St. Louis Cardinals Select Puerto Rican SS Delvin Perez with 23rd Pick in MLB Draft

The Cardinals took a young, projectable shortstop with their first pick in the 2016 draft.

The St. Louis Cardinals have selected shortstop Delvin Perez with the 23rd pick in the 2016 MLB Draft. The 17-year-old Perez, who comes from the Puerto Rican International Baseball Academy, was ranked as the number nine prospect in the draft by MLB Pipeline.

Perez is considered a strong defensive shortstop who can stick at the position in the majors, and he’s wildly projectable since he’s just 17 and has yet to fill into his 6-foot-3, 165-pound frame. The chief concern that likely caused Perez to fall in the draft was that he apparently tested positive for PEDs a week before the draft.

Perez will join Edmundo Sosa, Juan Herrera, Allen Córdoba, and Oscar Mercado as the Cardinals’ top shortstop prospects. He’ll almost certainly be brought along slowly, and it would be a surprise if he even broke camp with a full-season minor-league club next year.

The 23rd pick is valued at $2,222,500, though the Cardinals will likely be able to sign Perez for that price or lower considering that he doesn’t have too many other options for next year.