St. Louis Cardinals: Get to know the Cardinals top picks

The long wait to see the St. Louis Cardinals actually involved in the MLB draft finally came to an end this afternoon as the Cardinals got to make their first selection in the third round.

After having to sit out the first round of the draft on Monday night, the St. Louis Cardinals are finally on the board. The Cardinals did not have a pick in the first few rounds for a couple of reasons.

First, being that signing Dexter Fowler meant that the Cubs took the rights to the Cardinals first pick. The second reason is the hacking scandal that was a cloud over Cardinal Nation for months. The scandal cost the Cardinals their next two picks which were yielded to the Astros.

With the 94^th pick of the 2017 draft and the Cardinals first selection, the Redbirds picked Scott Hurst, OF, out of Cal-State Fullerton. Hurst, a junior, led Cal-State Fullerton in most of its batting categories. That included, but was not limited to home runs, RBIs, and average.

Hurst suffered a few injuries in his career, which delayed his development and may have hurt his draft stock. In his freshmen season, Hurst missed a total of twenty-three games with a back injury. In 2016, Hurst failed to impress again, posting a .215 average with no home runs.

2017 was a breakout season for Hurst, while helping lead Cal-State Fullerton to a 39-22. Hurst batted .332, with twelve home runs and thirty-nine RBIs. The success he has seen in 2017, was clearly enough for the Cardinals to take a shot on the junior outfielder.

The risk for the Cardinals is that Hurst could decide to return to school for his senior season, in an attempt to show his numbers are real and raise his draft stock. If Hurst does sign, he will be added to a stable of outfielders the Cardinals currently have in their farm system.

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Cardinal fans who are interested in seeing Hurst play can still get that chance. Hurst and his Cal-State Fullerton teammates will be playing in the College Baseball World Series. Hurst and the Titans will face off against Oregon on Saturday at noon.

With their second pick of the day (4^th round), the St. Louis Cardinals plucked a shortstop from the SEC. Kramer Robertson, a senior at Louisiana State University was added to the Cardinals draft board after a very successful final season. Robertson posted a .319 average with eight home runs and forty-three RBIs.

Robinson led his LSU teammates in doubles, runs, and hits. Quite the feat on a powerhouse team that went 48-17 on the year. For the Cardinals, Robertson is a safe pick, he shouldn’t cost a lot and there is no risk of him going back to school. The Cardinals will hope Robertson will be able to stick at shortstop but a position change may be in order.

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Robertson, much like Hurst, finds himself in Omaha with his teammates at the College Baseball World Series. The LSU Tigers will face off against Florida State on Saturday at 7 pm. If things go well for both Cal-State Fullerton and LSU, Cardinal fans could find themselves watching both Robertson and Hurst facing off on Monday.