The Cardinals will pick fifth in 2025, but how have they fared in the past?
Picking in the MLB draft is a bit of a game of chance. There are ways to improve the odds, but history has proven time and time again that when it comes to prospects, there is no such thing as a sure thing. Of course, selecting a player that will impact the team is easier the earlier the team picks in the draft, but picking early is not something the St. Louis Cardinals are much accustomed to. The Cardinals have won a fifth overall pick in the 2025 MLB Draft, which is the highest pick the organization has had since 1998. This is a big deal for a team that has recently pivoted their organizational strategy to focus on drafting and player development.
With that in mind, I thought it would be fun for this Sunday to look at a list of every first round pick the Cardinals have ever made and see how successful those players were. Here is the list:
It is a long table on its own, but here are some interesting things I noticed…
- The Cardinals have never picked higher than third.
- Since 1965 the Cardinals have picked in the top ten 12 times.
- Those 12 picks amassed 35.59%, or 184.7 rWAR, of the 519 rWAR amassed by all the picks.
- The lowest the Cardinals have picked in the first round was 59 back in 2012 when they selected Steve Bean as a supplemental pick for the loss of free agent Edwin Jackson.
- The Cardinals have made pretty good on their supplemental picks: These 27 picks amassed 116.8 rWAR (which is mostly the work of Brian Jordan at 32.9, Colby Rasmus at 20.2, Lance Lynn at 30, and Michael Wacha at 16.6).
- Only one of the players drafted in the first round did not sign: Ben Diggins in 1998.
- Of the 89 picks, 51 were drafted out of college and 38 were drafted out of high school.
- The Cardinals have picked 6 players from Florida State University in the first round.
- Those six players amassed 81 fWAR.
- There is a clear favorite among positions: the Cardinals have chosen right-handed pitchers in the first round 35 times. They’ve chosen 11 outfielders, 10 third basemen, eight shortstops, six first basemen, and five catchers. They have only selected second baseman two times.
- Outfielders have provided the most rWAR of the group at 143.5. Right-handed pitchers are next with 135.3. First basemen have provided the least at 18.1.
That’s all I have for today — please share in the comments anything interesting that you noticed! Happy Sunday!