St. Louis Cardinals MLB Draft Preview: Heston Kjerstad

The 2020 MLB Draft is approaching quickly, but since there is a lack of MLB Draft coverage among the St. Louis Cardinals world, Redbird Rants will keep the fans informed about who the Cardinals should draft. This week, let’s look at an outfielder.

In the two most recent MLB Draft Prospect Reports, we have looked at SEC pitchers; and even though pitcher is arguably our biggest needs, there is a stud outfielder in the SEC who could somehow fall to the St. Louis Cardinals at the 21st pick.

For the past two seasons at the University of Arkansas, Heston Kjerstad has cemented himself as one of the best players in all of college baseball as well as a surefire first-round pick in the upcoming MLB Draft. He has been a huge contributor on an Arkansas team coming off back-to-back College World Series appearances.

In 2017, Heston Kjerstad was drafted by the Minnesota Twins out of high school in the 36th round, but Kjerstad decided to take his talents to Arkansas and show that he can hang with SEC pitching to get better draft positioning.

In 2018, Kjerstad hit .332/.419/.553 as a freshman, which is very impressive considering the fact that he was playing in the best conference in all of college baseball. The following season Kjerstad had similar splits but his power went up as he hit more home runs in fewer games. He has made multiple All-SEC teams and keeps proving why he’s one of the most underrated players in this year’s class.

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Kjerstad is currently off to a blazing start on the 2020 season, hitting .424/.485/.814 with six homers and 20 RBIs. The 21-year-old is quickly rising up draft boards but could potentially take a fall due to the teams ahead of St. Louis desperately needing pitching.

With Kjerstad’s game, his biggest strength is his ability to hit for power, as MLB Pipeline has him graded at 60 in that category. He has a good frame standing at 6’3 and weighing about 205 lbs and could potentially be a corner outfielder at the major league level as he lacks plus speed and a highly graded outfield arm.

Kjerstad is also a left-handed bat and with a Cardinals system that has a ton of right-handed hitters, he could make his way to the Majors quicker than most because of that. MLB Pipeline even says he is the second-best lefty bat in this draft behind potential first-overall selection Spencer Torkelson out of Arizona State.

Kjerstad has been one of my favorite prospects in this draft for a long time and a player that I really hope can fall to St. Louis because he is going to rise through the farm system quickly and be an impact player in the Majors for whatever team he lands with.