St. Louis Cardinals history: The 10 worst first-round picks in the 21st century

10. Pitcher Mark McCormick: 43rd pick in the 2005 Supplemental Draft 1st round

Mark McCormick was originally drafted by the Orioles in the 11th round in 2002 but instead went to the University of Baylor. He obviously made an impression with the Cardinals, as they selected him in 2005 as their compensation pick for losing Edgar Renteria in free agency in the 2004 Off-Season.

McCormick had a reputation for throwing a hard fastball, topping off at 98 MPH at Baylor which led to high strikeout totals across his minor league career, but other than that he was unable to find much success.

In his first full professional season in 2006, he was promoted to high A after recording a 3.78 ERA and a 10.8 K/9 across 11 starts in the Midwest League. Unfortunately, he was limited to just 4 starts the following season which slowed his development. Then in 2008 he was able to make it to Double-A but had a 6.08 ERA across 6 starts where he really struggled with control, walking 18 hitters across 23.2 innings. After 4 seasons in the Cardinal system and at the age of 24, McCormick was out of baseball.

The 2005 draft class was seen as very top-heavy, as most of the All-Star players were selected before the Cardinals had a pick. But just two picks after McCormick saw Jed Lowrie get selected by the Boston Red Sox, who had a very productive 14-year major league career.