Inside The Cardinals

Cardinals Projected To Bring Shortstop Phenom To St. Louis

Who will be the next future star to join the Cardinals organization?
Patrick McAvoy|
Feb 26, 2021; Jupiter, Florida, USA; A general view of the St. Louis Cardinals logo on the stadium at Roger Dean Stadium during spring training workouts. Mandatory Credit: Jasen Vinlove-Imagn Images
Feb 26, 2021; Jupiter, Florida, USA; A general view of the St. Louis Cardinals logo on the stadium at Roger Dean Stadium during spring training workouts. Mandatory Credit: Jasen Vinlove-Imagn Images | Jasen Vinlove-Imagn Images

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St. Louis Cardinals

The St. Louis Cardinals are just four days away from adding another potential star to the organization.

St. Louis' farm system is loaded with high-end talent led by No. 1 prospect JJ Wetherholt. He recently was promoted to Triple-A just about a year after joining the organization as the No. 7 pick in the 2024 MLB Draft.

Now, the Cardinals will make their next first-round selection at No. 5 when the MLB Draft kicks off on July 13th. Baseball America's Carlos Collazo released their latest mock draft and predicted that the Cardinals are going to strike gold by taking high school shortstop Eli Willits.

"No. 5. Cardinals — Eli Willits, SS, Fort Cobb-Broxton (Okla.) HS," Collazo said. "Weeks ago, I’d heard that the Cardinals are excited about both Eli Willits and Jamie Arnold. I’ve continued to hear more of the same in recent days, and both are available for them in this iteration of the mock. I don’t have a strong read on whether they’d prefer a pitcher or hitter, but I do think Willits checks a ton of the boxes for what I assume the Cardinals and their model really covets—youth and contact skills among them."

As mock drafts have stacked up left and right, this has been a pretty consistent prediction for St. Louis. It would be lovely to land someone like shortstop Ethan Holliday or left-handed pitcher Kade Anderson, but both are expected to go earlier than No. 5. The Cardinals are going to have a chance at some high-end talent. Pairing someone like Willits with Wetherholt, and Masyn Winn would form a very formidable infield of the future along with guys like Thomas Saggese and Brendan Donovan.

More MLB: Cardinals Predicted To Make Once-Unthinkable Nolan Arenado Move

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Patrick McAvoy
PATRICK MCAVOY

Patrick McAvoy's experiences include local and national sports coverage at the New England Sports Network with a focus on baseball and basketball. Outside of journalism, Patrick also is pursuing an MBA at Brandeis University. After quickly rising as one of the most productive writers on the site, he expanded his reach to write for Baseball Essential, a national baseball site in Sports Illustrated Media Group. For all business/marketing inquiries regarding Inside The Cardinals, please reach out to Scott Neville: nevilles@merrimack.edu

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