Cards on Draft process: 'We got this'

Draft season is upon the Cardinals and baseball at large, with scouting director Randy Flores and his group priming to put the finishing touches on months of preparation, information-coalescing and, of course, now some nail-biting ahead of the real thing.

St. Louis will look to put together a fruitful Draft, a year after they started the festivities with an under-the-radar selection of high school third baseman Jordan Walker. Since then, the 19-year-old has done nothing but impress, draw comparisons to Albert Pujols and skyrocket up the system.

So where do the Cardinals stand just days away from their next go at the Draft, with 21 total selections starting with the 18th overall pick -- their highest since selecting 13th in 2008?

“It’s sort of like Christmas morning, where you get to find out what the gifts are that you’ve gotten, after months and months of work preparing for it,” said general manager Michael Girsch.

Day 1 of the 2021 Draft will take place live from Denver’s Bellco Theatre on Sunday. It will feature the first 36 picks and will air on MLB Network and ESPN at 6 p.m. CT. Day 2, which will span rounds 2-10, begins at 12 p.m. CT on Monday. The Draft will conclude with rounds 11-20 on Tuesday, starting at 11 a.m. CT. MLB.com will simulcast MLB Network’s broadcast and provide live coverage on all three days.

To view when teams pick, the Top 250 Prospects list, mock Drafts from analysts Jim Callis and Jonathan Mayo, scouting video and more, visit MLB.com/Draft. Follow @MLBDraft and @MLBDraftTracker on Twitter to see what Draft hopefuls, clubs and experts are saying and to get each pick as it’s made.

• The Draft begins at 6 p.m. CT on Sunday (ESPN/MLB.com)
• The Cardinals have the 18th pick in Round 1
• The Cards’ bonus pool is $8,167,100

Here’s everything you need to know about St. Louis and the Draft:

How did the Cardinals do last year?

The overarching takeaways from the Cardinals’ 2020 Draft class was that they swung big on young, high-upside talent. So far, it seems most have hit big. Walker is one of the most exciting young prospects in baseball, Masyn Winn is showing raw tools to salivate at and even a more low-key selection in Alec Burleson is lighting it up at every level so far.

Time will ultimately tell for each of these young prospects, but their standing in part of just one professional season so far is a cause for optimism -- for both the front office and fanbase.

“Certainly, it's always good to have positive reinforcement -- you have a process in place -- and when that process turns into guys like Jordan Walker and Masyn Winn and Tink Hence and Burleson, who have all hit the ground running, it gives everyone more confidence that, ‘Yes, we got this. We know what we’re doing. Even in a weird year like last year, our process worked,’” Girsch said. “It doesn’t work until those guys are winning games in Busch Stadium, but it certainly looks like it’s moving in the right direction, and it makes it easier for people to steer the course and buy in and keep working hard.”

What might the Cardinals target in this class?

From 2013-15, the Cardinals used five of their six first-round picks on pitchers, showing a clear emphasis on the types of players they placed a premium on for high-ceiling development. In the years since -- and especially since scouting director Randy Flores took over his role in 2018 -- the organization has seemed to shift to more of a “best-available” overall player in their selecting mindset, though mildly complicated by the fact that St. Louis hasn’t selected in the top 10 since 1998, thanks in part to 20 winning seasons this millennia.

“None of our scouts ever want to pick the top five to 10,” Girsch said. “That’s no one's idea of a good time.”

In recent years, that mindset has turned into top prospects Dylan Carlson, Dakota Hudson, Zack Thompson and Nolan Gorman.

What are the pundits predicting this year?

MLB.com: Bubba Chandler, RHP/SS, North Oconee (Ga.) HS
Baseball America: Will Bednar, RHP, Mississippi State
The Athletic: Jordan Wicks, LHP, Kansas State
FanGraphs: Harry Ford, C, North Cobb (Ga.) HS
Prospects Live: Gunnar Hoglund, LHP, Ole Miss

Hoglund has drawn ancillary buzz as a potential fit for the Cardinals, a likely top 10 pick if not for his recent Tommy John surgery. Bednar lit up the College World Series, and Chandler would mark St. Louis’ second straight year taking a two-way player in the high rounds, though Winn is yet to pitch at the professional level.

“Picking where we traditionally pick, in the high teens or low 20s, you can’t do too much in preparation,” Girsch said. “But we generally have some idea of which guys that we like more than the industry does. There are a dozen websites that put out mock Drafts, rankings and stuff. We have some idea who might get there and who might not, so we have some idea who the likely targets are, but it’s very much react as we go. We’re too deep in the Draft to do a lot of overly planning ahead of time. We put together our list, we put together our board and then we sort of react to who’s available.”

So how does the team feel?

“Sunday, Monday and Tuesday will be really exciting, get some new talent in. It’s the culmination of a lot of hard work,” said Girsch, who added that scouts will be back at Busch Stadium for camaraderie after the pandemic forced everything virtual last year. “… I think we're in really good shape, really well prepared and look forward to making our picks.”