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In something of an upset, considering where the voting was on the 14th vote, Cooper Hjerpe surprised me at least by narrowly winning the vote for the 15th best prospect. Hjerpe was in a distant 4th place for the 14th prospect which, if you’re wondering, was partially possible because either different people voted or people changed their votes. There was someone ahead of him on the 14th vote who received less votes on the 15th vote. Anyway, the injury-snake bitten high upside pitching prospect has landed on the list, dropping from 9th place last year. The current list:
- JJ Wetherholt
- Liam Doyle
- Rainiel Rodriguez
- Quinn Mathews
- Jurrangelo Cjintje
- Joshua Baez
- Leonardo Bernal
- Jimmy Crooks
- Brandon Clarke
- Tink Hence
- Tekoah Roby
- Tanner Franklin
- Brycen Mautz
- Nathan Church
- Cooper Hjerpe
Comparable Player Poll
It seems somewhat likely we aren’t in danger of adding a reliever to the top 20, but nonetheless, I figure adding the best relief prospect, as determined by you, is doing my due diligence. I’m using my best judgment as to who could possibly be considered the best relief prospect. All of them are most likely going to spend significant time in Memphis or St. Louis.
Luis Gastelum has an extremely good and unusual changeup and not much else, but it’s so good that he struck out 35.4% of batters he faced and walked just 6.5% of batters. He even got groundballs. At the age of 24, he has not spent an inning in Memphis, but has already thrown two innings in spring training, so maybe he skips it altogether.
Sklyer Hales is a fastball/slider pitcher, recently acquired in a package for Phil Maton at the 2025 deadline. He struck out 30% of batters in AA with a good walk rate and a decent groundball rate, but struggled mightily upon promotion to AAA. He did finish the year strong. He is also 24 and has actually thrown in 3 games this spring training.
Austin Love is also a fastball/slider pitcher, but he’s been in the system a bit longer. Drafted 90th overall in the 2021 draft, he was once considered an actual starting pitching prospect, but an ill-timed Tommy John completely derailed his career. Voting for him is a belief that he was shaking off the rust and still managed to perform fairly well in 2025. He will be 27 and he too has pitched in 3 games in spring despite not having pitched in Memphis.
Matt Pushard bucks the trend by actually having four pitches: a fastball, slider, cutter, and change. He pitched the whole season in AAA for the Marlins and was selected in the Rule 5 draft by the Cardinals. He will be 28. Oddly, he’s only actually pitched in one game so far this spring.
New Add
We’re starting to enter that region of the voting where it is a distinct possibility that whoever will be on the top 20 is already on the voting and the next five names I add probably do no matter. The comparable player polling has done its job: a lot of the candidates I would have considered have effectively been eliminated by losing those polls. One player who did emerge thanks to those polls, however, is recent trade acquisition Blaze Jordan. He defeated a player on last year’s top 20 (Chase Davis) who himself defeated a top 20 guy (Travis Honeyman). Jordan deserves to be in the voting.
Jesus Baez, IF – 21
Stats (High A): 416 PAs, .244/.327/.397, 10.3 BB%, 18.5 K%, .153 ISO, .270 BABIP, 116 wRC+, 121 DRC+
Scouting (FG): 30/45 Hit, 35/50 Game Power, 50/55 Raw Power, 40/40 Speed, 40/45 Fielding
Good performance at a young age, will presumably be in Springfield next season. On the downside, I think he’s technically a shortstop prospect but nobody thinks he’ll stick at SS. And there are some reported attitude concerns of which I hesitate to even share because it’s kind of like sharing rumors, but most of you have seen what Keith Law wrote, it’s not exactly a secret anyway. I do remind people of his age though, you tend to be immature at that age.
Yhoiker Fajardo, RHP – 19
Stats (CPX): 6 G, 20.2 IP, 31.6 K%, 9.2 BB%, 51.2 GB%, .205 BABIP, 0.44 ERA/2.41 FIP/3.29 xFIP
Low A: 13 GS, 51.1 IP, 27.8 K%, 9.4 BB%, 50 GB%, .326 BABIP, 2.98 ERA/2.50 FIP/3.14 xFIP
Scouting: 40/45 Fastball, 55/60 Slider, 30/50 Change, 35/50 Command
I’m pointing out this point for Fajardo, but it could be just about any pitching prospect. The scouting I give you is from one source. Go to a different source, someone will be higher or lower from a scouting perspective. For example, Baseball Prospectus, definitely higher on this dude than Fangraphs, shared that he added a kick change last season and that it immediately flashed above average. That tells me it disagrees with the characterization of 50 potential scouting that Fangraphs gives it. Fangraphs happens to be easy access and actually has easy scouting to post, so that’s why I use it.
Ixan Henderson, 24 – LHP
Stats (AA): 25 GS, 132 IP, 25.2 K%, 9.6 BB%, 37.1 GB%, .278 BABIP, 2.59 ERA/3.16 FIP/4.00 xFIP/4.51 DRA
Scouting: 50/60 Fastball, 45/50 Slider, 30/40 Change, 40/45 Cutter, 40/50 Command
Okay it’s here where I feel like his injury hurt him in the voting. I haven’t been totally sure yet that he’s been hurt by the injury news, but he’s kind of been stuck as the guy who has almost been selected for a few votes now. He was in 2nd for the 14th vote and stayed 2nd. Like I’ve mentioned before, I wish we could have completed the voting before spring training injuries start affecting the vote, but that’s kind of the trade-off; earlier and all the trades would have thrown a wrench in the plans too. I’m otherwise happy with when I started.
Blaze Jordan, 23 – 1B/3B
Stats (AA): 176 PAs, .320/.415/.513, 12.5 BB%, 10.8 K%, .193 ISO, .333 BABIP, 167 wRC+, 145 DRC+
AAA: 368 PAs, .248/.291/.423, 5.7 BB%, 11.1 K%, .175 ISO, .247 BABIP, 83 wRC+, 101 DRC+
Scouting: 40/50 Hit, 40/50 Game Power, 60/60 Raw Power, 30/30 Speed, 40/45 Fielding
There is a bright side to Jordan’s struggles in AAA – it probably saved the Cardinals from having to add him to the 40 man roster. It’s pretty clear that his main issue in Memphis was BABIP – give him a .300 BABIP, he might actually have been added to the 40 man. Unfortunately, it’s always hard to know how deserved a BABIP is in the minor leagues. Ironically, I wonder if he’d have a better shot of being selected if he stayed crushing in AA all year. He was only 22.
Colton Ledbetter, 24 – OF
Stats (AA): 535 PAs, .265/.337/.378, 9.5 BB%, 23.9 K%, .114 ISO, .339 BABIP, 112 wRC+
Scouting: 30/35 Hit, 40/50 Game Power, 55/55 Raw Power, 50/40 Speed, 50/50 Fielding
You might be mistaken for double checking his stats and scouting numbers, because they don’t exactly line up. It makes more sense if you include his 2024 into the equation. He had actual power in High A, but struck out quite a bit. Actually his 2024 season lines up pretty well with the scouting. It doesn’t mean the scouting is outdated, because the effort to strike out less by Ledbetter seemingly led to a big drop in power. The power may not exist without the bad hit tool. Of course if he manages to maintain the K rate and add power, well then we may have something here.
Chen-Wei Lin, 24 – RHP
Stats (Low A): 12 GS, 38.2 IP, 27.2 K%, 17.2 BB%, 50 GB%, .283 BABIP, 4.89 ERA/3.69 FIP/4.17 xFIP
High A: 4 GS, 9.2 IP, 41.7 K%, 18.8 BB%, 50 GB%, .412 BABIP, 9.31 ERA/4.80 FIP/2.76 xFIP
Scouting: 60/70 Fastball, 40/45 Slider, 40/60 Change, 30/40 Command
You can count Lin among the many pitching prospects the Cardinals seem to have who had injury troubles, and whose pitch profile point to a very good reliever if the starting thing doesn’t work out. Lin is considered a potential starting pitching prospect, because he is 6’7 and if you can believe the scouting, has the potential for two elite pitches. The fastball might already be there.
Ryan Mitchell, 19 – OF
No stats
Scouting: 25/55 Hit, 25/50 Game Power, 40/55 Raw Power, 60/60 Speed, 25/50 Fielding
Mitchell seems to be the wrong kind of prospect for this group. That’s because he hasn’t played a single inning in professional ball. There might be one or two examples of this group selecting a prospect who has yet to play an inning, but it was certainly in a weaker system than this and it definitely fits on one hand. It tends to affect the pitching prospects moreso (hello Cade Crossland), but we haven’t really had a chance to vote for a legitimate prospect who was a position player because those guys tend to be college-age and thus we have some stats to use.
Deniel Ortiz, 21 – 1B/3B
Stats (Low A): 320 PAs, .285/.406/.446, 15.3 BB%, 27.5 K%, .162 ISO, .386 BABIP, 145 wRC+, 119 DRC+
High A: 130 PAs, .336/.438/.500, 13.8 BB%, 22.3 K%, .164 ISO, .436 BABIP, 168 wRC+, 97 DRC+
Scouting (Baseball Savant): /45 Hit, /55 Power, /55 Arm, /45 Field
Those stats come via Baseball Savant, the only source that I think has his scouting. I listed them them that way to indicate that the scouting numbers are potential and I’m fairly certain they are potential and not current. If you look at the scouting of all the players above, well it seems fairly clear these can’t be current grades or he’d be MLB ready right now.
Yairo Padilla, 19 – SS
Stats (CPX): 38 G, 148 PAs, .283/.396/.367, 12.2 BB%, 14.2 K%, .083 ISO, .340 BABIP, 119 wRC+
Scouting: 25/55 Hit, 20/55 Game Power, 40/60 Raw Power, 50/40 Speed, 30/40 Field
An example of the scouting maybe being different elsewhere is that I would be surprised if other outlets thought Padilla’s potential fielding grade was a 40. Because that would make him not a shortstop prospect really. He’d be in the same boat as a Jesus Baez really. On the positive side though, the potential suggested by his offensive scouting indicates he doesn’t need to be at shortstop.
Tai Peete, OF – 20
Stats (High A): 529 PAs, .217/.288/.404, 8.7 BB%, 30.6 K%, .187 ISO, .282 BABIP, 79 wRC+, 79 DRC+
Scouting: 20/30 Hit, 30/50 Game Power, 50/60 Raw Power, 60/60 Speed, 45/55 Fielding
That pesky hit tool is getting in the way of a really glowing scouting report. But the 30% K rate and 30 grade hit tool are not great, to be honest. On the positive side, he’s being scouted while being an 19-year-old playing against High A competition. I’d venture to say most 19-year-olds will look like they don’t have a good contact tool in that context. If he played the next two seasons in High A, and then got promoted to AA the following season, he’d still be kind of young for AA. There’s some context.