St. Louis Cardinals 2016 Top Prospects: #25 Allen Cordoba

The St. Louis Cardinals seem to be shoring up their lack of depth at shortstop and Cordoba is just the start.

Happy Friday, St.Louis Cardinals’ fans! Today we get to another top prospect in our Top Prospects series. Every year for the past few years the Cardinals have been addressing the issue of infield depth within the organization, and Allen Cordoba is an example of that.

Cordoba profiles as a middle infielder with some decent contact skills, and is a prospect who wasn’t on many lists before this year. He was signed in 2013 for a mere signing bonus of $7,500 out of Panama, representing the Cardinals recent push for players from that area.

#25 Allen Cordoba SS/3B

Season Stats:

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table

Scout Grade: No Scout Grade available.

Analysis: Córdoba is an intriguing prospect for the Cardinals. After a couple of years in the GCL and the DSL, he wasn’t that impressing, but Cordoba took off this year hitting .342 and winning the batting title and MVP in the GCL. He mostly played third base for GCL last year as fellow Top 30 prospect Edmundo Sosa was the SS, but he got his chance at short this season.

John Manuel in his chat on the Cardinals’ top prospects mentioned that Cordoba has some questions about his ability to continue to perform the way he has with the bat saying, “Cordoba’s swing can get a bit long, he has some doubters on his bat long-term”

However, the Cardinals are high on Cordoba, especially after his solid season in the GCL, which gave the Cardinals back to back MVPs after Magneuris Sierra stood out last season.

In TCN’s article on the prospect, the St. Louis Cardinals’ Director of Player Development Gary LaRocque had this to say about Cordoba “his instincts for the game are good. It was a real compliment to be acknowledged as the MVP in this league.” LaRocque also had good things to say about his defense, saying that “He’s got good reactions, good range. He’s got very good instincts for a young player.”

Overall, Cordoba seems like a pretty good player right now, but time will tell how he progresses. Despite the doubters and concerns on him, I think he will be a player to watch. He’s not the flashy kind of a player like a Sierra or Sosa, but he’s one to keep an eye on for the future.

Roster Prediction: A Johnson City

Even though he has spent two years in the GCL, I fully expect him to follow th the same path that Sosa is on. With Sosa likely making the jump to Peoria, it makes sense to keep Cordoba a level behind him. Especially when you take into consideration how the last GCL MVP did at Class A Peoria last season.

Next: Cardinals' 2016 Top Prospects: #26 Corey Littrell

Stay tuned as #24 will be coming out later today.