St. Louis Cardinals Complete 2018 First-Year Player Draft

The St. Louis Cardinals concluded the 2018 Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft by selecting 41 players, 36 from college and five from high schools or prep academies.  The list included 19 pitchers (4 LHP & 15 RHP), four catchers, 12 infielders and six outfielders.

                Three draftees are still involved in collegiate postseason play this weekend in the NCAA Super Regionals with LHP Steven Gingery on Texas Tech and OF Brandon Riley and INF Zack Gahagan on North Carolina.

                The Cardinals drafted one player from the State of Missouri, outfielder Andrew Warner from Columbia (Mo.) College, hailing from Lee’s Summit.  Warner was a back-to-back American Midwest Conference Player of the Year in 2017-18 batting over .400 in each season with a combined 35 home runs and 128 RBI.

                Three players were previously drafted in RHP Parker Kelly by the Cardinals in the 34^th round of the 2015 draft, C Benito Santiago, Jr. by San Francisco in the 38^th round of the 2014 draft and Gahagan by the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2014 (40^th round) and by the Cincinnati Reds in 2017 (39^th round).

                The Cardinals made a few legacy selections with Parker Kelly, brother of Cardinals catcher Carson Kelly, out of the University of Oregon in the 20^th round.  Catcher Benito Santiago, Jr., son of former 20-year Major League veteran All-Star catcher Benito Santiago, was a 34^th round pick out of the University of Tennessee.   Third baseman Cole Kreuter, son of former 16-year veteran Major League catcher and current St. Lucie Mets manager Chad Kreuter, was drafted in the 36^th round out of UC-Irvine.

                RHP Jaden Hill, the Cardinals 38^th round pick out of Ashdown Senior High School in Arkansas, is a two-sport athlete who was the Arkansas Gatorade High School Player of the Year, batting .540 with 11 home runs and an 0.51 ERA, and also threw 48 touchdowns over his three-year football career, and signed his letter of intent to play college baseball at Louisiana State University.

                Players with athletic ties in their family included RHP Chris Holba (11^th round) whose father Colonel Bob Holba played baseball and football at the United States Air Force Academy.   RHP Cole Aker (18^th round) whose father Jeff played baseball at Ole Miss and his grandfather, Jack, played 11 MLB seasons with six different Major League organizations.  Infielder Michael Perri (21^st round) had three members of his family play college football in his father Mark (Fresno State) and brothers Chris (Colorado) and Jeff (Malone-Ohio).  Christian Caudle’s (37^th round) mother Robin earned the first full softball scholarship at Florida State University.

                Several draftees came with exemplary athletic and academic accolades.  RHP Francisco Justo (12^th round) was the First Monroe College Mustang to ever be named to the JUCO All-Tournament Team.  RHP Kyle Leahy(17^th round) was a 1^st Team All-American and a 1^st Team Academic All-American at Colorado Mesa University.  RHP Troy Montemayor (25^th round) tied the Baylor all-time saves mark with 37 over his collegiate career.  RHPPerry DellaValle (27^th round) set the Seton Hill University single-season strikeout mark with 109.  RHP Chris Rivera (33^rd round) nailed down three straight seasons of 10 or more saves at Long Beach State and ranks 2^nd in school history with 37 career saves.  LHP Colid Schmid (13^th round) was a Dean’s List honoree Majoring in Construction Management with minors in Spanish and Business while racking up 224 strikeouts, ranking 3^rd in Appalachian State history.  Outfielder Alerick Soularie (29^th round) put together a cornucopia of stats batting .402 with 10 HR, 47 RBI, 17 doubles, eight triples and was 23-for-28 in stolen base attempts at San Jacinto-North College playing as teammate of Cardinals manager Mike Matheny’s sons Jake and Luke.  Soularie signed a college letter of intent with the University of Tennessee.

                The Cardinals drafted players from 18 states, Canada and Puerto Rico.  California was the most represented state with seven selections, followed by Texas with five, North Carolina with four, and Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania and South Carolina with two each.

                The complete list of 2018 St. Louis Cardinals draft picks can be found below:

2018 FIRST-YEAR PLAYER DRAFT – FINAL RECAP

     Rd.,  Player (overall pick)            Pos.     B-T     Ht     Wt.   School                                                                                             Hometown

1. Nolan Gorman (19)                  3B       L-R    6-1    210  Sandra Day O’Connor (Ariz.) High School                               Phoenix, Ariz.

    CBA.  Griffin Roberts (43)                RHP     R-R    6-3    205  Wake Forest University                                                            Midlothian, Va.

Comp2. Luken Baker (75)                     1B       R-R    6-4    225  Texas Christian University                                                         Spring, Texas

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3. Mateo Gil (95)                           SS       R-R    6-2    190  Timber Creek (Texas) High School                                             Keller, Texas
4. Steven Gingery (123)             LHP      R-L    6-2    190  Texas Tech University                                              Huntington Beach, Calif.
5. Nick Dunn (153)                      2B       L-R   5-10  175  University of Maryland                                                                Sunbury, Pa.
6. Edgar Gonzalez (183)             RHP     R-R    6-1    200  Fresno State University                                                              Newark, Calif.
7. Brendan Donovan (213)         3B       L-R    6-1    195  University of South Alabama                                                  Enterprise, Ala.
8. Lars Nootbaar (243)                LF       L-R    6-3    210  University of Southern California                                       El Segundo, Calif.
9. Matt Duce (273)                        C        L-R   5-11  190  Dallas Baptist University                                                      Sierra Vista, Ariz.
10. Kevin Woodall, Jr. (303)         1B       R-R    6-6    240  Coastal Carolina University                                                   Georgetown, S.C.

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11. Chris Holba (333)                   RHP     R-R    6-3    210  East Carolina University                                  O’Fallon, Ill.
12. Francisco Justo (363)             RHP     R-R    6-4    205  Monroe College (N.Y.)                                                                     Bronx, N.Y.
13. Colin Schmid (393)                 LHP      L-L    6-1    195  Appalachian State University                                                  New Bern, N.C.
14. Brandon Riley (423)                CF       L-R    6-0    170  University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill                              Burlington, N.C.
15. Mike Brettell (453)                 RHP     R-R    6-3    195  Central Michigan University                                 Fonthill, Ontario (Canada)
16. Samuel “Evan” Sisk (483)      LHP      L-L    6-2    209  College of Charleston                                                                    Chester, S.C.
17. Kyle Leahy (513)                    RHP      S-R    6-5    200  Colorado Mesa University                                                          Boulder, Colo.
18. Cole Aker (543)                      RHP     R-R    6-2    205  University of Tampa                                                             Kernersville, N.C.
19. Josh Shaw (573)                       2B       R-R    6-1    195  St. John’s University                                                                       Wayne, N.J.
20. Parker Kelly (603)                  RHP     R-R    6-1    235  University of Oregon                                                                  Portland, Ore.
21. Michael Perri (633)                  SS       R-R    6-3    195  University San Francisco                                                          Alameda, Calif.
22. Kevin Vargas (663)                  SS       R-R    6-1    175  International Baseball Academy                                        Ceiba, Puerto Rico
23. Michael Baird (693)               RHP     R-R    6-5    210  Southern Illinois University-Carbondale                                    Parker, Colo.
24. Eli Kraus (723)                        LHP      L-L    6-1    190  Kent State University                                                                  Medina, Ohio
25. Troy Montemayor (753)        RHP     R-R    6-1    160  Baylor University                                                               San Antonio, Texas
26. Connor Coward (783)            RHP     R-R    6-0    200  Virginia Polytechnic Institute (Virginia Tech)                        Pittsburgh, Pa.
27. Perry DellaValle (813)           RHP     R-R    6-0    195  Seton Hill (Pa.) University                                             North Royalton, Ohio
28. Justin Toerner (843)                CF       L-L   5-10  165  California State University-Northridge                                 Temecula, Calif.
29. Alerick Soularie (873)              RF       R-R    6-0    175  San Jacinto-North (Texas) JC                                                   Humble, Texas
30. Kendrick Calilao (903)            OF       R-R    6-1    200  The First Academy (FL)                                                           Kissimmee, Fla.
31. Ty Cohen (933)                       RHP     R-R    6-1    195  Florida Institute of Technology (Florida Tech)                      Woodstock, Ga.
32. Brandon Purcell (963)              C        R-R    6-1    205  Georgia College and State University                                       Glennville, Ga.
33. Chris Rivera (993)                  RHP     R-R    5-9    175  Long Beach State University                                               Watsonville, Calif.
34. Benito Santiago (1,023)            C        L-R    6-0    190  University of Tennessee                                                 Pembroke Pines, Fla.
35. Liam Sabino (1,053)                3B       R-R    6-0    191  University of Pittsburgh                                                   New York City, N.Y.
36. Cole Kreuter (1,083)               3B       R-R    6-0    190  University of California-Irvine                                      Rancho Mirage, Calif.
37. Christian Caudle (1,113)         C       R-R    6-4    230  Texas A&M University-Kingsville                                                 Klein, Texas
38. Jaden Hill (1,143)                   RHP     R-R    6-3    210  Ashdown Senior (Ark.) High School                                       Ashdown, Ark.
39. Zack Gahagan (1,173)             3B       R-R    6-1    195  University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill                                   Fletcher, N.C.
40. Andrew Warner (1,203)         RF       R-R    6-2    225  Columbia (Mo.) College                                                      Lee’s Summit, Mo.