The Cardinals stayed on brand in this class, leaning heavily on college pitching and in fact beginning their draft with three consecutive college lefties. It's a mix of pitchability types with guys who show unique traits on the mound, giving them a nice mix of guys who could race to the majors and others with upside that can be unlocked with patience and creativity. There is also a distinctly California feel here, with nine of their twenty picks hailing from the Golden State including each of those three college lefties at the top of the draft.
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1-22: LHP Cooper Hjerpe, Oregon State. My rank: #19.
Slot value: $3.18 million. Signing bonus: $3.18 million.
Despite not picking until #22, I think the Cardinals picked up the best college pitcher in the draft here. Cooper Hjerpe steadily improved throughout his time in Corvallis and was at his best in 2022, when he put up a 2.53 ERA and a 161/23 strikeout to walk ratio over 103.1 innings. Those 161 strikeouts led the country by a full dozen ahead of Yankees second rounder Drew Thorpe (149), he'll continue that in pro ball. Hjerpe sits in the low 90's with his fastball and gets up to 95-96, but the pitch plays way above its velocity because it comes from such a unique angle. It's a very low three quarters look, nearly sidearm, coming in with a tremendously flat approach angle that is very difficult to mimic with plenty of bat missing ride. It plays extremely well off his slider, which comes in with huge sweep from that low slot, again not something you see every day to that degree. The small town Californian finishes off his arsenal with an above average changeup, giving him the necessary weapons to combat both left handed and right handed batters with success. To top it off, Hjerpe shows above average command of his three pitches that really enables him to play them off each other and execute the game plan, something that will make him very fun to develop for St. Louis. The 6'3" lefty still has some projection remaining, so if the Cardinals can help him add a tick or two of velocity, he could be a true ace. I really like this pick in this organization, and even if Hjerpe sticks around his current velocity band, he looks to be a high probability mid-rotation starter. It's a great combination of ceiling and floor.
2-59: LHP Brycen Mautz, San Diego. My rank: #99.
Slot value: $1.25 million. Signing bonus: $1.10 million ($146,200 below slot value).
The Cardinals saved some money on Brycen Mautz, who feels like a very Cardinals-esque pick. He's coming off a breakout year at San Diego where he put up a 3.87 ERA and a 122/29 strikeout to walk ratio over 90.2 innings, punctuated by a strong start against Vanderbilt at the Corvallis Regional with a lot of eyes on him. You can attempt to handicap those numbers by saying he didn't pitch in a power conference (and you'd be missing the fact that the WCC has strong competition), but in addition to his great start against Vanderbilt he also showed very well in non-conference matchups against Oregon and Grand Canyon and also struck out fifteen against Dallas Baptist. He sits in the low 90's with his fastball, getting up to 96 much like Hjerpe, albeit without the same unique traits. He drops in an above average slider with some sweep as his primary offspeed pitch, while also showing a fringier curveball and changeup on occasion. The 6'3" lefty comes from a wide three quarters slot that puts some angle on the ball, and overall he's cleaned up his delivery significantly during his time with the Toreros leading to much improved command that now looks solid average. It's a very solid #4 starter's package, and perhaps more if he can add a tick of velocity or refine his changeup a bit more while holding his command where it is. Additionally, he's young for a college junior and only turned 21 shortly after the draft, adding some upside.
3-97: LHP Pete Hansen, Texas. My rank: #195.
Slot value: $629,800. Signing bonus: $629,800.
If anything, this is a very interesting pick. I'm not totally bought in, but I recognize the upside here and if the Cardinals play their cards just right, they could come out looking very smart. Pete Hansen generated a lot of draft buzz during the shortened 2020 season, his freshman year, and entered the 2021 draft cycle a potential top fifty pick as a draft-eligible sophomore. Despite a dominant season alongside Ty Madden in that excellent Texas rotation (1.88 ERA, 80/23 K/BB in 91 innings), he returned to school as his stuff took a massive step backwards somehow without impacting his performance. The stuff wasn't all the way back in 2022, but he was still very good with a 3.76 ERA and a 120/19 strikeout to walk ratio over 107.2 innings for the Longhorns. Hansen is very much an enigma – his fastball has touched as high as 94 in the past, especially frequently back in 2020 when he sat in the low 90's, but he also had days in 2021 where he literally sat in the mid 80's. Typically, he's perfectly happy sitting in the upper 80's, and as an observer it just seems like he doesn't care much for velocity at all. Even with that mediocre velocity, I saw him touch 90 on pitch #114 of a game in 2022, so he's not 87-89 for a lack of arm strength. There are also some nice spin rates that create sneaky life on his fastball, so if he does get back more into that 91-93 range, the pitch could play well up. Hansen also throws an above average slider that for now is his best pro pitch, while adding a solid average changeup and a fringier curveball that he uses to steal strikes. The 6'2" lefty has plus command of his arsenal from a very easy, simple delivery, which is partially why he was able to put up the numbers he did in Austin. This will be a very interesting case study once he hits the Cardinals' player development system. His game is very much not centered around velocity, but without a plus offspeed pitch to keep hitters off his fastball, he is not going to find much success sitting in the upper 80's against minor league and major league hitters. The Cardinals will want to bring him out of his comfort zone a little bit and get that velocity up, which he has shown he's capable of. Now whether he's able to maintain his plus command while pitching like that remains to be seen, but I'm much more confident in the Sacramento-area product developing to the best of his abilities in the St. Louis organization than I would be in a less effective player development system such as Washington or Oakland.
4-127: C Jimmy Crooks, Oklahoma. My rank: unranked.
Slot value: $470,300. Signing bonus: $470,300.
The Cardinals finally broke from their string of college lefties to pick up Jimmy Crooks, ironically a left handed hitting catcher. He spent his freshman season at McLennan JC in Waco before transferring to Oklahoma, where he has quietly been one of the better catchers in the Big 12. Despite not leaving the yard until his 22nd game of the season in late March, he got hot late in the year like the rest of the Oklahoma team and finished with a very solid .305/.430/.506 slash line, nine home runs, and a 57/43 strikeout to walk ratio over 69 games. It's a pretty traditional backup catcher profile, with average power coming from a quick, simple left handed cut that's more designed for line drives. The DFW native works a lot of deep counts and can be prone to chasing breaking balls, but overall keeps the strikeouts reasonably down and draws plenty of walks. It's a solid offensive profile that will play in pro ball, albeit perhaps not quite enough to become Yadier Molina's full time successor. Behind the plate, it's very solid defense with a strong arm, though I did see him lose focus occasionally and let balls get to the backstop that should have been kept in front. Overall, it's a solid package that could produce 10-15 home runs per season with middling on-base percentages at his ceiling, which would be very valuable from a catcher. Through four games at Low A Palm Beach, Crooks is slashing .182/.357/.273 with a 5/2 strikeout to walk ratio.
5-157: OF Victor Scott, West Virginia. My rank: unranked.
Slot value: $350,400. Signing bonus: $350,400.
If Cardinals fans are feeling the sting of losing Harrison Bader, they can look to this year's draft for a replacement, even if he's a few years away. Victor Scott never put up spectacular numbers at West Virginia, where he finished 2022 with a rather pedestrian .278/.397/.454 slash line, six home runs, and a 53/35 strikeout to walk ratio over 55 games, but there is real upside here. He's a plus-plus runner that stole 38 bases this spring and eleven more in the Cape Cod Leauge this summer, really deploying that speed well both on the basepaths and in center field, where he'll fit right in as Bader-esque. Scott has a very good eye at the plate and tracks pitches very well, leading to a very healthy 14% walk rate this spring and an even more impressive 9/14 strikeout to walk ratio over twenty games on the Cape. Though he finished his WVU career with just eleven home runs in 121 games, there's some sneaky power in the profile with a knack for hitting the ball hard, all coming from a quick, balanced left handed stroke. He didn't impact the ball as much as he would have liked on the Cape (.173/.368/.308), but if the Cardinals play their cards right, they could unlock a 15+ home run bat with high on-base percentages and great center field defense. That sounds like a gamble worth taking in the fifth round. Through five games with Low A Palm Beach, he's slashing .182/.389/.182 with an even 5/5 strikeout to walk ratio.
6-187: RHP Max Rajcic, UCLA. My rank: #159.
Slot value: $270,700. Signing bonus: $600,000 ($329,300 above slot value).
The Cardinals' lone over slot bonus in the top ten rounds went to Max Rajcic, who signed for nearly double the slot value in the sixth round. Rajcic was a well-known name at Orange Lutheran High School in Southern California, but went undrafted in the shortened 2020 draft and reached campus at UCLA. After excelling as the team's closer as a freshman in 2021, he stepped into the rotation in 2022 with a 3.28 ERA and a 92/20 strikeout to walk ratio over 85 innings. He sits in the low 90's with his fastball, topping out around 95, but he's more known for his offspeed stuff. Rajcic's curveball is an easy plus pitch with huge spin rates and wicked bite, while his changeup flashes above average at its best and gives him another quality weapon. He pounds the strike zone with all three and projects for above average command, which goes great in tandem with his arsenal. The 6' righty is physically maxed out and is just an average athlete, with a fairly generic release that makes his fastball play down, but that's about the only knock on his profile. If he can hold up in a starter's role and potentially add some life to his fastball, he could be a solid #4 guy, or he could slide back to the bullpen eventually and pitch off his offspeed stuff. He certainly has the competitive makeup to thrive in the latter role, and it will be interesting to see how the Cardinals develop him.
8-247: RHP Cade Winquest, UT Arlington. My rank: unranked.
Slot value: $174,600. Signing bonus: $174,600.
Cade Winquest will be an interesting project for the Cardinals. He's always flashed potential, but finished his four year career at UT Arlington with a 5.77 ERA and never quite found that breakout scouts were looking for. In 2022, he put up a 5.40 ERA and a 57/23 strikeout to walk ratio over 58.1 innings, an incremental step forward from what he had bene doing. Winquest is a great athlete, getting down the mound extremely well with great extension that helps his pitches play up and will give the Cardinals a lot to work with. His fastball can sit in the low to mid 90's and get up to 98 at its best, coming in with plenty of running life to keep it off barrels. He also adds a big curveball with deep bite in the mid 70's, but it can pop out of his hand at times and could use more consistency. The Fort Worth-area native closes out his arsenal with a hard changeup in the upper 80's with arm side fade, and he likes to use it low and away against left handed hitters. Holding Winquest back for now is command, as he rushes his delivery late and has struggled to find a balance between throwing strikes and keeping the ball off the middle of the plate. He's likely better suited in a bullpen role, especially in a deep Cardinals system that includes plenty of polished, innings-eating starter types.
12-367: SS Michael Curialle, UCLA. My rank: unranked.
Slot value: up to $125,000. Signing bonus: $150,000 ($25,000 against bonus pool).
Michael Curialle, like his teammate and fellow Cardinals draftee Max Rajcic, was a well known prospect out of the Orange County private school ranks, but reached campus at UCLA. Unlike Rajcic, he's been more good than great in Westwood, though he shook off a slow start in 2022 and was red hot when the Bruins were knocked out of the Auburn Regional, finishing the season with a .319/.395/.479 slash line, five home runs, and a 58/21 strikeout to walk ratio over 58 games. He takes healthy, uppercut hacks from the right side that help him put balls deep into the gap and occasionally over the fence, though he also swings and misses at a decent clip and when he's cold, such as early this season, he doesn't have enough power to make up for the strikeouts (21.2% rate in 2022). It's a bit of a tweener offensive profile in that the swing and miss isn't egregious and the power is solid, but he'll need to take a step forward in one or the other to make an impact. Defensively, he's played all over the diamond at UCLA and shows good actions on the infield, though he's not quite explosive enough to handle shortstop and probably fits better at second or third base. The Cardinals are buying into the track record of hitting (career .306/.380/.455 hitter at UCLA with strong showings in high school as well) and defensive versatility, and the fact that he was one of the toughest outs in the Pac-12 from mid-April onwards certainly makes everything look better. Through four games at Low A Palm Beach, Curialle is slashing .250/.333/.250 with one strikeout and one walk.
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