St. Louis Cardinals: MLB Draft Preview Part 1

#2 SP Logan Shore 6’2″ 215 lbs

Age: 21

Hits/Throws: R/R

School: University of Florida

Scout Grades:  FB: 50/55 | SL: 45/50+ | CH 55/60+ | Command 45/50+

What do we know:

Of all of the college arms that will be available around the time of the Cardinals’ first round selection, Logan Shore is absolutely the most polished arm. Shore has something that not many young pitchers have and that is a repeatable delivery. His delivery is almost like Stephen Strasburg’s but with more snap to it.

Shore is a guy who doesn’t rely on the best of stuff, but much like current Cardinals’ top prospect Jack Flaherty, Shore possesses excellent command for a guy his age. This will absolutely help him work his way through the farm system of the team in which he is drafted.

Shore is a guy who routinely sits in the 91-93 MPH range with his fastball while occasionally touching 94. Looking at his release and his frame, it is not crazy to eventually see him get to the 94-96 range consistently. Along with this, Shore has an absolutely world-beating changeup that Red Baron says is “among the very best single offerings, period”.

As Red Baron mentions, Shore is very much similar to Michael Wacha and Marco Gonzales — in that he is a polished college arm with a repertoire of a good fastball/changeup but with average breaking pitches.

Shore is absolutely a polished pitcher, but he is going to need to refine his breaking pitches to at all effective at the major league level. Minor League Ball does mention that he has improved his slider this season as it was a fairly ineffective pitch his first two years at Florida.

Overall, Shore has been very effective at Florida. According to Baseball Cube, He has established a 26-10 record with a 2.45 ERA, 1.05 WHIP, and a 7.17 K/9. However, if there was one number that has me concerned, it is his H/9. His career number as a Gator has been 7.70, and it is something that has decreased with each season. Compared to his teammate A.J. Puk, who has a 6.82 in his Florida career.

This isn’t a great concern, but it is something that relates to Shore’s lack of  “dynamite stuff”.

Overall, I really like Shore and if the Cardinals go with a college pitcher here (I don’t want them to), this is the guy to get if he is available at pick #23.

Next: Alex Kirilloff