The Cardinals’ draft haul and prospect pipeline are looking a lot more interesting when you start with the stuff, not the pedigree.
At the center of it all is Tanner Franklin, St. Louis’ second-round pick in 2025, who has rocketed up the conversation because of how nasty his arsenal has been.
Baseball America’s Stuff+ model has his four-seam fastball at 116, and the publication says he may have the best fastball of any starting pitcher in the minor leagues. That’s the kind of number that jumps off the page, but Franklin isn’t living off one pitch alone.
His cutter checks in at 114, giving him a second weapon that’s already playing at a high level.
Franklin made the move from the bullpen to the rotation without missing a beat, and the results in 2026 back that up. Across High-A and Double-A, he posted a 3.94 ERA with 91 strikeouts in 72.2 innings. The Cardinals’ new brass has leaned hard into high-octane fastballs that miss bats, and Franklin looks like the cleanest example of that idea working in real time.
He’s not alone, either. Eight other Cardinals pitchers show up on Baseball America’s Stuff+ leaderboards, and the names tell their own story about how St. Louis has built this group.
Nate Dohm is right there with Franklin at 116 Stuff+ on his four-seam fastball, though the results haven’t matched the pitch quality. Acquired with Jesus Báez from the Mets in the 2025 Ryan Helsley deal, Dohm has labored through a 7.43 ERA with High-A Peoria in 2026 and has walked 6.1 batters per nine innings.
Patrick Galle, the player to be named later in the Sonny Gray deal from Boston, also owns a strong fastball/cutter profile, with his cutter grading at 114. But like Dohm, strike-throwing has been a problem. Galle issued 42 walks in 49.1 innings and finished with a 6.02 ERA.
The organization’s best left-handed slider belongs to Sandro Santana, who came over from the Diamondbacks in the Lars Nootbaar trade. His slider carries a 126 Stuff+ grade, the best among minor league left-handed sliders, and it helped fuel a massive 2026 season in relief. Santana posted a 1.97 ERA in Double-A and struck out 101 batters in 64 innings, while his slider produced a 28.6% swinging-strike rate.
Another Arizona import, Jack Martinez, has the top right-handed slider in the system at 119. He was the lone piece St. Louis received in the Nolan Arenado trade and turned in a 4.61 ERA between Low-A and High-A.
Jacob Odle owns the organization’s best curveball, and he’s the only pitcher on this list who was drafted by the Cardinals before Chaim Bloom arrived. A 14th-round pick in 2023, Odle broke out in 2026 with a 3.19 ERA in Low-A and High-A and was named the team’s pitching prospect of the year.
He also brings an offseason wrinkle: he’s Rule 5 eligible, so St. Louis will have to decide whether to protect him on the 40-man roster or risk losing him.
The changeup category belongs to Cade Crossland, who is tied with the Pirates’ Khristian Curtis for the top minor league changeup in Stuff+, at 117. Crossland said he got help from his dad on a pitch that spins at nearly 2,400 RPM, and Baseball America noted the offering has more than 20 inches of arm-side run.
He opened the year slowly in Low-A, then caught fire as the weather warmed up and earned a promotion to High-A in August. There, he gave up just five runs in 25.1 innings, with the pitch drawing a screwball-like look because of its high spin.
Jovi Gálvez has the Cardinals’ best split-fingered fastball at 117 Stuff+, with José Davila next at 115. Baseball America once labeled Gálvez a sleeper in St.
Louis’ 2022 international class, and the arm talent has shown up in relief, but the control has not. He walked 16 in 14 innings in Low-A this season, which was actually his best walk rate since turning pro.
Davila has had his own command issues, posting a 4.99 ERA across three levels, and he’s currently pitching in the Venezuelan Winter League.
That’s the bigger picture for St. Louis: a farm system built around outlier pitch quality, even if the command isn’t always keeping up.
Franklin may be the headline arm, but the Cardinals have stocked up on plenty of other pitchers with loud stuff. If even a handful of them turn into major league contributors, this group could shape the club’s pitching for years.
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