2025 MLB draft is proving that Cardinals fans are in for a treat with Chaim Bloom

Chaim Bloom may have been exactly what the doctor ordered to fix the St. Louis Cardinals' broken draft-and-develop model. After Day 1 of the MLB draft saw the Cardinals draft fireballers Liam Doyle and Tanner Franklin and power hitters Ryan Mitchell and Jack Gurevitch, there is no doubt that the Cardinals' draft philosophy has undergone a seismic shift under the incoming president of baseball operations.

Cardinals fans will love what Bloom brings to the table in his drafts.

Over the past several seasons, the Cardinals valued polished college pitchers at the top of the draft, those who were likely to fit in the rotation but serve as back-end starters. They generally threw fastballs with sink and ho-hum velocity that would elicit ground balls. But as the league banned the shift and strikeouts became the name of the game, the Cardinals found themselves stranded with pitchers who didn't fit the modern iteration of baseball.

With the two pitchers they grabbed on the first day of the draft, the Cardinals appear to finally be turning a corner with the types of hurlers they're selecting. The Cardinals are now snapping up pitchers who throw gas but may need to hone their secondary stuff, which is almost a 180-degree turn from their previous strategy. Fans should be ecstatic about this shift.

On the hitting side, the Cardinals look to be shooting for the moon, just as they did in the first round of the 2020 draft when they snagged Jordan Walker, a raw power bat who later tore up the minor leagues and provided a solid rookie campaign in St. Louis before the Cardinals messed with his swing and potentially irreparably damaged him. With the new development team in place, there is hope that Mitchell and Gurevitch can flourish at the highest level and provide the homegrown thump in the middle of the order that the Cardinals have lacked for so long.

MLB insider Keith Law mentioned in an article for The Athletic (subscription required) that based on their top two picks, the Cardinals had his favorite group of players selected on Day 1, and if Bloom's history at the helm of the Boston Red Sox is any indication, several of them could soon blossom into high-level prospects.

Under Bloom in 2022, the Red Sox drafted baseball's current consensus top prospect in outfielder Roman Anthony 79th overall, and the following year, they took another one of baseball's most highly touted youngsters in Kristian Campbell 132nd overall. Those picks alone show that Bloom is savvy enough to find gems beyond the first couple of rounds. For many Cardinals fans, John Mozeliak can't vacate his seat soon enough, and while the Bloom era may be fraught with some turbulence and criticism (whose isn't?), the drafts should be in good hands.

No longer will St. Louis fans be forced to wince at their team's constant preaching of "pitch to contact." This is a new-look version of the Cardinals, and if Doyle and others pan out, they may be able to reclaim their familiar perch atop the NL Central.