The Cardinal Nation’s Team Recaps and Top Players of 2018

photo: Andrew Knizner (Brian Walton/The Cardinal Nation)

As we have done each fall for over a decade, the staff of The Cardinal Nation will start this series with recaps of the just-completed season at each level of the St. Louis Cardinals system, including the major league club. We will also crown three award winners for each team – The Cardinal Nation Minor League Starting Pitchers, Relievers and Players of the Year.

We will unveil our selections, one team recap or award per day, every day, beginning on Monday, September 10, and continuing throughout the month of October. Club recaps are first, then the Dominican Summer League (DSL) Reliever of the Year and all the way through the Memphis Redbirds Player of the Year.

Some special awards will be added and of course, our top selections for the entire Cardinals minor league system for 2018 as well as the best-performing rookies follow. The minor league section of the series will conclude with our choice as the top manager in the organization before we break down the big-league club’s top players and regular season and post-season results, if applicable.

Though they watched these clubs and reported on them all summer long, our team of locally-based writers – covering every Cardinals minor league affiliate first-hand – still have their work cut out for them to select the very best of the best from nearly 300 players.

Yet this most knowledgeable group is more than qualified and is again up to the challenge. They include Jeremiah Graham (Memphis), Derek Shore (Springfield), Ryan Finkelstein (Palm Beach), Cooper Deck (State College), Brett Barnett (Johnson City) and Paul Ivice (Gulf Coast League). Also contributing to the series is TCN draft analyst Scott Schook.

Note: While the team reports and all winning names will be made available to everyone as this master article is updated daily, the detailed commentary behind most of the player awards in this series will be exclusively for The Cardinal Nation members. All major league articles will again be free for all.

This series will include analysis from our local reporters as well as comments by Cardinals players, coaches and executives. We explain what tradeoffs were made and what we saw in the best players to take the field at each level of the Cardinals system during the 2018 season.

Again, we begin the process with a daily series recapping each minor league club’s 2018 season in depth, looking at records, injuries, player movement, key stats and much more. Once they are published, you can click on the highlighted team names below to read those articles if you missed them the first time.

2018 The Cardinal Nation/Scout.com Award Winners/Schedule

Minor League System
Free articles Member articles Member articles Member articles
2018 Team Recaps Top Relief Pitcher Top Starting Pitcher Top Position Player
Dominican Red/Blue (Rk) Freddy Pacheco Julio Puello Malcom Nuñez
Gulf Coast (Rk) Edgar Escobar Connor Coward Andrew Warner
Johnson City (SS-R) Evan Sisk Tommy Parsons Nolan Gorman
State College (SS-A)  Kevin Hamann Jake Dahlberg Stanley Espinal
Peoria (A) Kodi Whitley Alex Fagalde Elehuris Montero
Palm Beach (A+) Colton Thomson Jake Walsh Dylan Carlson
Springfield (AA) Hector Mendoza Anthony Shew Tommy Edman/Lane Thomas
Memphis (AAA) Tommy Layne Daniel Poncedeleon Tyler O’Neill
Minor League System
Member articles Member articles Member articles Member articles
Top System Players Top Relief Pitcher Top Starting Pitcher Top Position Player
Rookies of the Year Michael Baird Perry DellaValle Malcom Nunez
Players of the Year Bryan Dobzanski Jake Dahlberg Elehuris Montero
Manager of the Year Stubby Clapp
St. Louis
Free articles Free articles Free articles Free articles
Players of the Year Rookie of the Year
Harrison Bader
Top Relief Pitcher Top Starting Pitcher Top Position Player
John Brebbia Miles Mikolas Matt Carpenter
2018 Team Recaps
Regular season Click here
Post-season (if needed)

Click on the player name highlighted in the table above to be taken to that detailed article. In addition, select each team name to read the 2018 overall summary for that level.

Then, join the daily discussion at The Cardinal Nation’s free message board, as each selection is unveiled.

If you ever forget the location of this article, you can always use the permanent link on The Cardinal Nation homepage. Underneath the site logo in the left column, click on “Season Recaps/Top Players”, and select the year.

Our annual Cardinals Top 50 Prospect Ranking countdown will begin in late November after this series concludes. Please remember that the two processes are separate and distinct.

This effort is to recognize the top performances on the field in 2018, whether or not the players are projected to have a major league future down the road. In other words, this is all about current year results at the assigned level of play, not future potential.


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.

© 2018 The Cardinal Nation, thecardinalnation.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.