Draft Preview - St. Louis Cardinals
The twenty-third team draft preview on my blog focuses on the St. Louis Cardinals and their scouting director Jeff Luhnow.
Here's an excerpt from the writeup, which features small writeups on 25 players involved with Luhnow's work:
Jeff Luhnow is one of only a few scouting directors around baseball that also handle the player development department at the same time. This means that Luhnow is now solely responsible for prospects within the Cardinals’ organization, from drafting them to getting them to the Major Leagues. Needless to say, that’s a lot of pressure. The great thing about Jeff Luhnow is that he uses Twitter, and you can know where he is at times, though he hasn’t updated since last Monday. We’ll see if he sticks to that through the spring draft season. I, for one, would love to see what comes of that account. He has run five drafts with the Cardinals so far, and it would be interesting to see some form of public interest in his sixth. Looking at the trends from his first five years, I think you can see a specific Cardinal style of drafting and development. On the hitting side of things, it’s pretty obvious that he prefers players with good defensive value. Stock and Jackson were both considered questionable bats when they were picked a year ago, though no one doubted their defensive tools. That’s been fairly universal throughout the drafts that Luhnow has run, and I think it’s an interesting philosophy. He hasn’t shown a solid preference for prep or college bats, though he does like the solid college bats with some pop in there. That’s a pretty solid philosophy, though he’s been fine with going after up the middle prep bats, too, such as Kozma, Vasquez, and Rasmus. On the pitching side of things, he has shown a general preference for finished products with solid secondary stuff. This has led to more collegiate picks than prep picks, but he was quick to jump on the Shelby Miller train last June when he fell down to the Cards at the 19th pick. Generally, though, Luhnow greatly prefers college arms with durability and developed secondary stuff. These are general trends, and Luhnow has shown a willingness to go almost anywhere for talent.
Direct link here.
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What do you think? What will the Cardinals do?
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In my latest mock I have them taking Jedd Gyorko.
McShay, Todd McShay you hear me boy? It's me TJ and I'm coming for your damn job boy! Oh be scared, be very scared McShay.
by tj.hendricks on Mar 5, 2026 12:35 AM EST reply actions 0 recs
Cards 1st Pick
It’ll be tough to predict the Cardinals first pick. Most Cards fans always assume Luhnow will go college with their 1st round selection but for the past three years he’s had a high school player right near the top.
In 2007, they had Blake Beavan and Peter Kozma at the top of their board. Beaven went to Texas right before their pick and they went with Kozma.
In 2008, Aaron Hicks was said to be second on their board behind the obvious pick of Brett Wallace.
In 2009, they nabbed Shelby Miller.
The 25th pick could be anyone. The supplemental 1st round picks and 2nd round pick are more likely to be college guys. Luhnow hasn’t taken a high school player in either of those rounds since he drafted Tyler Herron and Josh Wilson in 2005. That’s 9 picks over the last 4 drafts all used on college players.
I expect that trend to continue this year as the Cardinals need to rebuild their farm system and college players can do that a little more quickly.
by UncleBuck44 on Mar 5, 2026 11:55 AM EST reply actions 0 recs
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