3 fast-rising Cardinals prospects who could be trade bait

Houston Astros v St. Louis Cardinals
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Outfielder Moises Gomez

No Cardinal prospect made a bigger jump on the top 30 prospect list than outfield slugger Moises Gomez. He made such a big jump because he is coming off a 39-home run season in 2022 across Springfield and Memphis. And so far in 2023 with Memphis over 54 games he has a .252/.305/.523 slash line and has recorded 15 more home runs.

Gomez was first signed by the Rays back in 2015, and after 6 seasons in their organization he was released, he never made it past Double-A. He signed with the Cardinals in 2022 and instantly made an impact for the Cardinals' Double-A team in Springfield, hitting 23 home runs in just 60 games. His career high in a single season in the Rays organization was 19. Gomez would hit 16 more in again just 60 games with Triple-A Memphis to finish 2022 with 39 dingers. Like most young power hitters, Gomez has had struggles with keeping the strikeouts down. So far in his minor league career, he was whiffed in just under 30 percent of his at-bats but his whiff rate has gone down in each of the past 3 seasons ( 38.7% in '21, 35.2% in '22, and 28.9% in '23 ).

Why could Gomez be trade bait? He has shown that he's close to being ready for a call-up to the big leagues, the problem is the Cardinals have a traffic jam in the outfield. When the roster is fully healthy, Gomez would have a difficult time getting consistent at-bats. With Tyler O'Neill, Dylan Carlson, and now Lars Nootbaar on the injured list, the Cardinals decided to call up Luken Baker who was also tearing it up in the minor leagues over the outfielder Gomez. With Carlson and Nootbaar expected to return relatively soon, and Jordan Walker being back in the big leagues, those chances to find a spot on the major league roster for Gomez would vanish. He could gain lots of interest from other clubs at the deadline.

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