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

9. Pitcher Seth Blair: 46th pick in the 2010 Supplemental Draft First round

Blair was similar to McCormick in that he did not sign with the first team to draft him to enroll in college, and it paid off for him in a big way. Instead of signing with the Athletics who took him in the 47th round back in 2007, he went to Arizona State, where he won the Pac-10 Pitcher of the Year in 2010, and was named a first-team All-American.

The Cardinals drafted Blair with their compensation pick that they received after they lost Mark DeRosa to free agency, and began pitching in the Midwest League in 2011 where he had a 5.29 ERA in 21 starts. Blair only made 7 starts in 2012 due to an awkward injury regarding a benign tumor in his finger before he found great success in the Arizona Fall League which led to the Cardinals promoting him to Double-A in 2013. Spending that entire season in Springfield was a struggle for Blair, only winning 3 of his 22 starts and posting a 5.07 ERA. It did not get much better for him in 2014, which ended up being his final season with the Cardinals organization.

The Cardinals tried to use him in the bullpen to find better results, but across 32 appearances (11 starts) in Double and Triple-A, he had a 6.01 ERA, more walks than strikeouts (58 BB and 52 K) and he gave up a mind whopping 151 baserunners in 79.1 innings pitched. For five seasons Blair was out of baseball, but he returned to the game in 2019 and he has pitched in three major league farm systems in the last four seasons, he has still yet to make the major leagues. He has spent the 2023 season pitching in the Mexican League.

Blair was the first of two supplemental picks the Cardinals had in 2010, the other player they selected was Tyrell Jenkins, who also never pitched in the big leagues for the Cards. Some players that were selected right after these two include Brandon Workman, Vince Velasquez, Jedd Gyorko, Drew Smyly, and Andrelton Simmons.