St. Louis Cardinals’ 2016 Top Prospects: #5 Edmundo Sosa

Now that we enter into the top five St. Louis Cardinals’ prospects, we have entered into a new realm of talent. This starts with this top shortstop.

These next five St. Louis Cardinals prospects are the cream of the crop, the ones that are well on their way to becoming household names soon. Our first is another talented Latin prospect who has shot up the charts since his signing, and continues to impress as he moves through the Cardinals’ system.

Edmundo Sosa is a shortstop that could very well finally give the Cardinals the their first homegrown impact player at the position since Terry Pendleton. Sosa was signed by the Cardinals out of Panama in the exciting international signing class of 2013 and has burst into the Cardinals’ system as the best shortstop in the system.

So, what’s so good about the Panamanian short stop?

#5 Edmundo Sosa SS

Season Stats: 

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table

Scout Grade:  Hit: 50 | Power: 35 | Run: 60 | Arm: 50 | Field: 55 | Overall: 50*

Analysis: I really really like Sosa. By all accounts he is a strong shortstop with good defensive abilities and a good live bat. Before this year, there wasn’t many people thinking that he would shave much power due to his small frame. However, as you can see he knocked seven homers in 49 games this past season and was good for a 137 wRC+ with short season club Johnson City. 

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In his piece on the two best shortstops in the organization (Mercado and Sosa), Red Baron mentioned this about Sosa’s ability “There’s real extra-base power here, I think, and a capacity to play the shortstop position at what looks like a high level to me. The arm and range are both above-average, and he’s capable of hitting the ball hard to all fields with a real idea of what he wants to do at the plate.”

Sosa is close behind the abilities of another top five prospect whom we will be covering soon in Magneuris Sierra. In comparing the two Brian Walton had this to say, “…facing the same pitching, Sosa reached base at essentially the same rate as Sierra, but demonstrated substantially more thump in his bat. That is especially exciting coming from a shortstop.”

This is interesting because before this year, many said Sosa wouldn’t develop much power. However, most have believed that Sierra would eventually develop average to above average power. I really like Sosa, and think that the Cardinals got themselves a stud here, and he’s got many in his camp.

He mad it third on Viva El Birdos top prospect list, where Red Baron said “I think he possesses the highest ceiling of any positional talent in the Cardinal system right now.” This is really high praise for Sosa, in an organization that may not be as loaded as it once was, it still has some high ceiling guys.

Sosa’s abilities are unrivaled in this organization, as there is not another shortstop in the organization with the offensive and defensive ability combo that Sosa has. He will be a fun prospect to keep an eye on over the next few years, and it will probably be a few years until we see him come close to making the big leagues, but in the meantime Aledmys Diaz and Jhonny Peralta will be a nice fill in until the kid is ready.

Next: Cardinals' 2016 Top Prospects: #6 Nick Plummer

Roster Prediction: A Peoria

There were thoughts that Sosa would have been in Peoria in 2015 after being called up there in 2014, but he ended up being in Johnson City last year. However, in 2016 he is absolutely ready for Peoria and his first taste of full season ball. Sosa is absolutely going to be a player to watch this year, and one that I will have a close eye on for sure. As I have mentioned before, Peoria is going to be fun to watch.

If you have missed any of our “Top Prospects” series, you can check them out here.

Scout Grade via MLB.com