Last year, when Tekoah Roby was voted as the 10th best prospect, he had not yet proven that his stuff would return. Had fans known that he would have the 2025 season he did, he would have been voted higher. So weirdly, these rankings do not reflect his rise and fall, so to speak, as you would maybe assume. In fact, he is arguably considered a better prospect this year with a stronger system and more high upside players in front of him, despite dropping one spot. Here is your list:
- JJ Wetherholt
- Liam Doyle
- Rainiel Rodriguez
- (or 5) Quinn Mathews
- ( or 4) Jurrangelo Cjintje
- Joshua Baez
- Leonardo Bernal
- Jimmy Crooks
- Brandon Clarke
- Tink Hence
- Tekoah Roby
Jurrangelo Cjintje
I’m going to make this introduction every time because this may be the first prospect vote you’ve seen. When the Cardinals traded Brendan Donovan, we had already ranked the first 7 prospects. Cjintje was by most measures going to be somewhere in that top 7. So instead of starting over, Cjintje is facing off against the prospects, one-by-one, head-to-head, until he loses. He has already defeated Jimmy Crooks, Leonardo Bernal, and now Joshua Baez. If he defeats Quinn Mathews, he would get a crack at Rainiel Rodriguez. If he loses the vote, consider him the #5 prospect in the system. Scouting report below:
Cjintje is technically a switch pitcher, but it is very clear from the scouting and the numbers that he is a far better pitcher right-handed. From the right side, Cjintje throws mid-90s and has topped at 99 mph. He has both a cutter and a sweeper, though the sweeper is the better pitch. He also throws an upper-80s change. From his left side, he is effectively a two-pitch pitcher, throwing low 90s with a solid sweeper. Statistically, it wasn’t close. He walked more than he struck out and allowed 7 homers in 21 innings from the left side, but from the right side he had a 5.0 K/BB ratio and only allowed 3 homers in 34.1 IP.
Comparable Player Poll
Today is not really a clean comparison, in my opinion. I don’t think these pitchers are alike and I would ordinarily try to find two pitchers who were more similar. But in a weird way, sometimes when players are total opposites, it makes for a fun poll too. Today, we have a player who is relatively close to the major leagues against a player who made last year’s top 20. Pete Hansen appears in another player poll and I would like to see exactly how high you guys are on him after he won last week’s poll. In the other corner, I’m not real sure where you guys are on Chen Wei-Lin after a bit of a down year.
Pete Hansen has methodically made his way to AAA after being drafted in the 3rd round of the 2022 draft. He spent the following year in Low A, he spent 2024 in High A, and he spent 2025 in AA. He will be spending his age 25 season in AAA after posting a 3.93 ERA/3.65 FIP/3.71 xFIP with a 21.1 K% and a low walk rate. I don’t know that he has a standout pitch, but his main strength is his command.
On the flip side, hard to argue command was Chen-Wei Lin’s strength with a 17.2 BB%. Command was less of an issue in 2024 and it may have been injury-related, as he was limited to 50.1 IP last season. Pitch-wise, he may have an MLB quality fastball right now and Fangraphs think its potential is a 70 grade fastball. Even with his command issues, he still had a 3.69 FIP and 4.17 xFIP (with a 4.89 ERA) in High A, so if healthy, along with the fact that he’ll be 24, he may very well be in AA for the majority of 2026.
New Add
Folks, the day has arrived. The day I finally add newly acquired Tai Peete. In case you have the memory of a goldfish or just don’t keep that up-to-date on things, Peete was part of the return for Brendan Donovan. I have been trying to add him to the voting for a few votes, but I think this is a strong system and other players just made more sense. But finally, I think he makes the most sense to add at this point.
Jesus Baez, IF – 21
Stats (High A): 416 PAs, .244/.327/.397, 10.3 BB%, 18.5 K%, .153 ISO, .270 BABIP, 116 wRC+, 121 DRC+
Scouting (FG): 30/45 Hit, 35/50 Game Power, 50/55 Raw Power, 40/40 Speed, 40/45 Fielding
Just as a quick reminder, because I don’t know if I’ve pointed this out. The age I list is the age they are considered for this upcoming season. Baez is being listed at 21 despite currently being 20 because his birthday is in 10 days. I think Baez is a good player to point this out for because it essentially means he will be 21 and in AA for the 2026 season. That’s probably the thing he has going in his favor the most honestly. He is younger than everyone in the top 10 except for Rainiel Rodriguez.
Nathan Church, OF – 25
Stats (AA): 129 PAs, .336/.380/.563, 6.2 BB%, 7.8 K%, .227 ISO, .327 BABIP, 157 wRC+, 136 DRC+
AAA: 242 PAs, .335/.400/.521, 9.9 BB%, 10.3 K%, .186 ISO, .338 BABIP 144 wRC+, 132 DRC+
MLB: 65 PAs, .179/.254/.250, 4.6 BB%, 27.7 K%, .071 ISO, .237 BABIP, 46 wRC+, 78 DRC+
Scouting: 55/55 Hit, 35/35 Game Power, 40/40 Raw Power, 55/55 Speed, 45/45 Field
The other reason I felt the need to point this out – and I would argue this point needs to be applied to Church as well as Baez – is that when you see the age and you see the stats, you might mistakenly think they compiled those stats at their listed age. Church had his ascension last year at 24-years-old and not 25-years-old and I think that’s an important thing to know. Some of you probably already know this, I just feel like sometimes our brain can unconsciously associate their stats with the age I have listed and they are actually a year younger when they compiled those stats.
Also, while I doubt I’m as high on his defense as some of you commenters, a 45 is an absurd grade for his defense honestly.
Yhoiker Fajardo, RHP – 19
Stats (CPX): 6 G, 20.2 IP, 31.6 K%, 9.2 BB%, 51.2 GB%, .205 BABIP, 0.44 ERA/2.41 FIP/3.29 xFIP
Low A: 13 GS, 51.1 IP, 27.8 K%, 9.4 BB%, 50 GB%, .326 BABIP, 2.98 ERA/2.50 FIP/3.14 xFIP
Scouting: 40/45 Fastball, 55/60 Slider, 30/50 Change, 35/50 Command
I probably could have waited to add Fajardo. Last week, I took out Ryan Mitchell so that I could add Fajardo and Church. And while all the voting basically went to just two people, Church certainly justified his early inclusion with the results of the poll. Fajardo performed less well, but again, it’s difficult to say when two players got 67% of the vote and nobody else got 10%. To keep on the age theme, Fajardo pitched in both the complex league and Low A ball at 18-years-old, so he will presumably be pitching in High A at 19-years-old.
Tanner Franklin, 22 – RHP
Stats: 3 GS, 6 IP, 32.1 K%, 17.9 BB%, 66.7 GB%, .333 BABIP, 1.50 ERA/3.95 FIP/4.28 xFIP
Scouting: 60/70 Fastball, 40/55 Slider, 30/40 Change, 40/45 Cutter, 30/40 Command
Franklin pitched at both Low A and High A after he got drafted mainly a way of building up his innings just a little more and perhaps also to get him more used to pitching into August. I’m not sure we should really pay attention to his stats last year even slightly, because he was effectively still in the bullpen given the 2 inning stints. He’ll throw more than 2 innings per start, but I would be surprised if it’s 5 innings per start. But yeah as far as his legitimacy as a starting pitching prospect, his first step will be remaining effective over 3-4 inning stints first.
Ixan Henderson, 24 – LHP
Stats (AA): 25 GS, 132 IP, 25.2 K%, 9.6 BB%, 37.1 GB%, .278 BABIP, 2.59 ERA/3.16 FIP/4.00 xFIP/4.51 DRA
Scouting: 50/60 Fastball, 45/50 Slider, 30/40 Change, 40/45 Cutter, 40/50 Command
Its times like these that I really, really wish we could have finished the top 20 earlier. I feel the recent news is totally going to affect how many votes he gets and I’m not convinced it should. I just found out Brandon Clarke is out until June and I might be breaking this news to some of you and if this was more widely known when Clarke made the #9 prospect, would he be the #9 prospect? Honestly, the timing couldn’t be worse, because we don’t actually know anything. And fans are absolutely going to assume – most of them I think – it’s the worst case scenario. Should we ignore the news because the first 11 prospects have the benefit of not having had reported to spring training yet? This is a tough one honestly.
Cooper Hjerpe, 25 – LHP
Didn’t pitch
Scouting: 55/55 Fastball, 55/60 Slider, 50/50 Change, 45/50 Cutter, 45/50 Command
Good news about Hjerpe: he had Tommy John surgery in April of last season. That is not a statement that is usually said, but basically it means Hjerpe’s Tommy John recovery should put him in line to throw half a season or so of innings. A very reasonable timeframe of returning in fact would have him in line to throw his career high in professional innings. That’s the bad news about Hjerpe: he hasn’t given us a lot of faith in staying healthy.
Brycen Mautz, 24 – LHP
Stats (AA): 25 GS, 114.2 IP, 28.6 K%, 7.1 BB%. 41.2 GB%, .286 BABIP, 2.98 ERA/3.58 FIP/3.20 xFIP/4.54 DRA
Scouting: 45/45 Fastball, 55/55 Slider, 45/50 Curve, 30/35 Change, 50/55 Command
Fangraphs released the Cardinals list recently and with that came some updated scouting. If you were wondering, the pitches did not collectively change a lot. The fastball and slider were the exact same, his actual and potential both improved by 5, but his change went down 5 in both actual and potential. His command current took a bump but his potential remained at 55. Basically, they think he’s a slightly better pitcher than when he was graded on last year’s list, but his potential hasn’t moved.
Deniel Ortiz, 21 – 1B/3B
Stats (Low A): 320 PAs, .285/.406/.446, 15.3 BB%, 27.5 K%, .162 ISO, .386 BABIP, 145 wRC+, 119 DRC+
High A: 130 PAs, .336/.438/.500, 13.8 BB%, 22.3 K%, .164 ISO, .436 BABIP, 168 wRC+, 97 DRC+
Somewhat unbelievably, Fangraphs gave an updated list and yet I still have no scouting numbers for Deniel Ortiz. Whether or not you think Ortiz should be a top 20 prospect, is is objectively insane that he is not among the top 53 by Fangraphs. I have been very open that I’m more of a scouting the stat line guy than probably wise, but I feel like certainly stats alone should get you on the top 53. It’s not like he did this in the Dominican Summer League. Or when he was old for his level. Age-appropriate (young if anything), elite performance across two levels – I mean he should be above most relievers at minimum, no?
Yairo Padilla, 19 – SS
Stats (CPX): 38 G, 148 PAs, .283/.396/.367, 12.2 BB%, 14.2 K%, .083 ISO, .340 BABIP, 119 wRC+
Scouting: 25/55 Hit, 20/55 Game Power, 40/60 Raw Power, 50/40 Speed, 30/40 Field
The interesting thing about Padilla has a prospect is I did not realize that his prospect ranking was quite so tied to a belief in his bat. I honestly thought it was because of a belief that he would be an above average shortstop and that his bat would be good enough – a Masyn Winn type essentially. And while that may be what other publications think, this is very clearly a bat first profile. I actually think Fangraphs is lower on his defense than other publications to be fair, nonetheless, I found that surprising when I saw the scouting.
Tai Peete, OF – 20
Stats (High A): 529 PAs, .217/.288/.404, 8.7 BB%, 30.6 K%, .187 ISO, .282 BABIP, 79 wRC+
Another trick I like to use with age: you look at the age for the upcoming season and then you look at how they performed at the most recent level. Then you decide whether or not they will be promoted from that level in the upcoming season – in some cases, even if you expect them to start at the level they were at, you can see them getting promoted quickly. In Peete’s case, it seems pretty clear, he’ll be spending his age 20 season back at High A. And he’ll probably be there all season, barring a Joshua Baez like crushing of the baseballs. Good news: you see that .187 ISO from a 19-year-old in High A.