3 prospects the Cardinals should consider trading this offseason

Second Basemen Nick Dunn

Dunn is similar to Pages in that he has been in the Cardinals minor league system for quite a while but broke out and had a big season in 2023. After being a 5th-round pick in 2018 out of Maryland he has spent most of his time in Double-A Springfield, but after having a strong start to the 2023 season, hitting .332 with a .420 on base in Springfield got him a promotion to Triple-A Memphis for the first time in his career.

His production did not slow down once he got to Memphis as he had a .302/.404/.385 slash line, with 2 home runs and 20 RBI in 51 games. His 9 total home runs this season were the most he's had in a season since his final season at the University of Maryland in 2018. One impressive stat for Dunn is that in each of the last two seasons, he has recorded more walks than strikeouts which is very rare in this day in age, he has drawn 136 walks to just 99 strikeouts since the start of the 2022 season. He has not provided much power but he's shown good bat-to-ball skills and a great batter's eye.

Nick Dunn did play 22 games at 3rd base with Memphis this year but he has spent the majority of his career at 2nd base. The Cardinals are expecting Brendan Donovan to be healthy for Opening Day 2024, and they also have Nolan Gorman and Tommy Edman currently as potential options to play second base as well. And with Dunn being older than most Cardinal prospects (will turn 27 in January), It's hard to depict what his role could be for the Cardinals in the future. If the Cardinals are sold on having Donovan and Gorman be key members to what they hope will be a turnaround season in 2024, Dunn's breakout season in the minor leagues could intrigue teams to acquire him, and he could help the Cardinals maybe make a trade for some pitching that they could use next year.