Cardinals minor league slugger gets long awaited promotion to Memphis

With the recent promotion of Luken Baker to the big leagues, another slugging first basemen in the St. Louis Cardinals system is moving on up, and it has been long overdue.

Chandler Redmond is not one of the more well-known prospects in the Cardinals system, but he has worked his way up through the farm and has nothing left to prove in Double-A Springfield. Nothing has come easy for Redmond, his path to Triple-A has been hard-fought, to say the least.

He had a four-year collegiate career at Gardner Webb University where he had a .267/.353/.554 slash line with 50 home runs and 153 RBI in 199 games. Redmond was selected in the 32nd round by the Cardinals in the 2019 MLB draft, over 900 players were drafted before him, the odds of getting to the major leagues were stacked against him right away.

Redmond reported to Johnson City in the Rookie Appalachian League after getting drafted and he hit .287 with 12 home runs in 54 games. The following minor league season was canceled due to the pandemic, so his first full-season pro did not come until 2021. He began the 2021 season in Peoria ( High A) and he continued to display strong power numbers, hitting 13 bombs in 64 games before getting promoted to Double-A, and that is where he has stayed until Tuesday.

The past four seasons in Springfield have overall been solid for Redmond, displaying big power numbers, including 31 in 2023, but it was the year previously where we saw him accomplish something that we hardly ever witness, he hit for the "home run cycle".

On August 11, 2022, against the Amarillo Sod Poodles Redmond hit a solo home run, a two-run homer, a three-run homer, and a grand slam, in the same game. He added on another hit to his stat line giving him five hits in the game, and 11 RBI in what was a 21-4 blowout win for Springfield. The only other player to accomplish this was Tyrone Horne in 1998 who was also in Double-A in the Cardinals system at the time, no major league player has ever done it, the bat he used to achieve this feat is now in the Baseball Hall of Fame.

2024 has been a down year for Redmond in the power department, only hitting nine with Springfield in 83 games, but for his career in Springfield, he hit 66 home runs, and 246 RBI in 341 games, all three of those stats are the most in Springfield's franchise history. So why did it take him so long to call Redmond up to Memphis? For the most part, he was blocked by people ahead of him, but it was also due to some head-scratching moves for players who played the same defensive position that Redmond predominantly plays.

In the offseason, the Cardinals claimed Alfonso Rivas and Jared Young, two first basemen, and they were put on the 40-man roster. Looking at where they are now Rivas has spent the entire season in Memphis but he is now off the 40-man roster, and Jared Young is now playing overseas. If you ask me those were two meaningless transactions that just blocked a homegrown player like Redmond coming off a 30 home run season from being promoted to the next level.

I wrote last year that Redmond could be a player that the Cardinals could move to get someone who could help them right now. With Paul Goldschmidt still on the team and reportedly could be coming back for next year and beyond, and with the success of Luken Baker in Memphis, he is likely seen as the next option at first base. Even though Redmond has also played over 180+ innings at three other positions in the minors ( second base, third base, and left field) but the most part he has played first base in his career.

If the Cardinals see Redmond in their long-term plans, we could see him switch positions, but regardless of all that, Redmond has finally gotten his promotion to Triple-A, and it is well deserved.