Another alarming statistic highlights Cardinals deep-seated player development issue

Farm system rankings are not the be-all, end-all of an organization's future, but they can be a pretty good indicator of what the long-term trajectory of their young talent looks like.

MLB Pipeline shared a look back at the best farm systems in baseball during their preseason and midseason updates from 2015-2025, and, well, the St. Louis Cardinals unsurprisingly performed poorly in this retrospective.

The only time the Cardinals appeared in the top 10 of MLB Pipeline's farm system rankings over the past 10 years was at number nine during their 2023 preseason ranking. Outside of that, the Cardinals never cracked the top 10, which is a huge issue for a club that claimed to rely so heavily on a draft and development model.

The Cardinals have to get back to being a powerhouse in player development if they want to compete at a high level.

Bill DeWitt Jr. has been vocal about his desire to "get back to their roots" with draft and development going forward, but I think that's a bit insulting to fans when John Mozeliak himself has beaten the drum of the organization relying so heavily on that over the years, and yet clearly they fell behind in a significant way.

Prior to 2015, the Cardinals were seen as one of the best in the industry at consistently developing young talent. In 2013, John Sickels ranked their system as the best in baseball, and when highlighting their strengths, he wrote "Everything. They have pitching, hitting, high upside, and depth. They have a proven track record of player development."

It's not like they are the worst in baseball at developing young talent now, but man oh man, have they fallen behind the times. Andre Pallante is the best starter they've developed so far in the 2020s (out of players who have actually made the big leagues), and their top position player prospects, like Jordan Walker, Nolan Gorman, and Dylan Carlson, have failed to live up to expectations so far in their careers. Not exactly glowing praise.

Now, the Cardinals have done a particularly good job of drafting and developing position players with lower pedigrees and helping them ascend to become real contributors at the big league level. That is a major plus, but their struggles in the international market and their trading away of future impact talent (see Zac Gallen/Sandy Alcantara/Randy Arozarena) have hurt them big time.

There are plenty of success stories, particularly on the position player side, that we could point to, but when was the last time the Cardinals developed a truly elite talent? They got one season like that out of Tyler O'Neill and Jack Flaherty, but has there been a single position player or pitcher whom you'd call a "star" that they've developed since prior to 2015?

Some of this is the nature of not having a top draft pick most of those years like other clubs have had the benefit of. But look harder at that list. Teams like the Dodgers, Brewers, Rays, and Padres have managed to find their way into the top 10 consistently without bottoming out for years on end. Heck, the Cardinals themselves proved they could do that in the early 2010s when they were playing deep into October while also boasting one of the game's best systems.

Along those same lines, as I said at the top, farm system rankings aren't the best way to measure a farm system's true impact, but look at many of the teams in those rankings. The number one slot has almost always translated into postseason success following in the near future, and the organizations who know how to develop their talent who fall in the top 10 tend to see that talent flourish in the majors.

That's where the Cardinals hope Chaim Bloom, Rob Cerfolio, Randy Flores, and company can get them back to in the near future. Bloom was a key cog in the Tampa Bay Rays machine for many years and helped rebuild the Boston Red Sox farm system during his time there. Cerfolio has cut his teeth in recent years with the Cleveland Guardians. The crew has made a slew of hires to accompany them in player development from organizations like the Seattle Mariners, Los Angeles Dodgers, and other leaders in the industry.

Unfortunately, the Cardinals slot in as the 20th-ranked team in MLB Pipeline's 2025 preseason farm system rankings, and most outlets have them slotted somewhere between the 15th and 22nd overall. Luckily for St. Louis, Bloom had even less to work with in Boston when he arrived there, and he turned their farm system into a powerhouse in just a few short years.