ST. LOUIS -- After spending the past week “bunkered together” with a wide array of scouts, national crosscheckers and analytics department personnel for meetings leading up to and through the first 19 rounds of the MLB Draft, Cardinals assistant GM and director of scouting Randy Flores figured there was just enough time left on Tuesday to make a leap-of-faith selection that just might hit for the Redbirds.

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Focused primarily on player signability because of the franchise’s lack of a second-round pick and their relatively small bonus pool, Flores and the Cardinals used their first 18 Draft picks on college stars. Then, in the 20th and final round, the Cards used the 605th overall pick on 6-foot-5, 240-pound left-handed pitcher Cameron Johnson. The nation’s second-ranked prep lefty, who has long been committed to the national champion LSU Tigers after a stellar career at IMG Academy in Florida, is an extreme long shot to sign with St. Louis, but Flores felt it was worth a try.

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“That’s like a little bit of a prayer, a little bit of Hail Mary,” Flores said. “We’ll see how it shakes out.”

Over the coming years and months, the Cardinals will be eager to see how their 19 picks shake out. St. Louis took nine pitchers (six righties, three lefties), five outfielders, two shortstops, two corner infielders and a catcher. Here are three takeaways of the players selected on Tuesday’s Day 3 of the Draft:

1. Cardinals turn to another Kingwood (Texas) High School product
Three years after selecting Kingwood High shortstop Masyn Winn -- now the top-ranked prospect in their system per MLB Pipeline -- the Cardinals picked TCU's Tre Richardson with their 15th-round selection. Maybe the only person happier with the No. 455 pick than Richardson was Winn, who was Richardson's high school teammate for three years. Not only did Winn tweet about Richardson after the selection, but he also touted the shortstop to the franchise’s area scouts during the process

“We had history with Tre from scouting Masyn, and I know that our scouts were getting text messages of excitement from Masyn when we made [Richardson’s] selection,” Flores said. “Having some familiarity there was helpful.”

Richardson showed off his massive potential as a professional when he tied an NCAA Tournament record by driving in 11 runs in a TCU rout of Arkansas on June 4. In that game, the 5-foot-10, 165-pound Richardson hit two grand slams and a third opposite-field home run as part of his career-best five-hit afternoon.

2. 6-foot-5 right-hander Jacob Odle features oodles of talent
The Cardinals raised a few eyebrows when they used pick No. 425 on hard-throwing right-hander Jacob Odle, who pitched in just 13 games this past season at Orange Coast College (Costa Mesa, Calif.).

However, the Cardinals got more of a look at the 19-year-old Odle in the MLB Draft League, where he struck out 29 batters, walked nine and compiled a 2.03 ERA over 13 1/3 innings. MLB Draft analyst Jonathan Mayo pointed to Odle’s fastball routinely hitting 98-99 mph and his big-breaking curveball getting a 71 percent whiff rate in the MLB Draft League as to two reasons why the Cards might have gotten a steal by plucking Odle during the 14th round.

“When we get to Day 3, we’re putting together pieces from scouts, our pitching department and our hitting department, and this was a great example of it all coming together,” Flores said. “[Odle’s] area scout, Chris Rodriguez, was adamant about continuing to make sure we were aware of Jacob’s increase in stuff and in strike throwing. We liked the [body] frame. He’s a very intriguing arm and young man, and he was ready to begin his pro career. That was a great example of it all coming together. A lot of people deserve credit there.”

3. Many picks came from four-year colleges
Seven of the 10 Day 3 picks played college baseball at a four-year college. Five of those were seniors. Third baseman Trey Paige -- the Cardinals' 17th-round selection -- was a star at Delaware State, where he hit .273, .366, .407 and .372 in his four seasons, with a 1.130 career college OPS.

“I think it’s coincidence, but with the COVID extra year of eligibility, there were just a lot more seniors this year,” Flores said. “There was a group of players who were provided an extra year of eligibility during their pandemic-shortened season. A lot of those players were still around, and they were very intriguing to us.”