Ranking the 15 best St. Louis Cardinals players under 25

All signs point to a youth movement in St. Louis. With the recent news regarding the front office reshuffle, it's quite obvious that the Cardinals intend on employing their young players in 2025 and beyond along with creating a pipeline that is able to sustain a major league roster.

Therefore, the young players must be ready. If the regime under Chaim Bloom is to be successful, the current and future crops of young players and prospects must pan out. Otherwise, his efforts will be for naught, and the organization will have to go back to the drawing board.

Over the last half-decade, the Cardinals have seen ample high-ranking prospects rise to the top in Dylan Carlson, Nolan Gorman, Matthew Liberatore, Jordan Walker, and Masyn Winn. However, their developments seemed to have stalled once they hit the major league level, Winn aside. If the organization intends on using homegrown players to lead the team for the next half decade, that can no longer happen.

The lack of major success from the team's homegrown players is primarily due to a lack of resources and technology. According to Katie Woo of The Athletic, "In recent years, team insiders say, the Cardinals failed to keep up as rival teams increased the size of their staffs. Not including affiliate coaches, special advisors, or medical coordinators, the Cardinals have five full-time minor-league instructors, which marks their leanest staffing level in the past decade."

Clearly, this is a problem.

In addition to identifying, drafting, and developing young players, the organization must commit both financial resources and personnel to the continued development of its players. It's fine and dandy to see players like Winn and Walker at the top of national prospect lists, but it means nothing if these players aren't able to produce at the major league level.

The youth infusion has already started a bit. They've seen several players graduate from the prospect ranks recently, but there are also many prospects in the minors who have plenty of promise.

I'm not going to conflate our core of young players with cores that teams like the Baltimore Orioles, Milwaukee Brewers, and Arizona Diamondbacks possess. However, the Cardinals' crop of young players isn't full of slouches by any means.

Here is a ranking of the St. Louis Cardinals' 15 best players under the age of 25.

#15 RHP Tekoah Roby

Tekoah Roby was once a top-100 prospect in all of baseball while with the Texas Rangers. Injuries have hampered his progression, however, and he's struggled to get a full season under his belt since being drafted in 2020. Roby, 23, made only 10 appearances this year. He threw a total of 38.1 innings between Double-A Springfield and Single-A Palm Beach. He finished the year with a 6.57 ERA and 39 strikeouts. He's getting close to "bust" zone if he continues to get hurt, but the potential to be a solid starting pitcher is still there.

#14 C Jimmy Crooks

Get ready to know Jimmy Crooks's name if you don't already. The left-handed hitting backstop had made quite the name for himself this year. He finished with a .321/.410/.498 slash line at Double-A Springfield to go along with 11 home runs and 101 total hits. Crooks, 23, has received rave reviews about his growth as a play caller and a receiver behind the plate. If he continues to progress at this level, he could be pushing the major league roster come 2026.

#13 LHP Cooper Hjerpe

The Cardinals have been methodical with Cooper Hjerpe's development after drafting him in 2022. He has not thrown more than 52.1 innings yet as a minor leaguer due to injuries and surgeries. The southpaw has a funky sidearm slot that baffles hitters at times. He finished his 2024 minor league campaign with a 3.27 ERA in 52.1 innings scattered between Peoria and Springfield. He also struck out 76 batters. Hjerpe is only 23 still, but the organization could stand to increase his workload to prepare him for the majors.

#12 CF Victor Scott II

I still believe in Victor Scott II, but his performance this year in the majors and minors has given me some pause. He's still going to be an elite defender in center field, but his speed and on-base tendencies he flashed in 2023 have since faded. He finished 2024 with a .179/.219/.283 slash line at the major league level. Scott is only 23, and there are few players on this list who could benefit more than he with a revamped player development system.

#8 2B Nolan Gorman

Nolan Gorman played himself out of fans' minds this year. A 37.6% strikeout rate paired with a .203/.271/.400 slash line will do that to a player. However, Gorman still has great value as a left-handed power hitter whose defense has shown improvements since his rookie year. If Gorman, 24, can limit his swing-and-miss tendencies, he could become a power hitter for the Cardinals for years to come.

#7 RHP Tink Hence

Like Tekoah Roby and Cooper Hjerpe, Hence has dealt with his fair share of injuries. However, when he's been healthy, there have been few right-handed pitchers with as dominant stuff in the minors as Tink. Hence, 22, finished 2024 with a 2.71 ERA in 79.2 innings for the Springfield Cardinals. He struck out 109 batters as well. If he can maintain his health, Hence stands to be a viable starting pitcher in any rotation, especially the Cardinals'.

#6 OF Chase Davis

This is where the list begins seeing more toss-ups. Any one of Gorman, Hence, or Chase Davis could be swapped with the other. However, I have to settle things eventually.

The Cardinals' first-round draft pick in 2023, Davis is an athletic outfielder who has some pop to his swing. He played at three levels in 2024 -- Low-A, High-A, and Double-A. He saw the most success in High-A Peoria with a .301/.388/.451 slash line. His .179 ISO in Double-A Springfield paired with a sterling 16.1% K rate shows he has the potential to be a strong offensive player. Davis, 22, has seen time in all three outfield spots, though he probably best profiles as a corner outfielder.

#5 LHP Matthew Liberatore

"But wait, Matthew Liberatore has been a terrible starting pitcher in the majors!" Yes, I know. But I also know that he's been a dominant reliever all year for the Cardinals, and that's worth something. For a team that is looking to be frugal these next few years, having reliable internal pitchers who can be relievers can save quite a bit of money.

Matthew Liberatore has been just that this year. He has a 3.69 ERA as a reliever, and he struck out 55 batters in 63.1 innings. Toward the end of the year, Libby began seeing more work in high-leverage situations. He was a starting pitcher as a prospect, so he still has that in his DNA should the Cardinals want to stretch him out and use him in that role in future years. If they keep him in the bullpen, he still provides great value there. He's only 24 after all!

#4 INF JJ Wetherholt

JJ Wetherholt is going to be very good. The Cardinals first-round pick this year is already making a name for himself in very limited time. In only 29 games and 105 at-bats, Wetherholt was able to slash .295/.405/.400 for the Palm Beach Cardinals. He hit two home runs and walked (16 BBs) more times than he struck out (15 Ks). His bat-to-ball skills and patience at the plate are enviable and well beyond his age.

Wehttherholt, 22, bats left-handed, and he can play multiple positions across the infield. He played shortstop primarily in college, but he would be a plus defender at either second base or third base. With a player later on this list locking down shortstop for the next five years, Wetherholt should become comfortable at the hot corner or on the other side of second base.

#3 OF Jordan Walker

Jordan Walker was once a top-three prospect in all of baseball. He was a dynamic offensive player who literally stood tall amongst his peers. Drafted out of high school as a third baseman in 2020, Walker converted to the outfield in 2022 due to a logjam of corner infielders for the Cardinals. He was quite raw at the position, and he's still experiencing speed bumps in his development in right field. He has a cannon of an arm, so hopefully with more reps in the corner outfield, he can fine-tune his craft.

Walker is still a potent offensive player. His slash line this year was underwhelming (.201/.253/.366), but he turned it on in the month of September to close out the year. The 22-year-old outfielder slashed .253/.296/.494 with five home runs and 16 runs batted in in the final month of the year. He still struck out quite a bit (16 times), but his power had returned. Even if Walker can inch toward being an average defensive outfielder who provides pop in the heart of a lineup, that's a success in my eyes.

#2 LHP Quinn Mathews

Quinn Mathews went from being known as a kid who threw a lot of pitches in one game in college to being one of the best left-handed pitching prospects in all of baseball. Mathews was drafted in the fourth round of the 2023 MLB Draft, but he's shown that he should have been one of the top draft choices that year. He made it all the way up the minor-league ladder this year, starting at Low-A Palm Beach and finishing the year with Triple-A Memphis.

Mathews, 23, led all of MiLB this year with 202 strikeouts in only 143.1 innings. His best work came in Springfield this year where he had a 2.41 ERA in 52.1 innings pitched. He struggled at Memphis to close the year, as he had a 6.48 ERA in only 16.2 innings across four starts. However, Mathews has shown that he is capable of being a top-of-the-rotation starting pitcher in the near future. The Cardinals have been searching for a player of his pedigree since Jack Flaherty nearly seven years ago, and he's already racking up minor-league accolades.

#1 SS Masyn Winn

Shortstop Masyn Winn is deserving of his own page here. He will be a leader on the team for many years to come, and he deserves to become the face of the franchise. He's an elite defensive shortstop who has proven that he can hit at the major league-level. Additionally, Winn has already started embracing the spotlight with his performance at Rickwood Field against the San Francisco Giants in June.

Masyn Winn will likely finish third in National League Rookie of the Year voting behind Paul Skenes and Jackson Merrill, but that shouldn't take away from what he's been able to do this year. Winn finished 2024 with a .267/.314/.416 slash line, 15 home runs, 11 stolen bases, and 57 runs batted in for a 102 OPS+.

More impressively, however, was Winn's superb defense at one of the toughest positions on the diamond. Winn had 14 defensive runs saved, tied for seventh-most in all of baseball; that figure did give him the most among all rookies. Winn also finished with three outs above average and an ultimate zone rating of -0.9.

Masyn Winn, still only 22, deserves a long-term extension to keep him in St. Louis for many years to come. As things currently stand, he won't be a free agent until at least 2029. However, he deserves to be a player the front office builds around for many years.

Winn, paired with other players on this list, should put Cardinal fans at ease for the team's future. With guys like Jordan Walker, JJ Wehttherholt, and Quinn Mathews at the forefront of the team's new youth movement, the organization is set up for plenty of success in 2026 and beyond.