In the 4th round, the Cardinals do tend to be a little more predicable than in other rounds. So, predictable, I will even venture a guess that the player's stats are listed below...

Three of the past five years, the Cardinals have taken a college senior (I think DeJong was actually a redshirt junior) in the 4th round. For some reason, they have not figured out it would be optimal to draft college seniors in rounds 6-10 and use the savings to sign some HS players that fell after round 10, but that's another story...

Anyway, I am going to give you the stat lines of three college third basemen this year:

Player A - .400/.562/.727 - 20 doubles, 1 triple, 15 HR - 63 walks/52 K's - 8/9 stolen bases - 7 errors/.948 FLD%

Player B - .362/.502/.723 - 11 doubles, 3 triples, 17 HR - 47 walks/47 K's - 11/13 stolen bases - 10 errors/.939 FLD%

Player C - .348/.440/.691 - 17 doubles, 0 triples, 18 HR - 28 walks/49 K's - 9/15 stolen bases - 4 errors/.965 FLD%

One of them is going to go in the first round. The other two probably won't even be in consideration until round 4 at the earliest, and even then, I don't expect much interest in them this early in the draft.

Other people to consider:

- JJ Schwarz - 1B/C - after having a terrible junior season, Schwarz returned to Gainesville to rebuild his draft stock, and that he did. Hitting .325/.404/.601 with 16 doubles, 2 triples and 12 HR. He had 28 walks to 53 K's, so that is a strike against him, so to speak. But at least he caught more than last year...

- Scott Schreiber - 1B/OF - He hit .369/.446/.692 with 13 doubles, 1 triple and 18 HR. I think he's more of an 8th round type pick than 4th, but...

Oh, if you were wondering, the other two years the Cardinals took a college arm and a prep bat, so they might do the unpredictable...