Marco Gonzales Leads Baseball America’s Top 10 St. Louis Cardinals Prospects
Baseball America will officially release its annual, much-anticipated list of the Top 10 prospects for each MLB team on their website Wednesday, though St. Louis Post-Dispatch Cardinals beat writer Derrick Goold, who is responsible for advising the Baseball America editors on Cardinals prospects, let the cat out of the bag on Tuesday at STLToday.com.
Lefthanded pitcher Marco Gonzales, who made a rapid ascension through the Cardinals’ system after being their first-round pick in the 2013 draft and pitched in the majors during 2014, headlines the list of prospects in the number one slot. (While Gonzales has already pitched in the majors and was a key part of the Cards’ playoff run in 2014, he is still considered a “prospect” because he has rookie eligibility heading into the 2014 season.)
Gonzales, who is projected as a starting pitcher long term, pitched out of the bullpen as both a lefthanded specialist and a long reliever in the playoffs this past season, and he could continue to fill the same role to start 2015. However, he is also a potential candidate for the starting rotation, as he is expected to battle for the fifth starter position with another highly-regarded young pitcher, Carlos Martinez, if the Cardinals don’t acquire another starter, which many have speculated that they will do in recent weeks.
More from St. Louis Cardinals
- St. Louis Cardinals: Randal Grichuk to begin Double-A rehab stint
- John Brebbia deserves a shot as the St. Louis Cardinals’ closer
- St. Louis Cardinals place Randal Grichuk on DL, recall José Martínez
- St. Louis Cardinals release RHP Corey Baker from organization
- St. Louis Cardinals activate Kolten Wong and Kevin Siegrist from DL, option Luke Weaver and Alex Mejia to Triple-A
The rest of the list includes, in order: righthanded pitcher Alex Reyes, outfielder Stephen Piscotty, outfielder Randal Grichuk, lefthanded pitcher Rob Kaminsky, righthanded pitcher Jack Flaherty, lefthanded pitcher Tim Cooney, righthanded pitcher Sam Tuivailala, outfielder Charlie Tilson, and outfielder Magneuris Sierra.
Two of those players, Grichuk and Tuivailala, saw action with the big-league team during 2014. Flaherty was the Cardinals’ second first-round pick in the most recent draft. Interestingly, the Cards’ first pick in that draft, Luke Weaver, did not make the list. For what it’s worth, Flaherty put up much better numbers during his first half-season of professional ball than Weaver did.
Based on their progression to date, it would seem that Piscotty, Cooney, and Tilson are the players on the list who have a realistic chance to make their major-league debut in 2015. With that said, the Cardinals clearly are not afraid to fast-track players, as we’ve seen with the rapid ascensions of guys like Gonzales, Tuivailala, and Michael Wacha recently, so nothing should be unexpected in terms of the Cards’ prospect progression this season.
Next: Rams' Aaron Donald Named PFWA Defensive Rookie of the Year