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

3. Second Basemen Shaun Boyd: 13th overall pick in the 2000 MLB draft

Boyd is the second member of the 2000 draft class on this list. 13th overall is tied for the highest pick the Cardinals have had in this century (also picked 13th in 2008: Brett Wallace) but the Cards did not take advantage of such a high pick in 2000.

Boyd was a speedy second basemen out of high school in Vista, California, and was seen as a highly touted prospect with his combination of bat control and speed, which is why he was the third infielder taken in 2000.

His progression early on in the organization was steady as Boyd began the 2001 season in Peoria (A) and hit .282 with 20 stolen bases in 81 games, just struggled defensively with 20 errors on the year. And his best professional year came with Peoria in 2002, in 129 games he had a .314/.379/.471 slash line, with 12 home runs and 32 steals, but again it was ugly on the defensive side, doubling his errors from the year before with 40 errors. Boyd began the 2003 season in Palm Beach at the High-A level, where his numbers did decline, but the severe problem again was defensively. After committing 18 errors at second base in his first 42 games of the season, they moved Boyd to the outfield before being promoted to Double-A to end the season.

Moving to the outfield helped Boyd on the defensive side of the game, only committing one error in 2004 playing full time in the outfield, but he only hit .190 with zero home runs in Double-A which led to a demotion back to high A. The offense improved in 2005 when he played for Springfield, hitting .275 with a .705 OPS and tying a career-high with 60 RBI, and he committed 10 errors in the outfield. 2006 wound up being his final year in the Cardinals organization, he finally made it to Triple A-Memphis at the end of that season and only hit .188 in 49 games.

With the combination of inconsistent hitting and just brutal defensive play (career .940 fielding percentage across 9 professional seasons), it turned out to be a disastrous pick made by the Cardinals. What makes this worse is another second baseman was taken two picks after Boyd by the Phillies, and that was Chase Utley. What could've been? but the 2000 draft wasn't a total loss for the Cardinals, they selected Cardinals legend Yadier Molina in the 4th round that year.