Evaluating 4 of the St. Louis Cardinals' top prospects

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The St. Louis Cardinals have been using their farm system more than usual this season. In doing so, how have their prospects done in the majors?

Entering this season, the St. Louis Cardinals were a wild card. This team fluctuated from being the best team in the National League Central, potential World Series contender, with some feeling that they would miss the playoffs.

My thoughts on the matter before the season was that the Cardinals should’ve done more to give themselves a chance at the World Series. My reasoning, simply, is because the teams that you will have to beat — the Dodgers, Padres, Giants and Brewers — didn’t get worse. But of course, this was at the beginning of the season. Now I understand why they didn’t spend the money on some of the free agents.

Over the course of the past couple weeks, the Cardinals have promoted a few of top tier prospects. However, this season has been one for the ages as far as prospects being promoted. Between Jarred Kelenic, Julio Rodriguez, Spencer Torkelson, Adley Rutschman, C.J. Abrams and Royce Lewis, it’s been pretty crazy seeing all of these young guys making the jump to the big leagues.

The prospects that the Cardinals have promoted include Nolan Gorman (MLB.com’s No. 27 ranked prospect), LHP Matthew Liberatore (MLB.com’s No. 36 ranked prospect) and C Ivan Herrera (MLB.com’s No. 99 ranked prospect). And the craziest part of all of this is that it all happened in the matter of a week.

While the Cardinals currently have their Nos. 2, 3, 4 and 6 rated prospects all in the major leagues, it doesn’t mean much if they don’t stay up there since Liberatore and Herrera are up because of injuries. So what can they do to stay up long-term?

Juan Yepez and Nolan Gorman during the National Anthem. (Photo by Justin Berl/Getty Images) /

Analyzing the Prospects

The Cardinals have a lot of prospects on the cusp of making the Cardinals full-time roster, but that is all dependent on how they perform when giving the chance.

Juan Yepez

Juan Yepez was the first of the call-ups this season due to his remarkable start to the season in Memphis. For all the people that say the big leagues is a completely different story, that clearly isn’t the case for Yepez.

Since coming up to the big leagues, Yepez’s hot streak has continued. In fact, I’d argue that his bat, along with Paul Goldschmidt’s, has been what’s kept the Cardinals in many ballgames. But that’s still a huge testament to his game that his name is being thrown in the same conversation as a superstar like Goldschmidt.

Now, just to put a visual on it, here are some of his stats:

Games played: 18

Average: .304

Home runs: 4

Runs batted in: 7

Walk rate: 9.1%

Strikeout rate: 18.2%

WAR: 0.6

In order for him to stay on the major-league roster, he needs to keep doing what he’s doing.

Nolan Gorman

The St. Louis Cardinals top prospect, Nolan Gorman, gave the Cardinals a much-needed boost to the lineup. His left-handed bat, and willingness to play anywhere that will keep him up in the majors, makes him a huge asset to the Cardinals.

It’s one of the things that made Matt Carpenter such a beloved Cardinal for all those years. I’m hoping that Gorman continues that because if he does, this could be something incredibly special.

In Gorman’s limited games, he has done pretty well. I was skeptical about his call-up because of is very high strikeout rate in Memphis. However, in 16 plate apperances, Gorman has only struck out twice and has walked three times. He’s adapted since being called up, which is something that Mariners top prospect Jarred Kelenic has struggled to do.

For Gorman to stay up, the answer is to keep the strikeout rate low and keep it simple because everything he’s done so far is exactly what I hoped for him to be.

Matthew Liberatore

Liberatore, who was formerly a top prospect in the Tampa Bay Rays organization, has proven to show why he was such a highly touted prospect.

Liberatore really caught my eye during spring training last year when throwing his curveball. It reminded me a lot of Adam Wainwright’s back in the early 2010’s and looked like he was throwing a wiffle ball. It’s very impressive to watch.

He didn’t exactly dominate in his major-league debut against the Pittsburgh Pirates. However, his stats in the minors showed that he was in fact ready to be given a chance in the majors. I believe that he deserves it as well.

Liberatore has the stuff to be a top pitcher in this rotation alongside Jack Flaherty, Dakota Hudson and Adam Wainwright. I also believe that with the veteran help of Wainwright, he could really be an ace for this team moving forward.

With his first outing in the majors stemming from Steven Matz going to the IL, he will have to perform in his one, maybe two starts. Even then, he may not have a chance to stay up in the majors but if he performs, he could be the first player that they call up.

Brendan Donovan

I haven’t mentioned Brendan Donovan’s name in this article yet, but we definetly need to talk about what he’s done since getting called up earlier this year.

So far, Donovan has played in 23 games with the Cardinals and is not only playing well but playing great. He is currently slashing .340/.484/.520 with a home run and eight runs batted in in 64 plate apperances to this point.

Similar to Nolan Gorman, Donovan gives Marmol and the Cardinals organization some positional flexability. Donovan has played in the outfield and infield and has done pretty well in both.

Donovan is likely to compete with Gorman for the chance to stay up in the majors once O’Neill comes back, but at this point in time, they have both done incredibly well for the Cardinals in their limited playing time.

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Evaluating 4 of the St. Louis Cardinals’ top prospects