10 burning questions the Cardinals must answer if they want to win back their fans

Question #8 - How much can this farm system actually help the Cardinals over the next few seasons?

With the struggles of Walker, Gorman, Nootbaar, and Donovan this year along with the inability to get the best out of former Cardinals like Dylan Carlson, Lane Thomas, Adolis Garcia, and Randy Arozarena, it is fair to wonder if the Cardinals' current prospects will actually be able to help them in a meaningful way over the coming seasons.

Names like JJ Wetherholt, Tink Hence, Quinn Mathews, Cooper Hjerpe, Thomas Saggese, and Chase Davis seem to be the highlights of their farm system right now. Mathews, Saggese, and possibly Hence and Hjerpe are realistic options to see at some point in 2025, the others are likely two or more seasons away.

If the Cardinals have a change in leadership and their coaching staff, I think there will be more confidence from fans that these prospects can actually come up and find success with St. Louis. It's not like their prospects never find success - Walker, Gorman, Donovan, Nootbaar, and Carlson all had success in St. Louis for varying lengths of time. But it is more than fair to be concerned about whether or not the Cardinals know how to get the best from their players for years on end.

Personally, I rank the guys above into the following categories when it comes to my "confidence" that they'll be successful:

1. Will be a really good big leaguer, could be a star - JJ Wetherholt
2. Should be a good big leaguer, good be great, will at least be average - Quinn Matthews
3. Could be stars, could be busts, or anything in between - Tink Hence and Chase Davis
4. Good be really good, should be average - Thomas Saggese and Cooper Hjerpe

Most scouting outlets have the Cardinals farm system ranked in the late teens or early twenties among all farm systems in baseball. If St. Louis is trending toward another top pick in the 2025 MLB Draft, their system could really strengthen p over the next calendar year.

Player development is going to be one of the biggest question marks facing this organization going forward, if not the biggest one. The Cardinals used to be at the forefront of this in the early 2010s, but have lagged behind ever since. Chaim Bloom does feel like the perfect fit to change that narrative though.