4 Cardinals top prospects who should be untouchable during reset

The St. Louis Cardinals have started to see their past reputation as a draft-and-develop organization fall by the wayside in recent years. This falls from their seeming inability to turn top prospects into superstar Major League players or hold on to these prospects too long rather than trading them when their value is at its highest. The word "untouchable" is one that may be thrown around too often for prospects, but while the Cardinals work toward a youth movement, their crop of minor leaguers should have a place in the team's future roster configuration.

Prospect and draft reports always breed a level of excitement for fans of the organization, as names like Dylan Carlson, Alex Reyes, Carson Kelly, and Luke Weaver, just to name a select few, were seen as can't-miss prospects at times during their minor league careers. In each of those cases, the players either found success after the Cardinals pulled the plug on them too early or never found their footing at the major league level and lost all trade value in the process.

I'll admit that I have my own stash of Carlson, Nolan Gorman, Kolten Wong, and Colby Rasmus rookie cards that will probably not be worth the paper they are printed on, but they are still memorabilia that I will have a hard time parting with and would rather eat the sunk cost.

Tink Hence

Tink Hence has been a name to watch since the Cardinals drafted him 63rd overall in the truncated COVID draft of 2020, as they paid him over $1 million to convince him to forgo his commitment to his home state University of Arkansas. He immediately made an impact as an 18-year-old who stood at a lanky 6'1 and had a fluid motion that helped him top out at an easy 96 mph with his fastball.

The Cardinals have taken a cautious approach with the budding ace, but he has still managed to raise his stock across scouting boards. At the time of his selection, Hence was given a 45 future value grade on the 20-80 scouting scale, but that has since been bolstered to a 55 future value thanks to his ability to command the strike zone with four above-average pitches, including a changeup that has been graded as the best in the minor leagues.

While he has yet to throw 100 innings as a professional, Hence has been ranked on national top-100 prospect lists by various national outlets, including being ranked #38 by Baseball Prospectus, #39 by Keith Law, #68 by Baseball America, and #77 by MLB Pipeline. He also comes into the 2025 season ranked as the organization's #2 prospect via FanGraphs.

Hence's 2024 season was his best in terms of limiting runs and striking out opposing hitters as the 22-year-old put up a 2.71 ERA and a K/9 of 12.31 against older Double-A players. Even better, perhaps, was his ability to command the strike zone, with only 26 walks in his 79.1 innings, and he kept the ball in the ballpark, giving up only five long balls throughout the season. His durability issues always tend to come up with executives, including MLB Pipeline, and Law mentioning that he could have a successful big league career as a closer.

The Cardinals have taken their time with their prospect arms in the past, with pitchers like Adam Wainwright, Lance Lynn, Carlos Martinez, and Alex Reyes all spending time in the bullpen before working their way into the rotation. It is possible that is the quickest way to the majors for Hence, and if he dominates in that role, it may be tough for the team to force him back into the starting staff.

While Hence has been on the quieter side personality-wise, his future potential as a mid- to-front-of-the-rotation starter or as an electric closer makes him a player that Cardinals fans have to be excited about. The Cardinals have dealt from their minor league pitching depth in past years (see Zac Gallen and Sandy Alcantara), but as the team moves through a "youth movement," Hence is an arm that we should want to see stay with the organization for the long haul.