While the St. Louis Cardinals’ big league team struggles, some players in their farm system are putting on impressive performances. According to MLB.com, the Cardinals’ Farm system was ranked 23rd out of the 30 teams going into the 2024 season. Some of their top prospects, like Masyn Winn and Victor Scott, have already proven to be some of the big-league club’s only bright spots in 2024. However, some performances in AAA and AA are exciting to watch.
Standouts From The Cardinals Farm System This Season
A Pair Of Strong Batters In Memphis
The Cardinals retooled their farm system at the 2023 deadline with a handful of trades. Thomas Saggese was one of those big additions. Saggese was a return for Jordan Montgomery from the eventual World Series Champion Texas Rangers. Heading into the year, he was one of four players in the Cardinals system to make the MLB top 100 prospect list, coming in at 100. While the infielder has had a good season with the Cardinals’ AAA affiliate Memphis Redbirds, he’s being outshined by a less heralded batter on his team.
Second Baseman Cesar Prieto is having a hot start to 2024. His slash line is .332/.359/.537, and his OPS is .896. His batting average is the 10th highest in the AAA International League. Prieto has six home runs in just under 130 plate appearances. He strikes out just 11.6 percent of the time, the fifth-lowest strikeout percentage in the International League.
Saggese is having a promising season in his own right. His slash line is .241/.336/.397, and his OPS is .733. He has four home runs and six doubles across 116 at-bats in Memphis. While Saggese’s start isn’t the strongest of his Redbird teammates, he is doing enough to keep himself in the conversation of the most promising Cardinals prospects.
Jordan Hicks Trade Returns Pitching Well In AAA
While Jordan Hicks is now a solid starter for the San Francisco Giants, the players that the Cardinals got back from him from the Toronto Blue Jays at the 2023 deadline are performing well in Memphis. Sem Robberse and Adam Kloffenstein joined the team at the deadline, and both are pitching in 2024 for the Cardinals AAA affiliate.
Robberse is having a great season. He’s got the sixth-best ERA in the International League at .281. He’s also third in the league for WHIP at 1.01, just behind MLB’s top pitching prospect and recent Pittsburg Pirate call-up Paul Skenes. Robberse is fifth in the International League for strikeouts with 42 this season and has the sixth-lowest batting average against him at .221. While pitching hasn’t been the Cardinals biggest problem so far in 2024, Robberse is proving that if there is a need to tap a minor leaguer to join the big league rotation he would be the guy early on.
Kloffenstein has the next-best WHIP of Redbirds pitchers at 1.39. While the right-handed pitcher has had his struggles at 0-4 and a 5.35 ERA, he has shown signs that he can be exciting down the road. He has 29 strikeouts across 35.1 innings pitched in seven starts, and batters are just hitting for a .228 average against him. His control has been his biggest problem, with more than five walks averaged per nine pitched innings and four wild pitches. If he can reign in his control, Kloffenstein’s numbers would improve drastically.
Checking In On The Cardinals Top Two Prospects
The Cardinals top two prospects are a pair of AA pitchers. Tink Hence and Tekoah Roby are one and two, respectively, on the Cardinal’s top prospect list. Hence is the 56th-rated prospect in all of baseball, while Roby is 88th.
The 2020 draft pick, Hence, has a 3.60 ERA and a .93 WHIP so far with St. Louis’ AA affiliate Springfield Cardinals. His most recent start on May 7 saw him allow six earned runs in just over four innings pitched. It was by far his worst start of 2024, as he has allowed one run or fewer in four of his six starts. In his last start in April, Hence struck out 10 across seven innings pitched. Hence, this year has the seventh most strikeouts in the AA Texas League with 36 Ks. He has the third-lowest batting average against him in the league at .185
Roby was another part of the return for the Montgomery Trade from the Rangers. Roby has struggled in Springfield with a 5.97 ERA and 1.53 WHIP in his six starts. He’s struck out 30 batters but given up nine home runs. The Cardinals hope their number two prospect can work out his issues.
Cardinals highlight Two Prospects For April.
In April, the Cardinals named Springfield outfielder Nathan Church and A affiliate Palm Beach Cardinals left-handed pitcher Quinn Mathews as their top Minor Leaguers.
In April, Church led all Cardinals minor leaguers in OPS, hits, runs, and total bases. Church also had a 13-game hitting streak in April and reached safely in 19 out of 20 games played.
“Nathan’s month of April was highlighted by a .349 average and .914 OPS, with only 5 strikeouts in 95 plate appearances,” said Cardinals Assistant GM & Director of Player Development Gary LaRocque.
Matthews allowed one run across 18 innings in his four starts for Palm Beach. He struck out 38 in four starts, including two games with at least 11 strikeouts. The 6-4 pitcher was drafted in 2023 after winning the honors of Pac-12 pitcher of the year with Stanford. The 23-year-0lds start to his professional career has been dazzling through one month.
Main Photo Credits: Sam Navarro-USA TODAY Sports
