TOWER GROVE — In 2000, the Cardinals believed they had a bead on the first 12 picks of the draft and were all prepared to take a player that had a whiff of deja vu for the club.

At No. 13, they planned to take a Stanford quarterback. Again.

In 1998, the Cardinals selected Chad Hutchinson and in 2000, just as he was about to help his team to the College World Series, the Cardinals were ready to spend the 13th pick on Joe Borchard. One problem: The White Sox took him at 12. That left the Cardinals scrambling and they settled on a prep outfielder from California, Shaun Boyd.

Two picks later Philadelphia selected Chase Utley.

Though the Cardinals salvaged the first round of the 2000 draft by acquiring, over the years, two other players from it — 18th pick Miguel Negron for one spring training and some pitcher taken 29th overall named Adam Wainwright – the 13th pick was hardly lucky for the Cardinals. But it has been since.

As the Cardinals prepare to select 13th overall this afternoon, it will be the third time since 1990 that they’ve had that slot in the draft and, as mentioned in today’s paper, the first time under Jeff Luhnow’s stewardship that they have a top-half pick. The last time the Cardinals picked 13 appears to be the last time a team didn’t get value for the pick.

The four players taken at 13 after the Cardinals are all in the majors. 

Here is a look at the players taken in 2000 and since:

2000 … STL, Shaun Boyd, OF … Struggled at Triple-A, released in ‘06

2001 … LAA, Casey Kotchman, 1B … Now the Angels starter.

2002 … SD, Khalil Greene, SS … Slick glove, 97 RBIs last season.

2003 … TOR, Aaron Hill, SS … Hit .291 from 2006-07 at 2B.

2004 … MTL, Bill Bray, LHP … 2.76 ERA in Cincy’s bullpen.

2005 … BAL, Brandon Snyder, C … Grinding through Class A.

2006 … CHC, Tyler Colvin, OF … Stirring in Double-A.

2007 … CLE, Beau Mills, 1B … Pegged as possibly heir to Hafner.

Before the Cardinals selected Boyd with the 13th pick, there had been a lull for the position in the draft. The two players selected 13 before Boyd also did not make the majors and three of the previous four were unable to get out of the minors. The one who did only appeared in 20 games for the Brewers.

That’s not to say, 13 hasn’t been a bounty for some teams. Since the Cardinals picked Donovan Osborne with the 13th pick of the 1990 draft, there has been a Hall of Famer taken at the spot.

The list of pre-Boyd, post-Osborne 13s (CAPS — reached MLB):

1999 … BAL, Mike Paradis, RHP

1998 … MIL, J.M. Gold, RHP

1997 … MIL, KYLE PETERSON, RHP

1996 … NYM, Robert Stratton, OF

1995 … MIN, MARK REDMAN, LHP

1994 … LAD, PAUL KONERKO, C (now 1B)

1993 … NYY, Matt Drews, RHP

1992 … PHI, Chad McConnell, OF

1991 … CLE, MANNY RAMIREZ, 3B (now a semblance of LF)

1990 … STL, DONOVAN OSBOURN, LHP 

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Baseball-Reference.com offers a list of all the No. 13s taken in the June draft.

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Will be spending all day in here with quotes and notes as the draft nears and after the draft begins. Plan to be back around lunch time with another entry looking specifically at some of the traits of this draft — and hopefully videos of some prospects.

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