St. Louis Cardinals: End of Season Draft Recap Part Four

The St. Louis Cardinals had quite the successful draft, were there some potential steals in the later rounds that could be players at the major league level?

Hello and welcome back to the St. Louis Cardinals‘ “End of Season Draft Recap” series. I have been a little busy with our “Top Prospects” series last month and the historical series in December, that I have unfortunately been unable to continue looking at the 2015 Draft. It is a new month and I have a clean slate, so it is time to continue this series.

So, today we are going to take a look at the five players the Cardinals selected from rounds 17-24. You might be thinking, “Wait five players from 17-24? That doesn’t add up…” you would be correct, but this is due to the Cardinals unfortunately being unable to sign their 18th, 21st, and 23rd picks in Josh Rolette, Caidyn Greiner, and Gio Brusa. So, let’s get to the players they did manage to sign.

17th Round: Chris Chinea C

As I predicted the Cardinals tried their hand at drafting catchers to help the organization out with Yadier Molina on his way out the door in a few years. One of those catchers was Chris Chinea. Chinea was a junior out of LSU, who was primarily a first basemen for the Tigers.

Chinea hit the ground running when he was assigned with Johnson City, as he finished the season with a slash of .313/.356/.506, while slugging six homers and 11 doubles. Chinea is a strong hitter who in my opinion has the chance to at least be a backup catcher in the league if his defense at the catching position is sound. His added versatility at first will help him advance through the system if his bat continues to play as sound as it did.

You can’t discount Chinea’s ability to hit at Johnson City and praise top prospects Edmundo Sosa and Magneuris Sierra in the same breath, so it will be interesting to see how Chinea’s bat plays as he moves up through the system. He will get the shot to start the season at Peoria and I don’t see why he couldn’t see a promotion to AA Springfield at some point in the season if he continues to hit, as he is a bit more advanced coming from an SEC school in LSU.

Chinea will be at the Cardinals MLB Spring Training as a non roster invitee.

19th Round: Ryan McCarvel C

Sticking with the catching theme the Cardinals selected Ryan McCarvel out of Howard College. Unlike Chinea, McCarvel is a bit more raw coming from a school like Howard, unlike a D1 powerhouse like LSU. McCarvel is a bit more athletically built than Chinea as well, standing in at 6’3″ 200 lbs. This lead to McCarvel splitting the games with Chinea at first and catcher.

McCarvel had similar success to Chinea, but was oddly sent down to the Gulf Coast team for a five game stretch, this was after a good start of hitting .282 and totaling a 120 wRC+ in 25 games, in the GCL McCarvel totaled just three singles in his five games there. His overall Johnson City numbers netted him a slash of .282/.329/.474, with a 117 wRC+, and 17 extra base-hits (10 doubles, four homers, two triples) in 40 games.

What I like about him is the athletic build, which could lean him to playing multiple positions. This will be necessary, as he is working against his teammate Chinea for time at the catching position, as they both likely advance to Peoria. Although, if Chinea is sent to Springfield at any time next season, we could see him take over catching duties for Peoria. Moving forward, they could separate the two by moving one on to Palm Beach and the other on to Springfield.

Next: Rounds 20-24