Another former Cardinal disses organization's player development in new interview

Add another to the list. While the St. Louis Cardinals are working through a "transition" in their player development plan in the minor leagues, another former well-regarded prospect spoke out about the team's lack of coaching at the lower levels. Connor Thomas, who spent six seasons working across different levels of the Cardinals minor league system, had few fond memories of his time in the organization.

Originally drafted by the Cardinals in the fifth round of the 2019 draft, the left-handed pitcher from Georgia Tech has spent the past four years pitching for Triple-A Memphis. The overall results for Thomas have not been spectacular in the minors, as he entered this offseason with a 28-27 record and a 4.33 ERA as he approaches 500 professional innings. Despite being named as the organization's #17 prospect in 2023, the Cardinals decided not to add the 26-year-old to the 40-man roster in order to protect him from other clubs during the Rule 5 draft. It was an interesting but not totally surprising decision for the team, and his time with the organization officially ended after the rival Milwaukee Brewers selected him during the draft.

Thomas was coming off his best season since becoming a pro as the team made the decision to move him from the rotation to the bullpen. In 2024, he pitched in 56 games, all but three of them in relief, and totaled a 7-4 record with a 2.89 ERA, which was his lowest at any level of the minors. He has never been a strikeout pitcher, but the Brewers decided Thomas was an affordable option to fill bullpen innings for a team that has seen plenty of turnover on the pitching side in recent seasons.

What did Connor Thomas have to say about his time with the Cardinals?

In a recent interview with the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Thomas had a very brief positive and professional note to the Cardinals before exposing what fans have seen to be a total lack of development at the lower levels. His quick "thanks for the opportunity" was immediately followed by a flurry of negative feedback regarding the coaching he received (or did not receive) while pitching for the organization. Thomas said, "As far on the coaching side of it, there really wasn't a whole lot... It was a bunch of 'Hey, this is what you do. Just try to go figure it out and figure out how to get hitters out.'"

""There were no tweaks, nothing like that, nothing of this. A great organization, and I enjoyed my time over there, but I'm happy to be with a team that's, on the coaching side of it, doing a little more for me.""

Connor Thomas

The lack of coaching could help to explain why Thomas' development appeared to stall once he made it to Memphis. After cracking the Cardinals' top-30 prospects list, the lefty put up back-to-back seasons of mid-5 ERA pitching and allowed more than a hit per inning in 2022 and 2023. Bernie Miklasz discussed Thomas' and others' resentment towards the organization's pitching plans in more detail during his recent YouTube upload starting around the 17:30 mark.

While it may seem unlikely that Connor Thomas will immediately become a Cy Young-quality arm for the Brewers, adding more negativity to the Cardinals organization shows that their current transition period was well overdue. With leadership beginning their turnover, eyes will be on incoming decision-maker Chaim Bloom's ability to push past these previous development issues for the new crop of exciting arms making their way to St. Louis.