Baseball America is more bearish on the Cardinals' prospects than other media outlets

The St. Louis Cardinals have some work to do on their major league roster in order to get back into playoff contention, but the expectation is that the organization is banking on their minor league prospects providing some of that improvement. While some news outlets have been impressed with the Cardinals' draft and trade acquisitions, others are not as confident in the youngsters and believe the organization has some more work to do.

Baseball America ranks the Cardinals organization as 14th-best in the majors

ESPN believes that the Cardinals organization did enough to move up the minor league ranks, with the national outlet moving them up to the ninth best in baseball from 19th place the year before. They applauded the draft picks and prospects received at the trade deadline while also highlighting some strong progress made from those at the upper levels. A move up the rankings was expected and deserved, but a 10-spot jump may be a little much. Baseball America agrees with that sentiment and has them checking in as the 14th-best farm system in the game.

The one-sentence summary of Baseball America's write-up for the Cardinals states that the organization has "high-end talent up top with plenty of depth to follow", referencing the success many of their players have seen at the upper level of the minors. While MLB Pipeline has four Cardinals minor leaguers ranked in the top-100, Baseball America only lists JJ Wetherholt (#5) and 2025 first-round pick Liam Doyle (#65) on their list. They mimic some of the excitement that Cardinals fans have for these two players, but it is interesting to see that neither Leonardo Bernal or Rainiel Rodriguez made the cut as those two appear ready for more challenge in the minors. Rodriguez is the team's third-best prospect according to BA, but Bernal is all the way down at 11th in the organization, despite being ranked 69th overall by MLB Pipeline.

Even with those omissions, the outlet is excited about the Cardinals' left-handed starters who are at or near the upper levels of the minors. They specifically mention Doyle and Quinn Mathews as quality options that should see time in the big league rotation while also touching on the position player depth, specifically at catcher and in the outfield. Behind Wetherholt, though, there does not appear to be a "sure thing" in the infield, especially right-handed hitting options, which the major league team is also hunting for. When talking about the organization's weakness in the minors, Baseball America notes that righty pitching is a need as pitchers Tink Hence, Tekoah Roby, and Sem Robberse were seen as major league options but none have been able to stay healthy for an extended period of time. While they mention this year's draft pick, Tanner Franklin, and trade acquisitions, Nate Dohm and Frank Elissalt, as potential reinforcements, the team is lacking top-end righty talent on both sides of the ball.