Under-the-radar Cardinals pitching prospect wins second weekly award in 2025

It has been almost one year to the date when the Cardinals used their fifth-round pick in the 2024 MLB Draft on Braden Davis out of the University of Oklahoma.

Davis, who didn't make his professional debut until this season for Low-A Palm Beach, has been turning quite few heads for his early success on the mound.

The 22-year-old was named the Florida State League pitcher of the Week for a 11-strikeout outing he threw last week against Dunedin. It was his 6th start of throwing 5 or more innings in this season. It was the second time he has earned a Player of the Week honor this year.

Through 69 innings thrown so far in the 2025 season, Davis has struck out 97 batters, which is good for first place in the entire Florida State League. He has blanked opposing teams with his impressive bat-missing ability, as he has struck out at least five batters in 13 of his 16 outings. That also includes two performances in which he punched out 11 and 12 batters that won him Player of the Week honors.

So after winning two different Player of the Week awards, leading the Florida State League in strikeouts, and racking up the whiffs each night, why isn't Davis getting promoted?

Sometimes, when you see pitchers around Minor League Baseball with high strikeout and whiff numbers, control could also be an underlying issue. That is just the case here, as the Oklahoma product has walked 51 batters over his 69 innings pitched, which is good for a 6.7 BB/9. That walk rate is on pace to be the highest walk total in his entire career, dating back to the beginning of his college career.

On top of working on cutting down the free passes, the Texas native has been clearly working on his arsenal. Just last month, he hit a new career high in velocity of 96.9 MPH in a game against Lakeland.

While it wouldn't be a huge surprise to see Davis get more time in Low-A Palm Beach to work out his control issues, it also would not be a huge surprise to see a promotion to High-A Peoria. Now that we are past the draft and more players will need to be added to the domestic reserve list and potentially added to rosters, Davis moving on to Peoria might just be in the cards.