St. Louis Cardinals Baby Birds: Three players that will debut this year

Tommy Edman was drafted by the St. Louis Cardinals all the way in the 6th round of the 2016 MLB draft out of Stanford and is the next player in line to fill the “brainiac Cardinal” role, even if he isn’t destined to be a starter.

The switch-hitting Edman has proven at every level he’s been at that he can hit. After finishing the 2016 year at the State College level, Edman moved all the way from Low-A Peoria to AA Springfield all in 2017 and while he didn’t slug by any means, he held his own enough for to give the Cardinals hope they weren’t pushing him too hard.

Able to play any infield spot except for first base, for the most part, he isn’t going to wow anyone with his glove but is solid enough to fill in there. At this point, Edman is already outplaying where most 6th round draft picks are and he has really begun to carve out a track to fall into the role of good ole’ Daniel Descalsco or Skip Schumaker.

Currently playing at AAA, Edman is batting .333 with a .929 OPS and is proving that he is ready for the next step. While he may be overplaying his potential some at the moment, it’s great to see him playing with confidence at 24-years-old.

The biggest problem for Edman now is the existence of both Yairo Munoz and Jedd Gyorko filling his role at the Major League level. However, if either of these players gets hurt, it would make a lot of sense to see Edman make his debut in their spot. If he doesn’t get the chance before September, he would have to be a member of the group that is called up when rosters expand.