Cardinals' farm system just misses top honor in all of baseball in new ranking

As the St. Louis Cardinals wrap up their busy offseason and head down to Jupiter, Florida, the front office has reason to celebrate all of the hard work they have done in rebuilding the farm system over the last year.

Baseball America just debuted its ranking of all farm systems entering the 2026 season, and while the Pittsburgh Pirates took the number one overall spot, the Cardinals slotted in right behind them as the second-best farm system in the game today.

Baseball America ranked the St. Louis Cardinals' farm system as the second best in all of baseball

Farm system rankings are simply just that, a ranking. At the end of the day, it will be the results that these prospects produce that truly tell the story. But this ranking is extremely notable from an outlet like Baseball America who is probably the best national outlet out there right now at evaluating prospects.

Going into 2025, the Cardinals had the 18th-best farm system in the game according to Baseball America. Since then, the Cardinals have acquired a ton of prospects through the MLB Draft, international signing period, and a flurry of trades, and have paired that with seeing major improvements from prospects in-house, including the likes of Joshua Baez, Brycen Mautz, Ixan Henderson, and more.

Earlier this offseason, Baseball America called the Cardinals' farm system the most improved from this time last year and Baez the most improved prospect in the entire sport. Geoff Pontes, who does the write-ups for the Cardinals system, recently said this may be the best system he's written about in his four years with Baseball America, and that was prior to the Brendan Donovan trade.

It's unclear whether or not this ranking factored in the return the Cardinals got for Donovan, but either way, there are plenty of reasons to be excited about what Chaim Bloom and his staff are building here. After the Donovan trade, the Cardinals now also have six picks in the top 100 selections of the 2026 MLB Draft, meaning they'll have even more opportunity to stockpile young talent for this rebuild.

I talked to Cardinals' farm director, Larry Day, last week on the Dealin' the Cards podcast, and he gave a ton of insight into what the Cardinals have done behind the scenes over the last 15 months to overhaul their player development and performance groups. Bloom's first task, prior to taking over as president of baseball operations, was setting into motion the changes the Cardinals needed to make down on the farm, and hiring Day from the Cleveland Guardians was one of those big shifts.

The on-field product for St. Louis will likely leave a lot to be desired in 2026, but even then, there will be plenty of players to watch as the Cardinals start to shape this next winning team. JJ Wetherholt will be center stage, but names like Masyn Winn, Ivan Herrera, Alec Burleson have already shown they can be very, very good big league players and are among the best young talent in the game.

Names like Jordan Walker, Nolan Gorman, and Victor Scott II are going to get every opportunity to show who they can be as big leaguers. It is unlikely that all three take major steps forward, but even if one or two do, that is a major development for this rebuild. And someone like Lars Nootbaar will have the chance to rebuild his trade value before a likely trade to net the Cardinals more prospects.

And for the first time in years, the Cardinals are set to feature a very young pitching staff, with so many opportunities to go around to arms like Matthew Liberatore, Dustin May, Michael McGreevy, Kyle Leahy, Hunter Dobbins, Richard Fitts, Quinn Mathews, and Andre Pallante. We may even see some names like Brycen Mautz or Ixan Henderson get their shot as well. And by the 2027 season, hopefully, arms like Liam Doyle, Jurrangelo Cijntje, Tekoah Roby, Brandon Clarke, Braden Davis, Tanner Franklin, and Tink Hence are ready to get their shot as well.

There is no guarantee when it comes to prospects, so the proof will be in the pudding. But the Cardinals' front office is certainly stacking their system with as many shots at success as possible, and the more they do that, the more likely this rebuild works out in their favor.