Keith Law ranks Four St. Louis Cardinals in ESPN Top 100 Prospects

In his annual top 100 prospects rankings for ESPN, ESPN senior baseball analyst Keith Law has ranked four St. Louis Cardinals prospects.

Those prospects ranked include Stephen Piscotty (62), Marco Gonzales (64), Alex Reyes (77), and Rob Kaminsky (87). One outfielder and three pitchers ranked in the top 100 isn’t bad at all for a St. Louis Cardinals organization that graduated many top prospects to the Major Leagues last year, including the late Oscar Taveras.

Law’s guidelines for what classifies a player as a prospect is the following:

"The rankings are limited to players who still have rookie eligibility; that means they have yet to exceed 130 at-bats or 50 innings pitched in the majors and have not yet spent 45 days on the active roster of a major league club, excluding call-ups during the roster expansion period after Sept. 1. That means Milwaukee Brewers infielder Luis Sardinas, for instance, is ineligible, based on his days on the 25-man roster."

If a player played in either Japan or Korea, they are not eligible under Law’s criteria.

The only other former Cardinals prospect, since traded, who made the list is pitcher Tyrell Jenkins (82).

On Piscotty:

"A former third baseman, Piscotty has taken well to right, with a plus arm and roughly average range. If the power doesn’t develop, he’ll still be a regular, likely the Cardinals’ right fielder of the future, and a player whose skill set St. Louis tends to value very highly. If the power comes, he will be a potential All-Star."

On Gonzales:

"He’s ready to pitch in a major league rotation now, assuming the Cardinals have a place for him, and I envision him having a long career as an average to slightly above-average starter, mostly under the radar until we all look up in 10 or 15 years and wonder how he did it."

On Reyes:

"Reyes already has the potential for the three pitches he’ll need as a starter, and he has shown he can miss bats. Learning to repeat his delivery better, maintaining his conditioning and eventually throwing more and better strikes are the key benchmarks to get him to be a No. 2 starter in the big leagues."

On Kaminsky:

"With that third pitch well on its way, Kaminsky needs primarily to work on command and control, but his 2014 was very promising for a 19-year-old from a cold-weather state pitching in full-season ball. I still see a future No. 3 starter here, one who’ll have a long career because hitters will always have a hard time picking up the ball out of his hand."

Law’s comments on the four Cardinals prospects can be found here.