MLB Pipeline grades out Cardinals 2026 draft class as the very best in sport

The St. Louis Cardinals have been busy during the All-Star weekend festivities both on the field and in the front office. While Jordan Walker put on a show at the Home Run Derby and the Cardinals had two other All-Stars joining Oli Marmol on Tuesday, Chaim Bloom was locked in on the future. The future appears to be in good hands as Jim Callis from MLB.com ranked the Cardinals' 2026 draft as the best in the league.

The senior writer for MLB Pipeline first gave credit to St. Louis front offices of past before getting into his positive thoughts for this year's selections. Armed with the most picks in the draft, Bloom found value, intrigue, and future projection over the event's two days. Through the team's 24 selections, the Cardinals chose six players that were ranked in the pre-draft top 100.

Chaim Bloom and Randy Flores nailed the Cardinals 2026 MLB Draft

The Cardinals received multiple extra picks this year from the competitive balance rounds, earning one themselves and acquiring two others in the offseason Brendan Donovan trade. Besides the prospect haul St. Louis received in that deal, those extra picks went to good use and gave the Cardinals an even greater quality of prospects, assuming the majority of them sign professional contracts.

Even though the Cardinals did not get honored with the same lottery luck as they did to land JJ Wetherholt and Liam Doyle, experts believe that Randy Flores and his crew ended up with a great prospect with pick thirteen. The draft team opted to dip into the prep ranks and drafted athletic center fielder Trevor Condon who has been compared to St. Louis villain Pete Crow-Armstrong.

In the draft's first day, the Cardinals ended up with eight players that experts had little disagreement with. Selecting a mix of college and high school players, multiple outlets have given the Cardinals an 'A' grade or a top five ranking in the league. By the end of the two days, St. Louis injected plenty of excitement into an already blooming minor league system. When the next prospect rankings come out, there may be more additions to the Cardinals' top 30 list along with others either debuting or moving up among the overall top 100 prospects.

As of Monday, the Cardinals' final draft pick, Kollin Ritchie, is the only player they chose who has already announced they will return to college to increase their stock. The deadline to sign these players is July 27, so expect news about contracts and signing bonuses in the coming days. The later round selections have eligibility remaining, so it is possible the Cardinals end up saving some money to use and lock down earlier picks.

While outlets provide their grades of the draft, we will not know the actual outcome of the 2026 draft for a handful of years. Unlike other leagues, players drafted into MLB spend years developing at every level of the organization rather than becoming instant contributors to the team. With the recent track record that Chaim Bloom has put together, though, there is belief that Bloom and his player development team can do no wrong.

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