While the 2025 St. Louis Cardinals season wasn’t great, it was completely different at the Minor League level. Double-A Springfield won the Texas League title, while several prospects in the system took a big jump in terms of overall player stock.
Palm Beach Cardinals
The big standout, on paper, was left-hander Braden Davis. Davis, a fifth-round pick from Oklahoma in 2024, struck out a team-high 103 batters over 73.2 IP, a mammoth pace for the 5’11’’ pitcher.
While Davis’ fastball can run up to the mid-90s, his low-80s changeup was the difference maker. That pitch had a Whiff% of 60.3% in the Florida State League, the highest among all pitchers who induced at least 50 swings on the pitch type last season.
Moving on to other pitchers, former Maryland star Jason Savacool had a much better year in Palm Beach, technically his third. The former sixth-round pick struck out 46 over 56 (27.5% Whiff%) and only allowed two home runs in the FSL.
As for the offense, the star of the show was teenage catching prospect Rainiel Rodriguez. Rodriguez posted one of the highest Barrel (9.0%) in the Florida State League, as part of a season that saw him post a .871 OPS and hit a team-high 13 home runs across 60 games. Very little swing-and-miss (22.8% Whiff%).
Rodriguez started 2025 in the Florida Complex League after he belted 10 home runs in the DSL in 2024. The 19-year-old posted a 1.344 OPS in the FCL before his promotion to Low-A. And, he didn’t stop there, as Rodriguez received a late-season promotion to High-A.
Peoria Chiefs
Peoria’s 2025 roster includes two of the best pure contact hitters in the Midwest League last season, Jon Jon Gazdar (16.8% Whiff%) and Travis Honeyman (18.9%).
Gazdar was a 2024 MLB Draft pick, taken in the 11th round out of Austin Peay. Almost no power from him last season, as he picked just one home run and 15 extra-base hits. On the other hand, he led the Chiefs in total hits (103) and stole 20 bases.
Honeyman, a third-round pick out of Boston College in 2023, hit .321 in Palm Beach to pave his way to High-A. He posted a .390 on-base percentage but the question is whether he can stay on the field, something that’s been a problem dating back to his college days. The 24-year-old had multiple IL stints last season.
Moving on, we noted in the last section that Braden Davis was phenomenal in Low-A. He continued the train in High-A, as Davis struck out 50 batters over 36.2 IP with Peoria. His 41.8% Whiff% was the second-highest in the Midwest League last season.
Hard-throwing Chen-Wei Lin (30.2% Whiff%) struck out 46 but walked 29 over 38.2 IP.
Cade Winquest struck out 68 over 63.2 IP and was one of the best groundball pitchers in the circuit. The Yankees selected the hard-throwing right-hander in the 2025 Rule 5 Draft.
The Cardinals’ brass also received their first looks at two notable prospects acquired in the Ryan Helsley trade: Jesus Baez and Nate Dohm.
Baez slashed .243/.303/.378 with four home runs and seven extra-base hits over 27 games. A shortstop with power, Baez made consistent enough contact (24.9% Whiff%) and enters 2026 as one of the best infielders in the system.
As for Dohm, the right-hander was a formidable college pitcher at Mississippi State and showed a sharp slider and a mid-90s riding fastball as a pro last season. Dohm struck out 13 over 12.2 IP. He might be a reliever long-term, and if that were to be the case, he has the potential to be a good one.
Springfield Cardinals
It was a big overall year for Joshua Baez.
Baez, a second-round pick from the 2021 MLB Draft, earned a spot on the Cardinals’ 40-man roster after an electric season at the plate. The 22-year-old hit 20 combined home runs between High-A and Low-A, and 16 of those came with Springfield. Across 79 contests, Baez slashed .271/.374/.509 with 16 home runs and 32 extra-base hits, plus 34 stolen bases. Combined with his numbers from Peoria, Baez had 54 swipes.
Strikeouts were a killer for the 22-year-old outfielder in the past. In 2024, Baez struck out 114 times over 86 contests. This past year, that total came down to 103 over 117 contests. The swing-and-miss was low; his 25.1% Whiff% ranked over the Texas League median. He also got under and drove balls with regularity, as his 39.3% FB% was the highest in the circuit.
Swing-and-miss was a problem for former first-rounder Chase Davis, as he ranked among the bottom-35 (32.8%) in that category. Davis only had 26 extra-base hits over 113 contests.
Moving to some of the other hitting prospects, Leonardo Bernal picked up 32 extra-base hits over 107 games. Bernal, one of the three marquee catching prospects in St. Louis’ system, had a low Whiff% (22.4%).
Springfield also had two of the best pure contact hitters in the Texas League last season: Nathan Church (12.6%) and JJ Wetherholt (17.5%).
Cardinals fans saw Nathan Church late in the year. The 25-year-old outfielder crushed Double-A, as Church hit .336 with six home runs and 14 extra-base hits over 29 contests. Wetherholt, meanwhile, posted a .891 OPS, a stepping stone to a much greater performance in Triple-A.
As for the pitching staff, the Cardinals are going to need some of their young arms from the Minors to step forward soon. Liam Doyle made a late cameo in Springfield but the marquee starting pitcher prospect on the team was Tekoah Roby. Roby, on the Cardinals’ 40-man roster, was acquired in the Jordan Montgomery trade from nearly three years ago.
The 24-year-old right-hander struck out 57 over 47 innings with Springfield before he moved to Triple-A. Roby netted one of the highest Whiff% (32.7%) in the Texas League last season. He’s got a lot of weapons to work with, including a four-seamer that he can run up to 97 MPH, a sinker, a changeup, a slider he used very regularly, and a curveball.
Springfield also featured two relievers, Austin Love and Luis Gastelum, who could figure into the MLB equation soon. Gastelum emerged as one of the best Minor League relievers last season, as the right-hander posted the highest swing-and-miss rate in the circuit.
Memphis Redbirds
Even though JJ Wetherholt played 47 games with the Memphis Redbirds last season, he made a strong impression heading into 2026.
Wetherholt feasted on Triple-A pitching, as he slashed .314/.416/.562 with 10 home runs and 25 extra-base hits, plus nine stolen bases. It was a strong overall run for Wetherholt, who we noted earlier in January, posted one of the highest Barrel% at the Triple-A level last season. Sure, he didn’t play a full season at the level. Nonetheless, the point was made.
Jimmy Crooks (7.9% Barrel%) did enough to receive a late-season call-up and protection from the 2025 Rule 5 Draft in September. Crooks hit a team-high 14 home runs for the Redbirds, plus 36 total extra-base hits. He threw out 29% of baserunners, as well. The one real blemish was the high swing-and-miss (31%).
Crooks was one of the more egregious hitters in Triple-A last season in terms of expanding out of the zone on fastballs. However, no Redbird had more trouble on those pitches than Blaze Jordan, the former high-end high school prospect from years ago. St. Louis acquired him from the Red Sox in the summer but his time with Memphis was tough. Jordan slashed .198/.242/.366 with seven home runs and 14 extra-base hits over 41 contests.
Jordan bit on four-seam fastballs outside of the zone 41.9% of the time, sixth-most in Triple-A last season. The power, his calling card as a high school product, is still very much there. The discipline, though, is questionable.
Infielder Cesar Prieto earned himself a call-up in 2025 after a good overall season. Prieto slashed .300/.363/.452 with nine home runs and 48 extra-base hits over 121 contests. High bat-to-ball skills (18.8%) despite a Chase% of 39%.
As for the pitching staff, Michael McGreevy didn’t make the Cardinals’ rotation out of Spring Training last year. The 25-year-old pitched well in his return to Triple-A, as he struck out 78 over 75 innings, good numbers from a pitch-to-contact arm.
However, the premier name was Quinn Mathews, the Stanford lefty who broke out in a big way back in 2024. This wasn’t the kind of season Cardinals fans were probably hoping for from Mathews this past year. Even though he missed a lot of bats, Mathews – who touched 96 MPH but mostly sat in the 92-94 MPH range – walked 74 over 94 innings.
Early Projected Top 5 for 2026
- JJ Wetherholt
- Liam Doyle
- Rainiel Rodriguez
- Joshua Baez
- Quinn Mathews
The top two — and really, top three — are pretty straightforward. Wetherholt and Doyle are two former star college players who could be in St. Louis very soon. Wetherholt may very well be on the 2026 Opening Day roster.
After that, we’ll go with Rodriguez and Baez as #3 and #4. Baez played like an elite prospect, and the same can be said for Rodriguez.
Mathews is our #5, as he was still able to induce a lot of swing-and-miss and has a high enough ceiling to justify the rating.
Check out more of our MLB and Minor League coverage.