Tanner Franklin leads the charge of the Cardinals' 9 Stuff+ standouts

After every amateur draft, fans naturally home in on their team's first-round pick. It's a natural reaction; generally, this player is expected to forge the best career out of any of the player the team drafted. So when a later pick wrestles his way to the forefront through his exceptional performance, it's worthy of a celebration. That may be what right-handed pitcher Tanner Franklin has done, as the St. Louis Cardinals' second-round pick in 2025 has been filthy in his career thus far, and Baseball America's Stuff+ leaderboard reflects that.

Put briefly, Stuff+ is Baseball America's metric that takes into account various metrics of pitches to determine their effectiveness, with 100 being average. Franklin, who has adjusted swimmingly to the rotation from the bullpen, has a four-seam fastball with a Stuff+ rating of 116, and according to Baseball America, he may have the best fastball of any starting pitcher in the minor leagues.

The Cardinals' new brass has heavily targeted high-octane fastballs that can elicit swings and misses, but Franklin has more than just a four-seam fastball as an elite weapon in his arsenal, as his cutter has a Stuff+ rating of 114. Franklin's four-seamer and cutter served him well across High-A and Double-A in 2026, as he pitched to a 3.94 ERA and had 91 strikeouts in 72.2 innings.

Franklin could become a beast in the Cardinals rotation in the not-too-distant future and be the blueprint for the Cardinals' development of other starters' fastballs. But he's not the only member of the Cardinals farm system to feature highly on the leaderboards.

Eight other Cardinals dot Baseball America's Stuff+ leaderboards

Alongside Franklin's 116 Stuff+ four-seam fastball lies that of Nate Dohm, also at 116. The Cardinals acquired Dohm along with Jesus Báez in 2025 from the New York Mets in exchange for closer Ryan Helsley. But while Báez has flourished, Dohm has struggled, holding a 7.43 ERA with High-A Peoria in 2026 and walking an unsightly 6.1 batter per nine innings.

Franklin's cutter cohort in the Cardinals system is Patrick Galle, who was the player to be named later coming back to St. Louis from the Boston Red Sox in the Sonny Gray deal. Similarly to Dohm, Galle battled the strike zone in 2026, walking 42 hitters in 49.1 innings, and he held a 6.02 ERA.

Sandro Santana, a player whom St. Louis grabbed from the Arizona Diamondbacks in the Lars Nootbaar trade, has the top left-handed slider via Stuff+ in the minor leagues, at 126. He held a 28.6% swinging-strike rate on the pitch in 2026 out of the bullpen, where he could become a valuable southpaw for the Cardinals. He had an exceptional 1.97 ERA in Double-A 2026 while fanning an eye-popping 101 hitters in 64 innings.

The other strong slider in the organization belongs to Jack Martinez, who was — surprise! — another external acquisition. Martinez also came from Arizona, but as the lone piece in return for Nolan Arenado. The right-handed Martinez has a slider grading at 119 and held a 4.61 ERA across Low-A and High-A.

The top curveball in the organization belongs to Jacob Odle, the only player on the list whom the Cardinals drafted prior to Chaim Bloom's time in the organization. The Cardinals chose Odle in the 14th round of the 2023 draft, and he broke out in 2026, with a 3.19 ERA in Low-A and High-A en route to being named the team's pitching prospect of the year. Odle will make for an interesting roster decision over the offseason, as he is eligible for the Rule 5 draft and would need to be added to the Cardinals 40-man roster if they don't want to risk losing him to another team.

Cade Crossland is tied with the Pittsburgh Pirates' Khristian Curtis for the top changup in Stuff+ across the entire minor leagues, at 117. Crossland, who credited his dad for his changeup's devilish spin rate of nearly 2,400 RPM, struggled to start the season in Low-A but turned it on as the temperature warmed up and was promoted to High-A in August. There, he surrendered just five runs in 25.1 innings. Crossland's off-speed pitch has over 20 inches of arm-side run, and according to Baseball America, his high spin rate gives it the look of a screwball.

Jovi Gálvez owns the top split-fingered fastball in the organization, at 117 Stuff+, followed by José Davila, at 115. Baseball America labeled Gálvez as a sleeper in the Cardinals' 2022 international signings, but although he's flashed some power stuff in relief, his control has been dismal, as he issued 16 free passes in 14 innings in Low-A this season, and that was actually his best walk rate since turning pro. Davila has also dealt with some control woes, as he held a 4.99 ERA across three levels. He is currently playing in the Venezuelan Winter League.

The Cardinals have clearly focused on finding pitchers who have outlier traits with their stuff, and while Franklin looks to be their prize pig, they've amassed plenty of other potential riches because of it. For many of the hurlers, control remains a weak spot, but if even a few of them manage to make an impact at the major league level, the Cardinals will be sitting pretty on the mound for years to come.

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