The 5 youngest players to play for the Cardinals in each of the past 3 centuries

It is always exciting as a fan to see a player make his major league debut, regardless of the age of that player. But what makes it more impressive is seeing a player quickly rise through the minor league system, or skip the minor leagues entirely and get to the big leagues at such a young age.

Having young talent is as important as it has ever been in the history of baseball, and continuing to develop young players can either help a team stay relevant or help a team evaluate who they can build their franchise around to have long-term success.

Looking back at the history of the St. Louis Browns/Cardinals, there have been several players who debuted with the team while still in their teens. Some players were regulars, some were late-season call-ups, and a handful were seen as " emergency replacements " to play just for maybe a day or two before Minor League Baseball was created. In the early days of baseball, players would be signed from independent leagues and teams and there would be no other option than give them to another team or release them.

Thanks to Branch Rickey, major league teams were able to purchase minor league teams so that they could create their own minor league development systems. Rickey was with the Cardinals at the time, and his doing this allowed the Cardinals to have multiple lower-level teams for developing players so they could be ready to come to the big leagues when they were needed. This led to instant success for the Cardinals, as they won their first World Series championship shortly after purchasing minor league teams in 1926.

Before teams were buying minor league teams, and before the minor leagues were invented, it was common to see very young players play for Major League teams in the bright and early days of baseball. Here were the 5 youngest players who appeared for the then St.Louis Browns during the seasons spanning from 1882-1899.

5. Pitcher Pink Hawley (1892) 19 years, 252 days

Hawley had a 10-year career in the big leagues with the Browns, Pirates, Reds, Giants, and the original Brewers team in 1901.

He did not pitch particularly well in his three seasons in St. Louis, going 30-58 with a 4.45 ERA in 108 appearances with the team, including leading the league with 27 losses in 1894. That following season the Browns traded him to Pittsburgh.

4. Third basemen Kohly Miller (1892) 19 years, 251 days

Miller only played five major league games and just one in St. Louis. In 18 professional at-bats, he had 2 hits and 1 RBI. Understandably with how long ago Miller played, and how brief his career was, the information regarding Miller is very bleak. So bleak in fact that it is unknown what handedness he hit and threw with.

3. Pitcher Silver King (1887) 19 years, 95 days

King appeared in his first major league game with the Kansas City Cowboys as an 18-year-old before playing for the St. Louis Browns. He would go on to play 3 seasons with St. Louis where he saw his most success, especially in 1888.

That year he put up stats that we will never see again with how drastic the game has changed. He started a mind whopping 64 games in 1888 (all of them complete games) won 45 of those starts, and had a 195 ERA+, he threw 584.2 innings and tossed 6 shutouts, all of those stats led the league that season.

His 1.63 ERA in 1888 was the first of two ERA titles King won in his career, doing it again with the Chicago White Stockings two years later.

2. Pitcher Willie McGill (1891) 17 years, 174 days

Imagine playing in the big leagues before graduating high school. McGill actually made his MLB debut in 1890 with a team called the Cleveland Infants at just 16 years old.

The Browns purchased McGill from a team that was only in major league baseball for one season known as the Cincinnati Kelly's Killers in 1891. This was McGill's only season with the Browns as he won a career-high 18 games with a 2.70 ERA in 29 starts and 33 appearances.

1. Pitcher/Outfielder Nat Hudson (1886) 17 years, 96 days

Now there is some dispute about when Hudson was actually born, but based on the current date of birth that is found on Baseball Reference, Hudson was the youngest player to ever play a game for the St. Louis Browns in the 19th century.

In his age 17 season, he went 16-10 with a 3.03 ERA and won the pivotal game 5 of the World Series against the Chicago White Stockings, which led to the Browns winning the championship in 6 games. Hudson was also a part-time position player on days he did not pitch, as he appeared in the outfield, first base, and even shortstop during his career. He hit .247 with 3 home runs and 58 RBI in his hitting career.

Despite getting his career off to a good start at such a young age, he was out of baseball by the age of 20. During the 1890 season, Hudson was suspended by the team for insubordination and when he tried to dispute it, he was traded to Louisville and never played in the MLB again. The story about this and an overall biography of Hudson is explained in depth here. Let's now look at the 5 youngest players to appear in a game for the Cardinals in the 20th century.

5. Shortstop Masyn Winn (2023) 21 years, 150 days

The young phenom was finally called up to the big leagues last month after a great season with Memphis. The Cardinals' 2020 2nd-round pick made a quick rise through the Cardinal farm system en route to a big league promotion at just 21 years old. MLB.com has Winn as the Cardinals' number-one prospect.

Winn has struggled at the plate in a small sample size so far, but he is coming off his first big league homer in Atlanta during this current road trip. Defensively he has been everything we've expected, a cannon of an arm, but he has the awareness to know when to use it. The Cardinals have to partially limit his number of at-bats this season regarding his rookie status, but expect him to be the Cardinals' everyday shortstop for the next several seasons.

4. Albert Pujols (2001) 21 years, 76 days

Pujols hit his way onto the Cardinals' Opening Day roster in 2001, skipping Triple-A. He would go on to have one of the greatest rookie campaigns in MLB history. Pujols had a .329/.403/.610 slash line, 37 home runs and 130 RBI. He was an All-Star, Rookie of the Year, Silver Slugger, and finished 4th in the MVP voting.

In his first few seasons in St. Louis, he did not play first base. Mark McGwire was still on the team, so Pujols got a lot of time at 3rd base. Then in the following season when the Cardinals acquired Scott Rolen, he was moved to the outfield. 1st base didn't become available until Tino Martinez's contract expired, they may not have expected Pujols to blossom so quickly as a dominant hitter in the big leagues, but the Cardinals were willing to put him at any position just to get his bat in the lineup.

3. Outfielder Magneuris Sierra (2017) 21 years, 30 days

Sierra was a speedy outfield prospect with the Cardinals before his call-up in 2017. In May of that season, Sierra made his MLB debut and got off to a very fast start at the plate. He began his career with a 9 game hitting streak which was the longest hitting streak for a Cardinal player starting his career until Jordan Walker broke that record this season.

In 22 games with the Cardinals Sierra hit .317 (all his hits were singles) and he drove in 5 runs. Sierra was one of 4 players traded to the Marlins in the Marcell Ozuna trade in the 2017 offseason, the trade that also included All-Star pitchers Sandy Alcantara and Zac Gallen.

2. Right Fielder Jordan Walker (2023) 20 years, 312 days

The path of Jordan Walker's career is very similar to Pujols. He went straight from Double-A to the big leagues after hitting himself on the way to the team, playing the outfield to get his bat in the lineup, and showing great poise and maturity at such a young age.

Walker was in the lineup on Opening Day this season, becoming the first Cardinal to appear in a game at age 20 in over two decades. He got off to a great start surpassing Sierra for having the longest hitting streak to start a career with St. Louis, then he was sent down to work on hitting the ball in the air more. He is doing that now while still hitting for average, and adding his steady improvement defensively, Walker seems to be blossoming into a future star. Cardinals fans should be very optimistic about what Jordan Walker could become for this franchise.

1. Pitcher Rick Ankiel (2000) 20 years, 101 days

Rick Ankiel was actually first called up by the Cardinals in 1999 as a teenager, but his first appearance in the 2000 season makes him the youngest player to appear in a game for the Cardinals in the 21st century. Ankiel was a flamethrower left-handed pitcher who showed signs of brilliance early on in his career. In his first two seasons, he was 11-8 with an ERA just over 3, and he had a 10 K/9 rate. Things snowballed for Ankiel though in the postseason.

In the NLDS against the Braves, Ankiel was very wild, he walked 6 batters and threw 5 wild pitches in just 2.2 innings before he was pulled. It didn't get much better in the NLCS against the Mets when he walked 5 and threw 4 wild pitches in just 1.1 inning. The control problems continued the following season which led to Ankiel trying to come back to the big leagues as a position player, since he was so young, he was able to try and revive his career.

After several seasons in the minor leagues, Ankiel finally made it back to the Cardinals as a center fielder in 2007, hitting a home run in his first game back, and he was able to have a long career despite all of his setbacks.