St. Louis Cardinals: 10 Most Valuable Draft Picks Since the Turn of the Century
1. Yadier Molina, Round 4, 2000
Cardinals career (2004-present): 1,520 games, 5,800 plate appearances, .282/.336/.395 slash line, 101 homers, 666 RBI, 30.7 rWAR, 2006 & 2011 World Series champion, Seven-time NL All-Star (every season since 2009), Eight-time Gold Glove winner (every season since 2008), Silver Slugger (C) in 2013
The list of accomplishments above should pretty much do all the talking necessary to prove that Molina is the greatest Cardinals draft pick of the century. While the draft market for Puerto Rican players has historically been lesser than it is for their American counterparts, the fact that the Cards were able to get him in the fourth round, after taking guys like Shaun Boyd, Blake Williams, Chris Narveson, and Chase Voshell, is an absolutely unbelievable accomplishment.
At this point, most objective baseball observers agree that Molina is the best defensive catcher in baseball history, and while his ability behind the plate has been lessened over time by the effects of age and overuse, he was still head-and-shoulders above pretty much every other catcher in the league from a defensive standpoint for a long, long time. The fact that he was an MVP-caliber from 2011-13 and is still a solid contact hitter, even in his age 33 season, is just gravy. This is a ranking of the Cardinals’ best value draft picks since the turn of the century, but considering Molina’s status as a likely future Hall-of-Famer, it’s safe to say that he’s also the team’s best draft pick since 2000, as well as one of their best ever.