The youth movement is in full swing for the St. Louis Cardinals

With the upsetting yet necessary trade of Brendan Donovan, the St. Louis Cardinals committed fully to a direction, something that was tough to say for much of this century. Even when the team was in its winning ways, there still seemed to be that hesitancy for the final move to put the team over the top. Now, Chaim Bloom has chosen which way to go, albeit moving backward to hopefully go forward in the near future.

The projected Cardinals starting lineup is full of homegrown youth.

As Dan Szymborski at FanGraphs released the ZiPS projections for the 2026 season, the site also has the option to sort by projected depth chart as estimated by Roster Resource. That feature has the Cardinals starting lineup to all be 28 years old or younger, with outfielder Lars Nootbaar being the oldest of the group. The veterans by age are Alec Burleson and Pedro Pages, while Burly and Nolan Gorman are the two with the most major league service time behind the rehabbing outfielder. What is truly interesting, though, is that FanGraphs shows how the organization acquired each of those players. Looking at the Cardinals' lineup, fans will see that the entire projected starting nine is made up of homegrown talent.

Of the group, the lowest-drafted player is Nootbaar, who was selected in the eighth round. Then it goes to catcher Pedro Pages, who may not even be the starter if the Cardinals truly stick to their offseason plan of 2016 international free agent signee Ivan Herrera being their primary catcher. Behind fifth-rounder Victor Scott II, the lineup is full of first- and second-rounders, showing that even though the team may be in a down era, its ability to churn out major league talent is still there.

Chaim Bloom cannot take all the credit for putting the organization in this spot, as everyone on the list joined the team during the John Mozeliak days, but it was Bloom's touch that created the playing time opportunities. Even though the lineup, especially the outfield, is young, I would say it is also tough to argue that the vast majority of them do not deserve a spot on a major league roster. I have consistently compared the Cardinals' version of a rebuild to that of the White Sox and Rockies, and I continually draw the conclusion that the Cardinals are better off because the players they have on the field are actually worthy of a big league job. Meanwhile, the people Chicago and Colorado trotted out during 100+ loss seasons were players who may have had difficulty even sticking on a minor league roster for competitive organizations.

For the Cardinals, their current young group, along with having six prospects in the preseason top 100 rankings, can set the tone for the direction and length of this rebuild. It would be a tough ask to say that all nine of this starting group can play their way into the future of the St. Louis Cardinals, but it should not be too far out of the realm of possibilities that we at least get some clarity on their future roles by the end of this 2026 season.