pitch as he can locate it up and down and east and west, but it gets the most whiffs at the top of the zone. Again, that’s rare for a fastball with such a low arm slot and the fact that it has both run and rise means that it profiles well in all parts of the zone. That’s why it’s a plus pitch for me. It’s really the foundation of his arsenal and his other pitches build off it.
His breaking ball is a sweeping slider (though some call it a curveball) and it’s a solid offering that tunnels well with his fastball. He can manipulate it too. Sometimes the pitch is harder with sharper sweep and less drop and sometimes it’s a little loopier with more vertical break. That could be why some call it a curveball and some call it a slider, but honestly, he could be throwing both.
I prefer the sharper offering because I think hard sweep pairs better with his arsenal as a whole, but he has plenty of feel for both movement profiles. The 21-year-old likes to attack his glove side with the pitch as he has a filthy back foot slider against righties and the pitch is very effective sweeping away from lefties. He can work the pitch to his arm side too.
Hey @Cardinals, wise choice.
@CooperHjerpe#GoBeavs pic.twitter.com/6SW9ej37bh
— Oregon State Baseball (@BeaverBaseball) July 18, 2022
He gets a lot of uncomfortable swings and can freeze hitters with this pitch as it comes with deception and a funky arm slot and just absolutely annihilates lefties. I would like to see him throw it a bit harder, but it was a wipeout offering in college and generated a whiff rate above 50%.
And then there’s his changeup. I love this pitch and I honestly think it’s better than his slider. It has excellent fading action and it is nearly unhittable when paired with his fastball. He likes to throw it down and out to right-handers, but I think it’s good enough to play against left-handers too.
My problem with it is that he doesn’t throw it enough. The pitch tunnels very well with outside fastballs as the fastball rises and the changeup fades well below a hitter’s bat.
I’ve graded the two pitches the same, but I would give his changeup a slight edge although his ability to vary his slider in the zone and to hitters on both sides of the plate is a big plus.
We know that Hjerpe can miss bats. And that’s because he’s unique. All his stuff plays up because of his deception, weird arm slot, and ability to tunnel his whole arsenal. That’s a big reason for his 14 strikeouts per nine innings in his final year of college. But he’s more than just someone who misses bats.
I already mentioned that Hjerpe generates a lot of uncomfortable swings and freezes a lot of hitters and that’s how you can tell his stuff is better than it might look based on velocity or spin rate readings.
Because he makes hitters uncomfortable, he keeps them off balance, and that means that hitters have a tough time squaring him up. He generates a ton of ground balls, surrendered only three home runs in over 100 innings last year, and allowed just 5.8 hits per nine innings.
A guy who can limit hard contact and strike hitters out is the best of both worlds. It remains to be seen how well he will adjust to the professional game, but I don’t expect him to have many problems at the lower levels of the minor leagues. He is someone who could begin in Peoria or advance there after only a few starts with Palm Beach.
Summary: Cooper Hjerpe is a unique pitcher with tons of deception and an extremely low arm slot. The first-round pick pairs good stuff with potentially above average command and has a chance of being a mid-rotation starter who could move quickly through the system.
Future Value: 50
Role: 4 starter 4:00 FIP/Low closer or high set-up
Risk: High
Brian Walton’s environmental impact report
Brian’s ranking – no. 10
Background
After growing up in the Sacramento area, Hjerpe (pronounced “JER-pee”) committed to Oregon State and was not drafted as a high school senior in 2019. In his freshman year in college, he made six relief appearances and had a 5.25 ERA before the remainder of the 2020 season was canceled due to the pandemic.
In the startup summer Wild Wild West League, Hjerpe pitched well in limited action. He made three starts, including pitching four innings in the championship game. Over 8 1/3 total scoreless innings in the WWWL, he yielded just two hits, walked six and struck out 18.
After moving into the Oregon State rotation in 2021, his results improved. The redshirt freshman pitched in 17 games including 16 starts and posted a 4.21 ERA with 98 strikeouts and 27 walks over 77 innings.
That winter, Hjerpe went to Driveline Baseball in Washington to work on refining his secondary pitches, improving his slider, curve and changeup. The pitcher later called it “investing in myself.”
The focus showed in his sophomore campaign, as he dropped his ERA to 2.53 and cut his walk rate from 3.2 per nine innings to 2.0 per nine. As the Beavers’ no. 1 starter, Hjerpe led NCAA Division I with a school-record 161 strikeouts in 103 1/3 innings. That 14.0 K/9 rate was up markedly from 11.5 the year before.
The many accolades given Hjerpe in 2022 include All-Pac-12 First Team, at least four different All-American honors and the National Pitcher of the Year from both Perfect Game and the College Baseball Foundation. ( A more comprehensive list is posted in his player profile at the top of this article.)
2022 recap
On draft day, the Cardinals clearly wanted Hjerpe, whom they took at 22nd overall. He surely would not have been around when the Cards’ pick came up again in the second round as he was ranked no. 33 by Baseball America prior to the draft and 34th among draft eligible players by MLB Pipeline.
Hjerpe signed for full slot value, $3,182,200.
An individual with knowledge of the Cardinals’ pre-draft thinking told me that they liked Hjerpe so much, they would have taken him fifth overall if that had been their spot. Maybe that was exaggeration and maybe not.
On the record, the organization was excited about their choice, as expected.
“Cooper possesses a tremendous set of weapons in his pitching arsenal that we are ecstatic about adding to our system,” said Cardinals assistant general manager and director of scouting Randy Flores on draft day.
“He has a unique look that can make opposing hitters uncomfortable as evidenced by his high strikeout totals and elite whiff rates,” continued Flores.
After signing, new draftees report to the Cardinals complex in Jupiter, Florida for medical and physical assessments before the playing decision is made.
Hjerpe was one of seven Cardinals 2022-draft pitchers who were not activated on a team roster. The earlier college workloads and the long delay between the end of the college season and post-draft signing coupled are often considered be enough for one season.
They were still working out separately from the Florida Complex League players but under a coordinated daily schedule.
However, not all players went home at the conclusion of the FCL schedule in late August. A few received a nice perk as the Cardinals held behind eight players in reserve (sort of like the big-league taxi squad) until Palm Beach finished its season on September 11.
Hjerpe was among them. I imagine he could have been speaking for all seven when he told me, “Sure, I’d like to get on the mound with Palm Beach and throw an inning. Pitching in games is why we are here.”
That didn’t happen, but Hjerpe and the others gained valuable experience for several more weeks while watching the Beach Birds play and prepare for the Florida State League playoffs.
2023 outlook
“Based on his three-year track record at Oregon State, our scouting department hopes that he can rise quickly through our system once we connect him with our player development staff,” said Flores on draft day.
That connection initially began midway through the summer of 2022.
In fact, it very well could be that Hjerpe’s late 2022 stint auditing Palm Beach will be his only time spent in Low-A, albeit unofficial. If any of the 2022 drafted pitchers yet to debut jump to High-A Peoria to open the 2023 regular season, it should be Hjerpe. That assumes everything is normal in spring training, of course.
Future outlook
A scout commented about the organization’s draft and their first-rounder specifically.
“The Cardinals always have a non-sexy draft, so Hjerpe fits,” the evaluator said. “He could have success as a reliever, but he holds his velo deep into games. So, I would give him the chance to start until he proves not.”
This scenario reminds me of the path taken by another high potential college lefty taken in the first round three years earlier, Zack Thompson. The former Kentucky star did not pitch out of the bullpen until reaching the majors.
If Hjerpe spends a conservative one season per level, he could pitch in Double-A in 2024 and Triple-A in 2025. The organization’s first Rule 5 decision on him would be due following the latter season and position him to make his St. Louis debut in 2026. But he should throw a professional pitch before we take this any further…
MLB debut: 2026
Rule 5 Eligible: 2025
Exclusively for members of The Cardinal Nation
Our 2023 Top 50 series continues
To see the entire list of top Cardinals prospects, grading scales and remaining article schedule, click here. This includes the Top 50 countdown and 12 in-depth, follow-up articles breaking down the list.
50 Days, 50 Nights, 50 St. Louis Cardinals Prospects for 2023
Not yet a member?
If you enjoyed this article, please consider joining The Cardinal Nation to receive the most comprehensive coverage of the St. Louis Cardinals from the majors through the entire minor league system, including access to every article in our 2023 Top Cardinals Prospects series.
© 2023 The Cardinal Nation, thecardinalnation.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.