St. Louis Cardinals: Three 2020 draft picks slot into Pipeline’s top 10

MLB Pipeline released their top 30 St. Louis Cardinals prospects for the 2021 season. Among the top 10 are three 2020 draft picks.

As St. Louis Cardinals’ spring training continues to ramp up, prospect ranking season is coming to a close. The big three prospect sites (Baseball America, MLB Pipeline, and Baseball Prospectus) have all given their top 100s and now are moving to individual team lists.

The most recent team list to come out was MLB Pipeline’s top 30 for the Cardinals. This list was done by William Boor and doesn’t feature surprises in the top half of the top 10.

Dylan Carlson (still a rookie) is the unchallenged number one, with Matthew Liberatore, Nolan Gorman, Ivan Herrera, and Zack Thompson following in the top five. Look at any top prospects list for the Cardinals and these five (at least the top four) will be there in a similar order.

The back half of the top 10 is where things get interesting. From 2020 alone, there are three picks in the top 10. The team’s second pick, Masyn Winn slots in at 6th, first-round pick Jordan Walker is 7th, and the third pick, Tink Hence, is 9th.

Winn is still listed as a shortstop and right-handed pitcher, a tag he’ll try to keep as long as possible. Walker is a big power bat and that will be the tool that carries the tall third baseman. Hence is raw, but has a high-velocity fastball already with a good slider too.

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The fun thing here is that all of these picks were high schoolers. That does mean there is more volatility there as far as where these three could end up, but being ranked in the top 10 is a heck of a start.

All three were invited to the St. Louis Cardinals’ alternate site in 2020, but that is the only playing time they’ve gotten outside of their high school seasons that were likely cut short. The most likely starting point for all three of these players will be

Along with the list, Boor ranked top tools in the Cardinals system. Top prospect Dylan Carlson took home best power and best defense, but the team’s top three draft picks from 2020 were all sprinkled into the top tools already.

It remains to be seen how a year of no competition really has changed things for minor leaguers, but at least the team’s top picks were still able to compete against each other at the satellite camp.

By the only way we can judge so far, the 2020 draft was a slam dunk for Randy Flores. That could change down the line, but anytime the top picks (especially when they are high school draftees) slide right into the team’s top 10, that is a good sign.