15 worst draft picks in Cardinals history

The MLB Amateur Draft will begin on July 13 as a part of All-Star week, and the St. Louis Cardinals are scheduled to pick fifth, thanks to some phenomenal luck during the draft lottery. While a top-five slot is a dream for any team, it does not guarantee that the player selected will be successful at the MLB level.

The Cardinals have seen their fair share of failed draft picks, and here is a look at the 15 worst picks they have made. You will notice that these players were all selected in the first two rounds of the draft, since players selected so high are expected to have some type of success. While compiling this list, I took into account their draft slot, pre-draft hype, prospect rankings, and other names that were available to be selected when it was the Cardinals' turn.

The 15 worst draft picks made by the St. Louis Cardinals unfortunately sees plenty of familiar names

1984 - Mike Dunne (7th overall)

The Cardinals made Dunne the 7th overall pick from Bradley University after a nice college career that also saw Dunne pitch for the United States in the 1984 Olympics. In two seasons with the organization, Dunne went 13-21 between Double-A and Triple-A before being sent to Pittsburgh in a deal that brought back Tony Pena.

Dunne ended up spending five seasons in the majors, putting up a 25-30 record with a 4.08 ERA, while Pena had a decent yet underwhelming three-season run with the Cardinals.

1989 - Paul Coleman (6th overall)

Coleman was selected out of Frankston High School in Texas, and the outfielder was selected one pick ahead of Frank Thomas and chosen before other All-Stars Mo Vaughn and Chuck Knoblauch.

Coleman's career with the Cardinals organization spanned four seasons and was a massive disappointment, as he hit .225 with 19 homers in over 1,100 at-bats. After three years away from baseball, he returned to independent ball for one season where he hit .334 with nine homers for the Abilene Prairie Dogs of the defunct Texas-Louisiana League.

1990 - Aaron Holbert (18th overall)

Aaron Holbert was selected out of Jordan High School in the first round of the 1990 draft as the Cardinals were looking for a shortstop to take the place of an aging Ozzie Smith. The organization took a chance on the glove-first prep player who was viewed as a near-lock to become a Major League regular at some point after some development in the minors. His high school coach even said that he "would be really surprised if Aaron didn't make it."

His high school coach must be surprised, then, because even though Holbert eventually made his Major League debut in 1996, his MLB career lasted a total of 23 games, and only one of those games was with the Cardinals.

1995 - Chris Haas (29th overall)

Another high schooler, Chris Haas, was selected in the first round of of Paducah, Kentucky, and actually put together a solid minor league career during his first few years of pro ball. He reached Triple-A in the 1999 and 2000 seasons but struggled before ending up with the Cubs organization in 2001.

Haas then bounced around between Atlanta, Texas, and Cincinnati before ending his career in 2003 without receiving the call to the bigs.

2000 - Shaun Boyd (13th overall)

Second baseman Shaun Boyd was selected 13th overall out of Vista High School and looked like a scrappy middle infielder who could grind his way to the majors. In the 2002 season, Boyd looked ready for the next level when he hit .313 with 12 homers and 60 RBIs and put up an .850 OPS in Single-A. The Cardinals promoted Boyd, but the upper levels were too much for the infielder.

In Triple-A, Boyd hit .188 before moving on to the Phillies organization, where he finished his affiliated career in 2007. He played independent ball until 2008 and hit well, but never received another call. To make matters worse, Chase Utley was selected two spots after Boyd.

2005 - Tyler Greene (30th overall)

After being selected in the second round of the 2002 draft, infielder Tyler Greene took the chance to improve his stock and attended Georgia Institute of Technology. The gamble paid off, as the Cardinals selected him 30th overall in the 2005 draft, hoping they had finally ended the revolving door at the shortstop position.

Greene put together a solid resume in the minors, hitting double-digit homers three times while stealing 20 or more bases in each of those seasons. He received a 48-game promotion in 2009 but hit .222 with 32 strikeouts and turned into a utility infielder after not being able to adjust at the plate. He bounced around to Houston, Atlanta, San Diego, and the Chicago White Sox before hanging up his cleats in 2014.

2007 - Clayton Mortensen (36th overall)

Mortensen was selected in the supplemental round of the 2007 draft and never really found his footing with the Cardinals in his two years with the organization. He was named the team's sixth-best prospect in 2009, and that was enough to see him included as part of the deal that brought in Matt Holliday from the Athletics.

The righty did spend parts of five seasons in the majors but finished with a 6-11 record and a 4.68 ERA, working mostly as a reliever. Mortensen is now an assistant pitching coach for the Royals' High-A affiliate.

2008 - Brett Wallace (13th overall)

After losing Scott Rolen and Troy Glaus, the Cardinals attempted to revamp their third base depth by selecting Wallace in the first round of the 2008 draft. Coming out of Arizona State, Wallace was seen as a future star after winning the Triple Crown sophomore year, then being named Pac-10 Player of the Year as a junior, and was looked at as "the best pure college hitter in the draft."

After Wallace was ranked 40th by Baseball America on their preseason prospect board, the Cardinals took a chance and shipped Wallace to Oakland as the centerpiece to acquire Matt Holliday. Wallace would then be dealt twice more before making his debut with the Astros in 2010, but he never lived up to his pre-draft pedigree, with a .238 batting average and 40 homers in parts of six major league seasons.

2010 - Zack Cox (25th overall)

After dealing Wallace the year prior, the Cardinals again dipped into the third base market and selected Zack Cox 25th overall out of Arkansas, where he set records for hits and batting average. When he was selected, the Cardinals passed on names like Andrelton Simmons and Jacob deGrom but saw him as the answer at third base.

While he progressed through the minor leagues, Cox maxed out as the 62nd-best prospect and appeared ready for a promotion after a strong 2011 season, when he hit .306 with 13 homers. The Cardinals felt his development stalled in 2012, however, and dealt him for Edward Mujica, who had a solid couple of seasons for the Cardinals.

2010 - Tyrell Jenkins (50th overall)

The Cardinals reached for prep prospect Tyrell Jenkins in the 2010 draft and offered him a $1.3 million signing bonus to forgo the opportunity to play both baseball and football at Baylor University. He made the top prospect list in 2012 after putting together a solid season in rookie ball the year prior, but he stalled out at high-A for the Cardinals.

His draft pedigree was enough to have him be included with Shelby Miller in the 2014 trade that brought Jason Heyward and Jordan Walden to St. Louis from Atlanta. Jenkins would finally make his major league debut in 2016 when he appeared in 14 games for the Braves, going 2-4 with a 5.88 ERA.

2012 - James Ramsey (23rd overall)

The Cardinals selected Ramsey in the first round of the 2012 draft after he put together a nice career at Florida State. The Twins selected the outfielder after a strong junior year, but Ramsey chose to return to FSU to increase his draft slot, which he did with a season that named him ABCA Co-Player of the Year and ACC Player of the Year, and he was a unanimous First Team All-American.

He had a strong two seasons with the Cardinals organization and was named to the Futures Game in 2014, but was traded shortly after for pitcher Justin Masterson. Ramsey would spend the next four seasons bouncing around the league, but he never made it past Triple-A.

2015 - Nick Plummer (23rd overall)

The Cardinals continued taking chances on prep prospects in 2015 when they chose outfielder Nick Plummer 23rd overall, rather than selecting names like Walker Buehler and Austin Riley.

Plummer immediately struggled in the pros, not hitting above .228 until the 2021 season, when he finally made it up to Triple-A at the age of 24. When his time with the organization ran its course, he went to the Mets and finally made the majors in 2022, but hit .138 in 14 games and has not played professionally since.

2016 - Delvin Perez (23rd overall)

Shortstop Delvin Perez was on plenty of teams' prospect lists at a young age, and when the time came for the 2016 draft, the Puerto Rican was seen as a top prospect. However, on the first day of the draft, Perez failed a PED test, which contributed to his slipping down to the 23rd slot when the Cardinals selected him.

He was not the steal that the Cardinals had hoped for, especially since they passed on names like Pete Alonso and Bo Bichette. He was a career .247 hitter in the minors and is now playing for the Milwaukee Milkmen in the independent American Association.

2016 - Dylan Carlson (33rd overall)

One of the more household names on the list, the Cardinals selected switch-hitting prospect Dylan Carlson out of high school in the 2016 draft. At the time, Carlson was not even a Top 200 draft prospect, but the Cardinals still took a chance on Carlson and signed him away from Cal State Fullerton.

Even without the pre-draft pedigree, Carlson made his way up the top prospects list and was named a top-10 prospect in all of baseball in 2020 and 2021. He had a strong 2021 season and finished third in the Rookie of the Year voting, but he has been on a downward trajectory since then. He looked ready to claim a starting spot in the Cardinal outfield last season, but was injured in the last Spring Training game and never returned to form. Carlson was traded to the Rays for reliever Shawn Armstrong and is now playing for the Baltimore Orioles, but is 0-for-15 with eight strikeouts in 10 games. As a Dylan Carlson "shirsey" owner, this one hurts.

2019 - Zack Thompson (19th overall)

Selected one pick before George Kirby and a handful of picks ahead of Michael Toglia, Anthony Volpe, and Michael Busch, the Cardinals looked to take a safe route by selecting lefty Zack Thompson out of Kentucky after a stellar junior year.

Thompson's development was delayed thanks to the cancellation of the 2020 minor league season, but he was pushed to Triple-A the following year and struggled to a 2-10 record with a 7.06 ERA and 57 walks in 93 innings. He played in the Arizona Fall League and rebuilt his stock with a solid performance, but again failed to find his command the following seasons when he made his MLB debut in 2022. In parts of three big league seasons, Thompson is 6-10 with a 4.50 ERA but has missed time with arm injuries, including this season, where he is on the 60-day injured list with a shoulder strain.