Baseball America released the Cardinals Top 10 prospects today, marking the final NL Central Top 10 to be released. I thought it would be a good time to take a look at how they all stacked up against each other.
| Reds | Cubs | Astros | Brewers | Pirates | Cardinals | |
| 1 | Todd Frazier | Starlin Castro | Jason Castro | Alcides Escobar | Pedro Alvarez | Shelby Miller |
| 2 | Yonder Alonso | Brett Jackson | Jiovanni Mier | Brett Lawrie | Jose Tabata | Jamie Garcia |
| 3 | Mike Leake | Josh Vitters | Jordan Lyles | Mat Gamel | Tony Sanchez | Lance Lynn |
| 4 | Chris Heisey | Andrew Cashner | Sammy Gervacio | Eric Arnett | Brad Lincoln | Daryl Jones |
| 5 | Juan Francisco | Jay Jackson | Chia-Jen Lo | Jonathan Lucroy | Chase D’Arnaud | David Freese |
| 6 | Yorman Rodriguez | Hak-Ju Lee | Ross Seaton | Kentrail Davis | Starling Marte | Eduardo Sanchez |
| 7 | Travis Wood | Logan Watkins | Tanner Bushue | Zach Braddock | Tim Alderson | Allen Craig |
| 8 | Matt Maloney | Chris Carpenter | Jay Austin | Lorenzo Cain | Zack Von Rosenberg | Blake Hawksworth |
| 9 | Brad Boxberger | Ryan Flaherty | Jon Gaston | Jake Odorizzi | Rudy Owens | Daniel Descalso |
| 10 | Zack Cozart | D.J. LeMahiue | T.J. Steele | Kyle Heckathorn | Gorkys Hernandez | Robert Stock |
Breaking it down
First thing I wanted to do was look at who had the Best Prospect at each spot in the rankings.
| Best Rank | Team | |
| 1 | Alcides Escobar | Brewers |
| 2 | Yonder Alonso | Reds |
| 3 | Mike Leake | Reds |
| 4 | Chris Heisey | Reds |
| 5 | Jonathan Lucroy | Brewers |
| 6 | Yorman Rodriguez | Reds |
| 7 | Tim Alderson | Pirates |
| 8 | Zack Von Rosenberg | Pirates |
| 9 | Jake Odorizzi | Brewers |
| 10 | Robert Stock | Cardinals |
There were a few tough spots. At #3 I also like Mat Gamel, but his defensive problems cost him the spot. Jordan Lyles is also a guy I really like but felt he was just a little lower than Leake. The #4 spot was a bit confusing because I liked several teams players lower in the rankings than their #4 guys. I felt that almost across the board the #4 spot was lackluster so Heisey was easy there. The #6 spot came down to Rodriguez and the Cubs Hak-Ju Lee. Upside got this one for Rodriguez, but Lee is an excellent prospect and I would had him higher on the Cubs list. At #7 I felt Alderson and Wood are extremely similar pitchers in terms of what to expect at the MLB level, but Alderson has the cleaner injury history and that got him the nod. At #10 I took a gamble on Robert Stock who had a big time pedigree in college but never performed up to it. Of course he was also a draft eligible 3 year player at age 19 out of USC so he is a bit different than other college draftees as he is going to play his first full season at age 20. Zack Cozart was the other option, but I think Stock could wind up above average on both sides of the ball where Cozart is likely to be more average at the plate than above average.
The next thing I wanted to do was look at who has the best prospect at each position on the field.
| Position | Player | Team |
| C | Jonathan Lucroy | Brewers |
| 1B | Yonder Alonso | Reds |
| 2B | Todd Frazier | Reds |
| 3B | Pedro Alvarez | Pirates |
| SS | Alcides Escobar | Brewers |
| COF | Chris Heisey | Reds |
| COF | Jose Tabata | Pirates |
| CF | Yorman Rodriguez | Reds |
| SP | Mike Leake | Reds |
| RP | Chia-Jen Lo | Astros |
The Brewers and Reds led the way here. The Cubs and Cardinals were shut out of the list and the Astros only had a reliever. The Cardinals aren’t in the same situation as the other two teams are who just have dreadful systems. The Cardinals just missed out on guys at SP and C while having a lot more depth than the Cubs and Astros.