St. Louis Cardinals: The Best Draft Pick For Each Year Since 2010

Luke Weaver, Right Handed Pitcher

The 2014 draft brought in a lot of solid pitching for the St. Louis Cardinals.  Between Weaver, Jack Flaherty, and Austin Gomber,it was difficult to decide.  But when a player is the 27th overall pick of the draft, and the number two prospect in the organization, it is hard to argue against that.

With Flaherty as the number four prospect and Gomber as the number 18 prospect, this draft could be the cornerstone of the future.

Many look at the fact that Luke Weaver fell to the Cardinals in the draft as a true gift.  His velocity dropped during his junior year at Florida State, which is what caused the slide.  As he started his careers, the velocity came back, and now sits in the mid 90s.  He also features a nice changeup.  Both pitches are graded as well above average.

Weaver is the only player so far from his draft class to make it to St. Louis.  He was called up last year, and pitched in nine games and starting eight of them.  He had a record of 1-4 and an ERA of 5.70, but as of right now he is ranked as the number eight-one prospect in baseball.  With everything scouts see in him, fans need to be confident that he will turn it around given more time.

He will turn twenty-four in August, so there is little worry that Weaver will turn out to have a good career.  After all through 197.2 innings in the minors, he had an ERA of 1.78.  With that kind of production it is hard to see his career not panning out as many think it will.

In order to find more success as a starter, Weaver will need to develop a third pitch.  He has good velocity on his fastball and great arm action on his changeup, but he hasn’t found confidence in a third pitch yet.

Living and dying by two pitches will work for him as a bullpen pitcher, but as a starter it will be important to further develop his curveball and/or slider into a pitch he can throw more than ten percent of the time.

This draft provided two of the top four prospects in the St. Louis Cardinals organization.  Added with top prospect Alex Reyes, the future for the pitching staff looks bright.  As far as the 2014 draft goes, Weaver has the highest upside potential and output so far.