First Pick Coming, Other Picks Already Going
DOWNTOWN — Brett Wallace, the Cardinals first pick in the recent draft, is expected to visit Busch Stadium today, meet with team doctors and possibly finalize a deal that will put him in uniform and playing pro within a week (as the story broke here, and the reporting continued with this in today’s paper).
As general manager John Mozeliak said when the team hosted second pick Lance Lynn for a bullpen session a few weeks ago, this is tradition the Cardinals would like to establish: The top picks get the top treatment.
For Lynn, that included an afternoon in a Cardinals jersey and a press conference.
Could mean batting practice with the big leaguers for Wallace.
If the Cardinals are able to cement a deal with Wallace — and news of it will be available as soon as it happens at StlToday.com — they will have signed their first nine picks from the June draft and 12 of the first 13. Mitch Harris, the Naval Academy grad and 13th-round pick, remains a possibility even as he’s started his training and prepared to report for active duty. Ninth-round pick, outfielder Aaron Luna, is also unsigned — a junior at Rice and, repeat after me, it’s hard to sign players out of Rice.
Wallace’s visit, then, seems as good a time as any to catalog the draft picks who have signed, where they are, the bonus many of them received (* — as reported by Baseball America), and with a few clicks of your mouse, what they’re doing.
The rundown:
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1. BRETT WALLACE, 3B … 13th overall … Expected to sign, imminently.
1s. LANCE LYNN, RHP … 39th overall. … Batavia … $938,000. (stats)
2. SHANE PETERSON, OF … 59th overall … Batavia … $683,000* (stats)
3. NIKO** VASQUEZ, SS … 91st overall … Johnson City … $423,000 (stats)
4. SCOTT GORGEN, RHP … 125th overall … Batavia … $250,000* (stats)
5. JERMAINE CURTIS, 3B … 155th overall … Batavia … $181,000* (stats)
6. ERIC FORNATARO, RHP … 185th overall … GCL Cardinals … $150,000* (stats)
7. ANTHONY FERRARA, LHP … 215th overall … GCL Cardinals … $150,000* (stats)
8. RYAN KULIK, LHP … 245th overall … Johnson City … $58,000* (stats)
9. Aaron Luna, OF … 275th overall … Not Yet Signed
10. ALEX CASTELLANOS, 2B … 305th overall … Johnson City … $70,000* (stats)
11. DEVIN SHEPHERD, OF … 335th overall … GCL Cardinals … (stats)
12. MICHAEL SWINSON, OF … 365th overall … GCL Cardinals … (stats)
13. Mitch Harris, RHP … 395th overall … Not Yet Signed
14. CHARLES CUTLER, C … 425th overall … Batavia … (stats)
15. SCOTT McGREGOR, RHP … 455th overall … Batavia … (stats, recently signed)
16. MIGUEL FLORES, RHP … 485th overall … GCL Cardinals … (stats)
17. JOSH HESTER, RHP … 515th overall … Batavia … (stats)
18. JARED BRADFORD, RHP … 545th overall … Quad Cities … (stats, just signed)
19. XAVIER SCRUGGS, 1B … 575th overall … Batavia … (stats)
20. LUIS MATEO, SS … 605th overall … GCL Cardinals … (stats)
21. MATT RIGOLI, 1B … 635th overall … Johnson City … (stats)
22. COLT SEDBROOK, SS … 665th overall … Batavia … (stats)
23. JON BRAVO, LHP … 695th overall … Johnson City … (init. imp. stats)
24. ZACH PITTS, RHP … 725th overall … Batavia … (stats)
25. JASON BUURSMA, RHP … 755th overall … Batavia … (stats)
26. CHRIS SWAUGER, OF … 785th overall … Batavia … (stats)
27. GEORGE BROWN, LHP … 815th overall … Batavia … (stats)
28. MATTHEW FREVERT, RHP … 845th overall … Johnson City …. (stats)
29. BRETT LILLEY, 2B … 875th overall … Johnson City … (stats)
30. Brett Bruening, RHP … 905th overall … Not Yet Signed
31. Justin Leith, LHP … 935th overall … Not Yet Signed
32. SAM FREEMAN, LHP … 965th overall … Johnson City … (stats)
33. KEVIN THOMAS, RHP … 995th overall … Johnson City … (stats)
34. JACK CAWLEY, C … 1025th overall … Johnson City (stats)
35. Shane Boras, 2B … 1055th overall … Not Yet Signed
36. CHRIS NOTTI, RHP … 1085th overall … GCL Cardinals … (stats)
37. Daniel Jimenez, LHP … 1115th overall … Not Yet Signed
38. DANIEL RICHARDSON, RHP … 1145th overall … Batavia … (stats)
39. CURT SMITH, 1B … 1175th overall … Johnson City … (stats)
40. PAUL CRUZ, OF … 1205th overall … Johnson City … (stats)
41. KEVIN SIEGRIST, LHP … 1235th overall … GCL Cardinals … (stats)
42. BLAKE MURPHY, C … 1265th overall … Batavia … (stats)
43. JOE BABRICK, OF … 1295th overall … GCL Cardinals … (stats)
44. SANTO MAERTZ, RHP … 1325th overall … Johnson City … (stats)
45. Christopher Taylor, C … 1354th overall … Not Yet Signed
46. Brandon Sizemore, 2B … 1382nd overall … Not Yet Signed
47. Ray Asaro, OF … 1409th overall … Not Yet Signed
48. ADAM PRANGE, RHP … 1436th overall … GCL Cardinals … (stats)
49. ADAM VERES, RHP … 1463rd overall … Johnson City … (stats)
50. Danny Miranda, LHP … 1490th overall … Not Yet Signed
And there you have it. Updated to right now, as Wallace preps for his first visit to Busch Stadium and any news that could come of the 13th-overall’s first swings — with a wood bat, naturally – at the ballpark the Cardinals hope he someday calls home.
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ESPN’s Keith Law offers answers to Future Redbirds questions over at the most comprehensive Cards minor-league blog going. Among his assertions is this: Wallace can stay at third base because there’s room to improve and he can “hit like crazy.”
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** Has also been spelled Nico, but local papers from his prep days spelled it Niko and that is also how he’s logged on the draft list. I will double-check.
Additionally: The Cardinals’ breakdown of minor-league affiliates are thus — Low-A is Quad Cities, Short-Season A is Batavia, Rookie Short Season (high) is Johnson City, Rookie Short Season (low) is GCL Cardinals, which is based in Jupiter, Fla.
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Derrick Goold said he was going to Mizzou for capital-J journalism, but after growing up in the Time Zone Baseball Forgot he was really drawn to MU sitting between two major-league cities. Goold joined the Post-Dispatch in 2001 after working for The Times-Picayune and Rocky Mountain News, covering sports from LSU to NHL and every level of baseball in between. 
Seems a little unfair to judge a player on a few swings during a batting practice — his first batting practice at a big-league ballpark, no less. Ditto when it comes to fielding. He took some groundballs. He got to meet some guys who the Cardinals hope will be his future teammates. See how he does at Quad Cities. That’s when everyone will get a good feel for how the bat translates, how the glove improves and where the combo will take him.