Prospect genius says the Cardinals' biggest strength is down on the farm

The St. Louis Cardinals dropped game two of a three-game set against the Colorado Rockies today. Poor execution, misplays, and the continued stalling of the Redbird offense were all commonplace this evening. Thankfully, according to one esteemed MLB analyst, the Cardinals are headed in the right direction. 

Keith Law, a senior writer at The Athletic who primarily covers MLB prospects, recently appeared on 101espn’s BK and Ferrario, where they discussed the Cardinals’ future and how things are shaping up. 

First, Law gave fans a baseline of what a premier organization looks like. 

“The Dodgers’ system is full of guys they drafted, but also guys they brought in from organizations and made them better,” Law said. “Their previous organizations weren’t able to help them in the same way, and the Dodgers could. For them, it’s a lot of velocity gains, and it’s a lot of swing adjustments. Those are their core competencies in terms of player development. …

“It just opens everything up. You can draft different guys, you can target different guys in trades. Majors and minors when you know you have these kinds of capabilities. And so it [also] opens the Cardinals up to do all kinds of different things!”

Law firmly believes in this Redbirds system and hasn’t shied away from praising POBO Chaim Bloom’s deadline acquisitions. 

“The Cardinals farm system is clearly in the top ten in baseball, probably trending toward the top five. I’d like to see what some of these recently drafted guys look like…Once I get some reports on those guys, I’ll feel a little bit more confident. But I generally liked what they did in the draft, and I liked what they did at the trade deadline. …

“I think the system has taken a really nice step forward. Between those two things, and the advancement of all these players…I was always a Chaim Bloom fan. I’ve known the guy forever. Frankly, I think he got a really raw deal in Boston, and part of why the Red Sox are better now, his fingerprints are on some of that, too.” 

Law surmises that as an organization, the Cardinals’ biggest strength isn’t Jordan Walker’s random ascension. Nor is it JJ Wetherholt’s soon-to-be golden glove at second base. It’s their newly equipped player development pipeline. 

Lots of organizations in MLB have the “draft and develop” strategy as their own; seldom does it come to pass as fans imagine. 

Prospects flame out, draft picks are blanks, and when your pipeline fails, you can’t slap a band-aid on an internal wound (e.g., signing Kyle Gibson and Lance Lynn to save the season). 

If what Law is saying is true, and the Cardinals really do have a weapon in their own camp, being the camp itself, what can fans expect in the coming years? 

What do Keith Law’s claims say about the future of Cardinal baseball? 

Law is simply giving the Cardinals a sticker. Like in early elementary school when you had a good day, and your color got moved from yellow to green. 

It won’t take long for that to change. In an instant, an organization trending toward competence can become muddled and gray. 

Recently, it’s been the Orioles, D-Backs, and Reds who have stalled. 

The Orioles had a system that some scouts and analysts were calling “the greatest of all time.” With the catching expertise of would-be superstar Adley Rutschman and the supporting cast of Gunnar Henderson, Heston Kjerstad, and Jackson Holliday, they looked like they were built to never lose again! 

Now, in the year 2026, Rutschman is donning rival threads (Boston Red Sox), Henderson has regressed beyond what anyone thought possible, and Kjerstad is hanging on to his MLB career for dear life. 

Similar scenes have unfolded in both Arizona and Cincinnati. Same show, different actors. 

The last thing Bloom’s Cardinals want to be is a relapse waiting to happen. And the key to sustaining organizational success is biding your time until the iron is hot. 

It may take some time, Cardinal Nation, but if what Law had to say means anything, it’s that the early stages of what was supposed to be a long and strenuous process are ahead of schedule. Good times aren’t too far ahead; keep on trekking. 

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