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Cardinals: Farm system ranked top 3 in all of baseball for 2023, let's review
The Cardinals boast one of the best farm systems in all of baseball in 2023
The St. Louis Cardinals are fresh off winning the National League Central title and look ready to compete once again for a playoff run in 2023. Few teams in baseball have the luxury of being a legit contender while boasting an incredible farm system, yet St. Louis is one of them.
In their "free agency edition" of their farm system rankings for 2023, Bleacher Report had the Cardinals ranked as the 3rd best farm system in all of baseball, only behind the Baltimore Orioles and Los Angeles Dodgers.
In their rankings, they divided prospects into three tiers. Tier 1 prospects had elite skill sets, and All-Star potential, and were top 100 prospects. Tier 2 prospects have a good chance of becoming impact players but were not quite top 100 guys. Tier 3 prospects were either too raw to tell or were projected to be league-average players at best. In their rankings, they had the Cardinals boasting five Tier 1 players, three Tier 2 players, and one Tier 3 inside the Cardinals' top 10 prospects.
I think it is important to note how many contenders lack the kind of farm system the Cardinals currently have. Just in the National League, the Braves rank 30th, the Phillies 26th, the Padres 24th, the Brewers 19th, and the Mets are 8th. Yes, the Braves just graduated so many of their top guys and the Padres went out and traded for a guy like Soto, but its a major advantage for St. Louis to have the farm system they currently have, while also having valuable youngsters like Lars Nootbaar, Brendan Donovan, Nolan Gorman, and Dylan Carlson graduated as well.
Bleacher Report is not alone in viewing the Cardinals' farm system this way. MLB.com ranks six Cardinals prospects in their top 100, and although Baseball America has not released theirs yet for 2023, they had seven Cardinals in the top 100 in their mid-season rankings in 2022. It's safe to say baseball sees a lot of potential in the Cardinals' youngsters.
Let's look at each of the Tier rankings Bleacher Report had for the Cardinals and how each of them is projecting going into 2023.
Cardinals' Tier 1 Prospects
Even within Tier 1, there is a bit of a "tier within a tier" going on here, as the likes of Jordan Walker, Masyn Winn, and Tink Hence boast the potential to be superstar talents, while Gordon Graceffo and Alec Burleson could be All-Stars when they hit their peaks.
Jordan Walker, who is a top 10 prospect in all of baseball and fighting for the title of number 1 in all of the league, is the best-hitting prospect St. Louis has had since Albert Pujols and Oscar Taveras. Walker projects to be an elite hitter whose physical tools could allow him to hit for a ton of power, steal bags, and get on base at a high level. Walker, who will be just 21 years old on Opening Day, could earn a start at Busch Stadium against the Toronto Blue Jays with a strong Spring Training. Even if he does not make the roster, he will be an impact bat for the Cardinals at some point in 2023.
Masyn Winn broke out in a big way in 2022, showing that he has the bat-to-ball skills to be an elite shortstop if his development continues. There have never been questions about his potential to be a star defensively, but now he is using those physical tools to make an impact at the plate as well.
Tink Hence is extremely raw, especially when it comes to taking on the workload needed to be an ace for a big-league staff. But in his short sample size in 2022, Hence was dominant, and showed both St. Louis and talent evaluators around the league just how high of a ceiling he has.
Alec Burleson rose all the way up to the big league roster in 2022 in all 972 minor league at-bats due to his ability to just plain hit. In 2022, he slashed .331/.372/.532 with 20 HR and 87 RBI in 109 games for Triple-A Memphis. Some fans were disappointed by his big league debut, but 53 at-bats down the stretch in September is far from a legitiment sample size.
Gordon Graceffo may have been the biggest surprise in the Cardinals system this past season, as he had an excellent year across High-A and Double-A, posting a 2.93 ERA in 139.1 innings of work. Most scouts currently project Graceffo to be a middle-of-the-rotation starter, but it's clear the Cardinals think he could be even better than that.
On top of this "Tier 1" talent, the Cardinals have other youngsters who should be valuable contributors in the near future.
Cardinals' Tier 2 prospects
It's already huge to have so many Tier 1 guys, but the fact that St. Louis has Ivan Herrera, Cooper Hjerpe, Matthew Liberatore, and Michael McGreevy as borderline top 100 prospects as well shows how much depth there is in their system.
Ivan Herrera's future is a bit muddy now with the signing of Willson Contreras. Early projections as the heir to Yader Molina's throne in St. Louis do not appear to be likely, but at just 22 years old, he is far from a "bust". Herrera could split time with Contreras in future seasons, and still has the ceiling of an above-average catcher both offensively and defensively. Catchers tend to develop slower, so there needs to be patience when it comes to Herrera.
The same can be said about Matthew Liberatore, who many fans seem to have soured on already. There is a reason most scouting outlets really like Liberatore still. He is still just 23 years old and has the stuff to be a solid middle-of-the-rotation arm for a long time. Sure, his statistical struggles the last two years are a bit concerning, but there is still plenty of time for him to develop into the guy the Cardinals thought they were trading for.
Cooper Hjerpe was the Cardinals' first-round pick in 2022, and some scouting outlets already have him as a higher-rated prospect than Gordon Graceffo and Alec Burleson. While Hjerpe does not have the "blow you away velocity" that we love to see in top prospects, his fastball does sit between 90mph-94mph, and he produces a lot of whiffs on his off-speed stuff. Baseball America thinks he will also be a solid middle-of-the-rotation starter who can be in St. Louis really soon.
Michael McGreevy projects to be a back end of the rotation arm or a really good bullpen arm after being selected in the first round in 2021. While hearing Cardinals have a few different guys who have middle to back end of the rotation potential may not sound all that exciting, it actually should be for Cardinals fans. The club has had to overspend on these kinds of arms in recent years, and if they do not have to worry about sending dollars or prospect capital for these kinds of arms going forward, this frees them up to pursue more front-line pitching to pair with Tink Hence and Gordon Graceffo.
Think about the Cardinals' pursuit of David Price. When they made their big offer for him, they had Michael Wacha, Carlos Martinez, and Alex Reyes all in their rotation or near it, which gave them the flexibility to go out and spend big on one guy to pair with Adam Wainwright. If the club hits on a few of Hence, Graceffo, Liberatore, Hjerpe, and McGreevy, they'll find themselves in a very similar situation.
Let's look at some Tier 3 prospects and review the state of the farm as a whole.
Tier 3 Prospects
The number 10 prospect for the Cardinals on both Bleacher Report and Baseball America is shortstop Jonathan Mejia, who is just 17 years old and a long way away from the big leagues. Every organization needs a strong mix of MLB ready talent and guys who are a ways off, so they have the ability to continue to pump out prospects year in and year out.
Meija is a switch-htter with above avearge power and projects highly for his bat rather than his defensive skills. Long term, he's probably a third baseman or second baseman, and if he continues to build upon his good bat speed and loft in his swing, he could be a very good hitting prospect in the near future.
Not mentioned in this list are the likes of Joshua Baez, Connor Thomas, Inohan Paniagua, Won-Bin Cho, Moises Gomez, and others who have flashed potential to join this list in the near future. Gomez is coming off being the MiLB home run king, Thomas was the AFL pitcher of the year, Baez and Cho have great tools and could jump into the top 100 with productive 2023 seasons, and Paniagua could end up being an elite pitching prospect, which our own J.T. Buchheit broke down recently.
The Cardinals' farm system is in one of the healthiest places it has been in a long time. How many farm systems can graduate the talent they have recently and remain top 3 in all of baseball? Even with the debut of Walker near, the system still has the talent to be a top 5-10 in the game in his absence. And in future years when more guys graduate, there are already lower-level guys who are ready to bud into top prospects.
John Mozeliak and Randy Flores have done an excellent job building and maintaining this system. They are now in a position where they can continue to pump out high-impact players for their own club year in and year out, have true blue-chip prospects on the way, and have the ability to go out and acquire almost any talent that becomes available on the trade market.
Next. Breakout Cardinals from this past season. dark