Sadly, the minor league season is winding to a close with only Springfield and Memphis still playing. I thought now would be a good time to check out how last year’s draft class fared in their first professional season.
First Round (5th overall) – Liam Doyle, LHP
Doyle started the season slow, but ended up with a very solid stat line to finish out his first full season. Remember, the Texas League is an extremely hitter-friendly environment with a league ERA of 5.03. His K% of 30% was excellent (league average 24.3%) and his BB% of 12.5% was slightly elevated (league average 11.3%). It may not have been the year that some hoped for from Doyle, but he stayed healthy and got better as the season progressed. Over his final eight starts, Doyle had a 1.50 ERA with 52 strikeouts in 42 innings against just 16 walks and one home run allowed.
Doyle was tasked with developing his secondary pitches this year to supplement his electric fastball, so if you buy into the narrative that his slow start was a product of reworking his repertoire, you can come out of 2026 feeling like Doyle’s campaign was a massive success. If you prefer the negative interpretation, you can see an overall stat line that is good rather than great with the high-effort delivery and elevated walk rate leaving the relief risk still a very real concern.
Here is how Doyle stacks up against the next two pitchers drafted.
Seth Hernandez got off to an excellent start across 74 innings in his debut season. As a high schooler, Hernandez was probably not a real consideration for the Cardinals, but if he keeps up his current trajectory, this could turn into a painful miss that we look back on for a long time.
Many people were surprised that the Cardinals took Doyle over Jamie Arnold. At the time of the draft, Arnold was seen as one of the higher-floor pitching prospects available. He also put up a solid debut season, but still looks like a pitchability back-of-the-rotation arm without Doyle’s upside.
Second Round (55th overall) – Ryan Mitchell, OF
Mitchell had an odd debut season. Drafted out of high school, he was seen as one of the more polished prep bats available. While his excellent plate approach and feel for the barrel showed up, he struggled mightily to make contact. On the positive side, he played all year as a 19-year-old at Palm Beach and carried a solid 112 wRC+. On the negative side, he carried an alarming 33.1% strikeout rate. While he did manage to hit 13 home runs, his ISO was only .135 and his exit velocity metrics were below average.
To put Mitchell’s season into perspective, here is how he stacks up against the next two high school bats taken in the draft.
Becker was an even bigger over-slot signing than Mitchell and played more than half of the season in the Complex League before struggling to a 65 wRC+ in his 29 Low-A games. Moss had a solid season but did not show much in the way of power. Mitchell will clearly need to show a ton of development in either the power or contact portions of his game, but he did enough to stay on the prospect radar in his first season.
Competitive Balance B (72nd overall) – Tanner Franklin, RHP
After being drafted, Franklin quickly became one of the most hyped prospects in the system thanks to his 70-grade fastball and the knowledge that the Cardinals would try him out as a starting pitcher. He more than lived up to the hype in his first full season. Franklin ramped his innings up from 38.2 at Tennessee to 105 while advancing all the way to Double-A Springfield.
Even with the innings increase, Franklin seemed to maintain his velocity as the season progressed and was still hitting triple digits in his Springfield debut. I assume he will start next season back in Springfield, but at his current trajectory, he could factor into the St. Louis pitching plans sometime in 2027.
Third Round (89th overall) – Jack Gurevitch, 1B/3B
Gurevitch has had an excellent first pro season as well. His 30 home runs rank 23rd in the minors. He torched Palm Beach for 28 games, putting up an absurd 109.9 mph 90th-percentile exit velocity and maxing out at 115 mph. After being promoted to Peoria, he kept the party going with 17 home runs in 59 games. In Springfield, he has finally encountered some resistance with a strikeout rate of 40% and a wRC+ of 79.
It is a super volatile profile for Gurevitch. He will be limited to a corner infield position, and according to scouting reports, third base may be a stretch. Still, he has some of the best raw power in the minor leagues, so if he can keep his contact rates up, he has middle-of-the-order upside. All things considered, Gurevitch has increased his prospect stock significantly with his showing this year.
Fourth Round (120th overall) – Cade Crossland, LHP
The Cardinals went $100K over-slot to grab Crossland in the fourth round. He obviously struggled with command as evidenced by his 16.5% walk rate, but he did cut it to 12.1% after being promoted to High-A Peoria. Crossland topped out at 98 mph in college, so there is hope he has more in the tank from a velocity standpoint, but he averaged only 92.1 mph during his time at Palm Beach. Crossland’s changeup is his calling card as he averaged 19.3 inches of armside movement with the pitch and used it as his primary strikeout weapon. For perspective, this would rank second in the MLB behind Devin Williams’ 20.7 inches.
Crossland will surely be given a chance to continue starting next year, but with an outlier secondary pitch, he could be an interesting bullpen option down the road.
Fifth Round (150th overall) – Ethan Young, RHP
The Cardinals again went over-slot in the fifth round to bring Young into the mix. Like Franklin, he was a reliever in college who the Cardinals planned to try out as a starter. Young gets an incomplete grade as he was limited to just ten starts because of injury. He did make it back for two starts to finish the year, so he should be healthy heading into 2027. Despite the inflated 7.26 ERA, the underlying metrics looked good with a 35.3% strikeout rate against an 11.3% walk rate.
Young was the last of the big bonus prospects in the draft, so I won’t spend as much time going through the remaining picks.
Other Pitchers
The Cardinals targeted interesting fastballs later in the draft with less focus on command or polish than in years past. While none of these pitchers set the world on fire, there could still be some interesting stuff to work with.
Payton Graham (RHP) made his return from Tommy John surgery, which has to be seen as a positive. He flashed a plus fastball with 19 inches of induced vertical break and topped out at 97.4 mph. Ty Van Dyke (RHP) got some attention early in the season by posting a 1.64 ERA at Palm Beach across his first seven starts, but had more pedestrian numbers upon his promotion to Peoria. Jake Shelagowski (RHP) was the Cardinals’ annual prospect no one had heard of on draft day out of Division II Saginaw Valley State. He posted solid numbers and popped 98.7 mph on the gun before his season was cut short by an injury in June. Dylan Driessen (RHP) averaged over 20 inches of induced vertical break on his fastball and topped out at 98.7 mph. He pitched exclusively out of the bullpen, but could be an interesting name to watch if he can get the walks under control.
Other Hitters
On the hitting side, none of the late-round picks broke out in the way that Deniel Ortiz did from the 2024 draft. There might be a utility player in this group, but the early returns are a bit boring.
Outfielder Matthew Miura posted elite Chase and Whiff rates but did not show any power in his debut. Miura is a good defender and runner capable of handling center, so there might be some upside here, but a fourth or fifth outfielder track looks most likely. Jalin Flores skipped straight to High-A. He played all over the infield and seems capable of handling short, so he could carve out a future as a utility infielder.
Overall, I think you have to be happy with the class’s performance. Tanner Franklin and Jack Gurevitch both had legitimate breakout seasons. Liam Doyle stayed healthy and showed positive momentum. Cade Crossland also finished strong and could be ready for Double-A in his second season. Of the high-bonus crew, only Ryan Mitchell and Ethan Young had disappointing seasons, but neither struggled in a way that should cause them to be written off completely. This has been one of the most encouraging minor league seasons in recent memory for the Cardinals, and the 2025 draft class was a big part of the success.