Cardinals fifth-rounder with elite fastball has the stuff to join bullpen right now

The St. Louis Cardinals took a big swing in last year's MLB Draft on Tanner Franklin, betting on the reliever's big-time fastball and believing they could transform him into a starter. The club took a similar bet in this year's class when they selected UCLA right-handed pitcher Cal Randall, but if they keep him in the bullpen, he could actually be an option for them as soon as they want him to.

Randall, who boasts the best fastball in the 2026 MLB Draft class that graded out as an 80 on the 20-80 scouting scale by Baseball America, has truly elite metrics on his heater. Yes, the pitch sits in the upper-90s and can hit 101 MPH, but what separates his fastball from almost every other in this class and in the sport is his ability to throw it with top-end extension, a low release point, and to get elite spin and ride on the pitch.

Randall's secondaries need work. Both his slider and his changeup grade out as below-average right now, as does his control. But with how special that fastball is, draft expert Joe Doyle believes Randall could be a weapon in the Cardinals' bullpen right now.

Randall struck out 44.2%(!!!) of the batters he faced in 2026, and even though he threw the pitch an absurd 90% of the time, opposing hitters still whiffed on the pitch 36% of the time. To put that into perspective, Mason Miller is causing opposing hitters to whiff 47.5% of the time this year, and only two other pitchers - Fernando Cruz and Andres Munoz - have a whiff rate of over 40% this season. Only five pitchers in all of baseball are generating whiffs on their fastball at a clip above 36%.

So, if the Cardinals really wanted to fast-track Randall to St. Louis, they certainly have an argument to do so. But if you have been following how this front office operates as of late, they are far more likely to try to hit a "home run" here with this Randall pick and see if they can get a starter out of him, or at the very least, develop his secondaries a bit more so he can truly be an elite closer.

Cardinals will likely see if Cal Randall can follow in Tanner Franklin's footsteps

With the 72nd overall pick in last year's draft, the Cardinals selected University of Tennessee reliever Tanner Franklin, who had a 70-grade fastball that hit triple digits and had incredible specs on the heater as well. While Randall is even more raw of a prospect beyond his fastball than Franklin was, it's clear that the Cardinals player development group believes they can get the most out of arms like Franklin and Randall, and if they hit big, have a nasty starter (or reliever) on their hands.

In the last 12 months, Franklin has gone from a surprise second-round pick in the eyes of some to a prospect who is soaring up national rankings, with many outlets already putting Franklin in the Cardinals' top five prospects, some teasing a top 100 ranking in all of baseball soon, and The Athletic's Keith Law being so bold to already have Franklin as his 25th-best prospect in the sport.

Randall has an even better fastball than Franklin, but it will likely be more of a project to get the rest of his arsenal to a spot where he can dominate professional hitters, especially on a starter's workload. And if you've paid close attention to how they have been developing their pitching talent at the lower levels, you'll know that they are willing to take their time with these arms.

The Cardinals have been very clear that when it comes to development, they are trying to develop the best big leaguers possible, not just guys who can perform at the level they are at. What they mean by that is, if they truly want Randall to succeed as a starter long-term, they are not going to let him just pump out fastballs 90% of the time to Low-A hitters so he can look unhittable. They'll make him work on those secondaries constantly and aim to better his command, so that if those things can come together, then he can become a pitcher whose incredible fastball is complemented by a more complete arsenal.

I love this approach, and I'd much rather see the Cardinals be extremely patient with an arm like Randall than rush him to the big leagues. Sure, his more likely outcome is probably a reliever, and potentially one of the best in the sport, but the upside he presents as a starter is far too high not to at least see if this player development group can help him get there.

In the past, the Cardinals have opted to accelerate the timeline of arms like Ryan Helsley and Jordan Hicks to help their bullpens out, but both arms had the potential to be dynamic starters if they had been given more runway. Obviously, we'll never know how that could have gone (Hicks got to try that out later in his career, but that's different than being truly developed as a starter), so it is refreshing to see this regime prioritize long-term upside, knowing they can "fall back" on reliever roles later.

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