St. Louis Cardinals: Taking a look at 2020 RHP J.T. Ginn

Though the 2020 MLB Draft isn’t until June, it’s never too early to get a head start and figure out which prospects are right for the St. Louis Cardinals.

When the St. Louis Cardinals won the NL Central title on the last day of the 2019 regular season, they would also be locked into the 21st selection of the 2020 MLB Draft. Which is crazy because they will be picking higher than the Cleveland Indians who ultimately missed the playoffs, while the Cardinals made it to the NLCS.

Though the players selected in the annual MLB Draft might not make an instant impact like the NFL and NBA, these drafts are still huge for adding depth in the organization as well as building for the future of the franchise.

Over the next few months, Redbird Rants will do their best to keep the readers informed about the MLB Draft on June 10, 2020. As well as help them develop an opinion and get a taste on which prospects are legitimately good and which ones are getting overhyped.

The Cardinals did a great job of getting well-needed help in the pitching department over the offseason by trading for MLB’s #58 prospect Matthew Liberatore from the Tampa Bay Rays, but the depth in the farm system is still concerning and could lead them to select another pitcher for their system.

A sophomore right-hander from Mississippi State is expected to get a lot of love from MLB Draft scouts after an excellent freshman season where he compiled an 8-4 record with a 3.13 ERA and 105 Ks over 17 starts. Those 105 Ks were good for top ten in the SEC, which is the best conference in college baseball and is also very impressive for a freshman.

That wasn’t his only accolade though, he earned the SEC Freshman of the Year Award and even won Co-Freshman National Pitcher of the Year from Collegiate Baseball. He was also named Freshman All-American by many national outlets.

Though Ginn might be slightly undersized as a pitcher, he still has a deep repertoire and a blazing fastball that sits at 96 miles per hour. He has a great slider that can easily get hitters to bite and his high-velo sinker is also very effective. He also has great command and did a solid job of limiting walks in 2019, finishing third in the SEC in K/BB ratio.

In this College World Series showdown against the runner-up Louisville Cardinals, he pitched an absolute gem, tossing six shutout innings and limiting only three hits, but would, unfortunately, be squandered by a late-inning rally by Louisville by the Mississippi State bullpen in a season-ending loss.

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During the 2018 MLB Draft, J.T. Ginn was selected by the Los Angeles Dodgers with the 30th pick. Ginn shocked many though by forgoing a huge contract and enrolling at Mississippi State. This move could pay off for him as he is already shooting up draft boards.

John Mozeliak has already gambled on a Mississippi State player when he selected Dakota Hudson in the 2016 MLB Draft, and Hudson graduated as a Top 100 prospect via MLB Pipeline and is coming off a very solid rookie season, one in which he finished fifth in the NL Rookie of the Year race.

Usually, sophomores enrolled at four-year universities aren’t eligible for the MLB Draft, but since J.T. Ginn will turn 21 less than 20 days before the Draft, he will be able to squeak in as a prospect and hopefully hear his name called in the first round.

Ginn might still need a little room to develop as a pitcher, but he is a potential star in the making that could very well fall to St. Louis due to how stacked the pitchers are in the 2020 Draft class. He has the makings to be a 2/3 in an MLB rotation and it should be exciting to see how his sophomore season plays out.