photo: Jalin Flores (Brian Walton/The Cardinal Nation)
The Cardinal Nation’s choice as the top hitter in the St. Louis Cardinals system during April is Peoria infielder Jalin Flores, who edged 10 other finalists. Flores was the only .300/.400/.500 hitter in the system during April and led the organization in OPS at .961. He also tied for the RBI lead, plating 20 in just 19 games.
This article details the selection of The Cardinal Nation’s Player of the Month. Considered were offensive results during April across the entire St. Louis Cardinals system. The winner as well as a group of ten runners-up are highlighted.
Starting with the usual 60 plate appearances requirement, a total of 39 hitters in the system qualified. Eleven further separated themselves with OPSes above .850, including seven over .900, but no one over .961.
Peoria infielder Jalin Flores is our April winner.
Demographics
First-place Triple-A Memphis led the finalist list with five, while last-place Double-A Springfield was shut out. The two Class-A squads, Peoria and Palm Beach, had four and two, respectively.
The finalist position mix includes four infielders, three outfielders, two infield-outfielders and two catchers.
Reminder
Please remember, this is NOT the “Player of the Month Among Top Prospects”. Every player in the system has an equal chance, with only their performance during the month used to differentiate the best of the best. Age and level, which are key prospect considerations, are not factors here, either.
We will take two views of the data. The first look will be basic stats, followed by rate stats. Names are listed in the same sequence in both tables, in descending OPS order.
Basic stats
| April hitter | Tm | G | PA | AB | R | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | SB | CS | BB | SO | BA | OBP | SLG | OPS |
| Jalin Flores | Peo | 19 | 80 | 66 | 16 | 20 | 6 | 1 | 3 | 20 | 1 | 1 | 8 | 15 | 0.303 | 0.400 | 0.561 | 0.961 |
| Jimmy Crooks* | Mem | 23 | 100 | 82 | 18 | 21 | 1 | 0 | 8 | 17 | 1 | 0 | 15 | 34 | 0.256 | 0.390 | 0.561 | 0.951 |
| Jack Gurevitch* | PB | 20 | 91 | 77 | 14 | 22 | 8 | 0 | 4 | 20 | 0 | 2 | 13 | 27 | 0.286 | 0.396 | 0.545 | 0.941 |
| Bryan Torres* | Mem | 21 | 96 | 74 | 11 | 26 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 10 | 5 | 2 | 17 | 13 | 0.351 | 0.463 | 0.459 | 0.923 |
| Rainiel Rodriguez | Peo | 21 | 96 | 77 | 17 | 22 | 8 | 1 | 2 | 12 | 2 | 0 | 17 | 19 | 0.286 | 0.427 | 0.494 | 0.921 |
| Blaze Jordan | Mem | 25 | 105 | 98 | 14 | 30 | 7 | 0 | 6 | 15 | 2 | 2 | 6 | 12 | 0.306 | 0.352 | 0.561 | 0.914 |
| Tai Peete* | Peo | 20 | 98 | 87 | 15 | 24 | 6 | 3 | 4 | 20 | 4 | 5 | 11 | 28 | 0.276 | 0.357 | 0.552 | 0.909 |
| César Prieto* | Mem | 26 | 106 | 97 | 16 | 29 | 6 | 0 | 6 | 14 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 18 | 0.299 | 0.349 | 0.546 | 0.895 |
| Cameron Nickens | PB | 16 | 66 | 52 | 13 | 17 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 2 | 1 | 11 | 14 | 0.327 | 0.455 | 0.404 | 0.858 |
| José Suárez | Peo | 18 | 70 | 63 | 14 | 18 | 7 | 0 | 3 | 11 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 27 | 0.286 | 0.314 | 0.540 | 0.854 |
| Bligh Madris* | Mem | 20 | 73 | 65 | 13 | 17 | 5 | 0 | 4 | 15 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 15 | 0.262 | 0.329 | 0.523 | 0.852 |
| * left-handed |
In OPS, Flores is on top with his .961 mark with Memphis catcher Jimmy Crooks just behind at .951. Palm Beach corner infielder Jack Gurevitch was next at .941.
Extra-base hit leaders were Memphis infielder Blaze Jordan and Peoria outfielder Tai Peete with 13. Just one behind were Gurevitch and Memphis infielder Cesar Prieto with 12.
Gurevitch was tops in doubles (eight), Peete led in triples (three) and Crooks was first in home runs (eight, but only one double).
In slugging, Flores, Crooks and Jordan tied for the April system lead at .561.
Four finalists hit over .300 for the month with Memphis second baseman Bryan Torres tops at .351. Four also posted an OBP of .400 or better with Torres again the leader at .463. Palm Beach outfielder Cameron Nickens was close behind at .455.
Torres was also the only finalist with more walks (17) than strikeouts (13). Peoria catcher Rainiel Rodriguez was close with 17 BBs and 19 Ks.
Flores, Gurevitch and Peete tied for the most April RBIs with 20 each.
At 20 years and eight months, Chiefs leadoff man Peete holds the distinction of being our youngest finalist. Next is his outfield teammate Jose Suarez at 21 years of age.
At 30, Memphis infielder-outfielder Bligh Madris is the other bookend as our oldest finalist.
Advanced stats
| April hitter | Tm | Age | PA | BB% | K% | ISO | BABIP | wRC+ |
| Jalin Flores | Peo | 22 | 80 | 10.0% | 18.8% | 0.258 | 0.340 | 141 |
| Jimmy Crooks* | Mem | 24 | 100 | 15.0% | 34.0% | 0.305 | 0.325 | 146 |
| Jack Gurevitch* | PB | 22 | 91 | 14.3% | 29.7% | 0.260 | 0.391 | 158 |
| Bryan Torres* | Mem | 28 | 96 | 17.7% | 13.5% | 0.108 | 0.406 | 151 |
| Rainiel Rodriguez | Peo | 19 | 96 | 17.7% | 19.8% | 0.208 | 0.357 | 141 |
| Blaze Jordan | Mem | 23 | 105 | 5.7% | 11.4% | 0.255 | 0.300 | 136 |
| Tai Peete* | Peo | 20 | 98 | 11.2% | 28.6% | 0.276 | 0.364 | 126 |
| César Prieto* | Mem | 27 | 106 | 4.7% | 17.0% | 0.247 | 0.311 | 130 |
| Cameron Nickens | PB | 22 | 66 | 16.7% | 21.2% | 0.077 | 0.436 | 152 |
| José Suárez | Peo | 21 | 70 | 4.3% | 38.6% | 0.254 | 0.417 | 105 |
| Bligh Madris* | Mem | 30 | 73 | 6.8% | 20.5% | 0.262 | 0.277 | 117 |
(For clarity, the players are in the same sequence as the earlier table. Thanks to Fangraphs for the data.)
As we get into additional stats, we see that good fortune in the guise of a very high BABIP (.350 or better) benefited six of our finalists. They are Nickens, Suarez, Torres, Gurevitch, Peete and Rodriguez. This significantly hurts their candidacies in my view.
The clear exception was Madris, who excelled despite BABIP misfortune at .277.
Torres, Rodriguez and Nickens stood highest among the finalists in walk rate, with Torres and Rodriguez most exceptional at 17.7%.
On the less positive side, four finalists posted a walk rate of under 10%, with Suarez and Prieto both under 5%.
Toughest to strike out was Jordan at 11.4%, followed by Torres (13.5%) and Prieto (17.0%).
At the high end of the spectrum, Crooks (34%) and Suarez (38.6%) struck out in more than a third of their April plate appearances.
In Isolated Power, ISO, no one was particularly close to Crooks’ .305, but six others came in above .250.
In weighted Runs Created Plus (wRC+), Gurevitch, Nickens and Torres registered above 150, 50% above their league average. Three others placed in the 140’s.
It was not a landslide win, but Flores was the only .300/.400/.500 hitter in the system during April and led the organization in OPS. He also tied for the lead in RBI, plating 20 in just 19 games. His counting stats, including 10 extra base hits, are even more valuable considering his 80 plate appearances vs. 90 to over 100 by most other finalists.
Most of the other finalists had significant low points in other areas, but Flores did not.
When all is said and done, Jalin Flores receives the honor of The Cardinal Nation’s April Player of the Month.
About the winner
Flores was St. Louis’ 11th round draft pick in 2025 from the University of Texas and he joined Palm Beach after signing. In his 105 plate-appearance professional debut, he posted a strikeout rate of 32.4%, an isolated power mark of .096 and an OPS of just .614.
Here at The Cardinal Nation, Flores fell just short of our 2026 Top 50 Prospect List. However, Kyle Reis and I placed the infielder among our Best of the Rest selections (honorable mentions).
During the off-season, Kyle wrote the following:
“Flores is a big and strong within his 6’2”, 210-pound frame, and there’s a version of his swing that’s capable of getting into meaningful power. If this 22-year-old can do some major work to his swing decisions and his contact rate in the zone while cleaning up his swing for better balance and energy dispersion, then there is a version of Paul DeJong capable of busting out of Flores.”
As noted in the tables above, Flores’ corresponding marks in April were an 18.8% K rate and an ISO of .258, huge improvements generated while increasing a level of competition compared to 2025.
If the third baseman-shortstop can sustain that kind of performance, Flores will vault up our Cardinals Top Prospect List. For now, he is The Cardinal Nation’s April Player of the Month.
What is next?
Next up, look for The Cardinal Nation’s April Pitcher of the Month article, the companion to this one.
Also, the Cardinals organization should name their own selections of April Player and Pitcher of the Month in the upcoming days.
Now available – 2026 Cardinals Prospect Guide
The Cardinal Nation Prospect Guide is back for its ninth year. It includes 275 pages of in-depth commentary about the very best St. Louis Cardinals minor leaguers, including over five dozen all-new player scouting reports by Kyle Reis. Order your PDF or spiral-bound printed book copy today.
All paid members can purchase our Prospect Guide PDF at 50% off. Thank you for your support of The Cardinal Nation!
Order The Cardinal Nation’s 2026 St. Louis Cardinals Prospect Guide
Exclusively for members of The Cardinal Nation
Not yet a member?
Join The Cardinal Nation for the most comprehensive coverage of the St. Louis Cardinals from the majors through the entire minor league system.
Brian Walton can be reached via email at brian@thecardinalnation.com. Follow Brian and The Cardinal Nation on X/Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and Bluesky.
© 2026 The Cardinal Nation, thecardinalnation.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.