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IMAGE: St. Louis Cardinals teammates surround St. Louis Cardinals outfielder Jordan Walker (18, center) as they celebrate their 3-2 win over the San Francisco Giants after Walker doubled to left, scoring shortstop Masyn Winn (not shown) and second baseman Garrett Hampson (not shown) in the bottom of the ninth inning at Busch Stadium. \/ USA TODAY NETWORK-USA TODAY NETWORK \/ Imagn Images
\nThe St. Louis Cardinals have made it clear over the past year: the days of playing it safe in the draft are over.<\/p>\n
With Chaim Bloom now steering the ship and a revamped player development team behind him, the Cardinals have shifted their draft philosophy toward upside-betting on talent with star potential rather than settling for polished but limited players. So when a recent 2026 mock draft projected the Cardinals to take prep shortstop Tyler Spangler at No. 13 overall, it raised some eyebrows around the league-and for good reason.<\/p>\n
Let\u2019s be clear: Tyler Spangler is a solid prospect. The Stanford commit has a mature approach at the plate for a high school hitter, showing strong strike-zone discipline and the ability to use the whole field.<\/p>\n
He\u2019s a left-handed bat with a clean swing, and there\u2019s room for added power as he fills out physically. Defensively, he\u2019s fundamentally sound and has a good chance to stick at shortstop, though third base could be in play down the line depending on how his body develops.<\/p>\n
But here\u2019s the thing-Spangler doesn\u2019t have that one standout tool that screams future star. He\u2019s more of a \u201csafe floor\u201d guy, the kind of player who might contribute across the board but isn\u2019t likely to anchor a lineup or headline a rotation. And that\u2019s exactly the kind of pick the Cardinals have been moving away from.<\/p>\n
For years, under former president of baseball operations John Mozeliak, St. Louis leaned into a draft strategy that favored polish over projection-especially on the pitching side.<\/p>\n
They often targeted college arms with low variance but limited upside. On the hitting side, they were a bit more aggressive, taking high school bats like Jordan Walker, Nolan Gorman, Dylan Carlson, and Nick Plummer in the first round.<\/p>\n
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Some of those swings have connected better than others-Carlson and Plummer didn\u2019t pan out in St. Louis, and the jury\u2019s still out on Walker and Gorman-but the intent was there: go get impact talent.<\/p>\n
Now, under Bloom, that approach seems to be sharpening. The Cardinals\u2019 2025 draft was a clear signal of the new direction.<\/p>\n
With their first pick, they went after Liam Doyle, a high-octane arm with top-of-the-rotation potential. Doyle brings intensity, velocity, and a ceiling that could change the shape of a pitching staff.<\/p>\n
In the second round, they balanced things out with Ryan Mitchell, a high-contact hitter with a profile more like Spangler\u2019s-solid, dependable, but not overwhelming. Then they doubled down on upside again in the third round with Tanner Franklin, Doyle\u2019s college teammate, who also brings big-league tools and projection.<\/p>\n
That kind of drafting-high ceiling early, balance later-is what makes the Spangler projection feel off. It\u2019s not that Spangler can\u2019t be a good player. It\u2019s that picking him in the first round would suggest a return to a conservative draft strategy that no longer fits the Cardinals\u2019 current identity.<\/p>\n
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There\u2019s also a bit of organizational history here. The last time the Cardinals went this route in the first round with a similar player profile, they took Pete Kozma out of Owasso High School.<\/p>\n
Kozma, like Spangler, was known for being well-rounded and fundamentally sound, but lacked any standout tools. He carved out a big-league career, but never lived up to the expectations of a first-round pick, finishing with a .213 career batting average and a .564 OPS.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s not the kind of outcome a team with playoff aspirations wants from its top draft investment.<\/p>\n
What\u2019s changed in St. Louis is belief-belief in their ability to develop talent, to turn raw tools into big-league production.<\/p>\n
That belief is what drove the selection of Doyle, and it\u2019s likely to drive future picks as well. The Cardinals aren\u2019t just drafting for safe contributors anymore.<\/p>\n
They\u2019re drafting for difference-makers.<\/p>\n
Unless something shifts dramatically in the front office\u2019s thinking, it\u2019s hard to imagine the Cardinals using a top-15 pick on a player like Spangler. Not when they\u2019ve made it clear they\u2019re betting on upside, trusting their development infrastructure, and aiming for more than just competence. They\u2019re aiming for stars.<\/p>\n
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IMAGE: St. Louis Cardinals teammates surround St. Louis Cardinals outfielder Jordan Walker (18, center) as they celebrate their 3-2 win over the San Francisco Giants after Walker… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":133895,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-133909","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mlb"],"yoast_head":"\n