Organizational Talent Rankings via Baseball America
2013 (1) | 2012 (12) | 2011 (24) | 2010 (29) | 2009 (8)
2013 Affiliate Records
MLB: [97-65] NL Central
AAA: [69-75] Pacific Coast League – Memphis
AA: [64-74] Texas League – Springfield
A+: [64-71] Florida State League – Palm Beach
A: [68-69] Midwest League – Peoria
A(ss): [48-27] New York-Penn League — State College
Graduated Prospects
Matt Adams (1B); Shelby Miller (RHP); Trevor Rosenthal (RHP); Michael Wacha (RHP); Kevin Siegrist (LHP); Tyler Lyons (LHP); Seth Maness (RHP)
The Run Down
In the business of talent procurement and development, the Cardinals are the best. That’s the only way to explain how an organization can graduate prospects like Shelby Miller, Michael Wacha, Trevor Rosenthal, and Matt Adams, and still come back the following year with a top 5 farm. The Cardinals churning out homegrown fantasy-relevance is something you should be conditioned to expect by now, and it’ll continue this year with Oscar Taveras, Carlos Martinez, and Kolten Wong… and next year with Stephen Piscotty, and Marco Gonzalez… and the following year with [insert awesome prospects]. You get the idea.
Top Ten Fantasy Prospects
1. Oscar Taveras, OF: Taveras has the skill set of a star player and a fantasy monster, with potential to hit well north of .300 while drilling 25-30 long balls per year. He was set to debut that ability at the big league level last summer, but an ankle injury blocked him from doing so. Taveras had a small opportunity this spring to make the Cardinals 2014 Opening Day roster, but a hamstring injury this spring derailed that thought. It’s frustrating and worrisome to see an elite-level prospect held back by injury, but even so, it’d be unwise to sleep on Oscar — among hitting prospects, he’s the most most capable of surfacing in the bigs and offering immediate impact. ETA: 2014
2. Carlos Martinez, RHP: Martinez accrued enough service time in 2013 to graduate his prospect status, but he tossed just 28 IP and made only one start, and I’m having a hard time not including him here based on that technicality. It’s between Martinez and Joe Kelly for the #5 spot in the St. Louis rotation, and while the vibe from Cardinals camp is that Kelly will win that role to begin the season, there’s zero doubt in my mind that Car-Mart will get an extended look in the rotation at some point this year. Featuring some of the filthiest stuff in baseball (in more ways than one), the 22-year-old draws comps to Pedro Martinez. He’ll be an exciting mixed league asset as soon as he’s starting games. ETA: 2014
3. Kolten Wong, 2B: The stick-first 2B is ready for his full-time debut. He ranked #12 in my top 25 for 2014 post, and here’s what I had to say: “Wong is capable of batting .300+ in the bigs right now, and I don’t think that Mark Ellis will threaten his playing time too significantly. Grey ranks him #21 among 2nd basemen, but there’s potential here to outperform that outlook by a comfy margin.” ETA: 2014
4. Stephen Piscotty, OF: With a plus-plus hit tool and above average pop, Piscotty’s tools profile resembles that of Taveras. It’s a high-impact package, but overall, it lacks the oomph of Oscar’s. Still, you can expect a .300 average and 20+ bombs from Piscotty, who posted a .295/.355/.464 line between High-A and Double-A in 2013. The 23-year-old should be ready for a look in St. Louis before year’s end, but with the Cardinals depth in the outfield, it’s probably unreasonable to expect regular playing time from him at any point this season. ETA: Late 2014
5. Alexander Reyes, RHP: Reyes is yet to play full-season ball, so there’s a long way to go here, but the 19-year-old showed great promise in the Rookie-level Appy League last summer, whiffing 10.5 per nine in his professional debut. The frame is projects nicely, and the fastball-curve combo is excellent. There’s front-end upside here, but we’ll have a better gauge on Reyes’s outlook after his first full-season assignment is in the books. ETA: 2017
6. Carson Kelly, 3B/C: Kelly’s fantasy stock received a sizable boost this offseason, when the Cardinals announced that they’d begin transitioning him from third base to catcher. The 19-year-old has enough pop to knock 25+ homers at the highest level, and he’s not likely to hurt you in the AVG department. ETA: 2017
7. Marco Gonzalez, LHP: I highlighted Gonzalez as a part of a pre-draft series last May/June. He tossed just 23 pro innings after signing, so we’ll defer to those notes: “With the 19th overall pick in the 2012 Draft, the Cardinals selected Michael Wacha out of Texas A&M. Wacha featured many attractive tools at the time, but his main attraction was the changeup, which was graded by most as the best in the 2012 class. Well, St. Louis was at it again on Thursday, selecting Marco Gonzalez out of Gonzaga with the 19th overall pick. Like Wacha, Gonzalez features a filthy changeup, the best in this year’s draft pool. His size and fastball aren’t quite so impressive as Wacha’s, but the secondary stuff, and the change in particular, are weapons that would play above average at the highest level almost immediately. Gonzalez’s low-90s fastball is the only thing holding him back from projecting like a high-impact starting pitcher, but if he can spot it well, he’ll do quite well given the off-speed stuff. As it stands, it’s difficult to tab Gonzalez as a high-impact, high-ceiling guy, but he’s certainly a safe bet to reach the bigs as a quality mid-rotation arm.” ETA: 2015
8. Rob Kaminsky, LHP: Nine picks after taking Gonzalez, the Cardinals went after another lefty arm in Kaminsky. The 19-year-old offers big upside with his bat-missing FB/CB/CH arsenal. There’s still a lot to prove at the professional level, however, as he’s yet to appear above the instructional Gulf Coast League. ETA: 2017
9. Randal Grichuk, OF: Grichuk arrived in the Cardinals org via LA as a part of the David Freese swap. He was #4 in my Angels top 10, where I had this to say about him: “Los Angeles took Grichuk with the 24th overall pick in the 2009 draft. They had the next selection too, and choose Mike Trout at #25. It’s been tough for the 22-year-old to escape the Trout comparisons, which seem pretty silly considering there isn’t a prospect alive who should be held up to Mike Trout. In any case, Grichuk brings very real power-potential (22 HR at Double-A in 2013), but if that power is going to translate at the highest level, he’s going to need to improve his plate discipline and pitch recognition.” The change of scenery should help put to rest the whole “Living in the shadow of Mike Trout” narrative. ETA: Late 2014
10. James Ramsey, OF: Drafted 23rd overall in 2012, Ramsey brings a polished approach and plus-plus makeup. He’s not the tooled-up sort of prospect you’ve grown to expect from this Cardinals org, but his 2013 line draws a pretty clear picture of his potential: .265/.373/.440, 16 HR, 9 SB through 112 games between High-A, Double-A, and Triple-A. ETA: Late 2014
2013 St. Louis Cardinals MiLB Preview
