TOWER GROVE — The 22nd-ranked prospect on last year’s Baseball America Cardinals’ Top 30 was Mark Worrell, and looking that up a few minutes ago reminded me of a way to judge prospects that I try to bring up as much as possible: Not where they fit within an organization, but who wants them outside the organization.

It strikes me, for example, that from that vaunted draft of 2005 — the draft that is credited with turning around a system, mainly because it was the Colby Rasmus pick — have not traded one player selected. Three players picked in ‘05 have already made the majors from that draft, and several others, like Rasmus, are on the cusp and will make their debuts some time in the 2009 season.

But not one has been traded.

Not Bryan Anderson. Not Shaun Garceau.

Not Nick Weber or Daryl Jones or Jaime Garcia.

Worrell was one of the two prospects headed to San Diego in the Khalil Greene deal — the other one is a PTBNL*, a protected list that includes two pitchers and a position player — and clearly he spot on a prospect list was validated by another team’s interest in him. The bigger the get, the better the prospect is usually a good rule of thumb.

So who are the better gets in the Cardinals’ organization? Garcia was coveted before his Tommy John surgery. Mitchell Boggs has attracted suitors. Rasmus, of course. Brett Wallace will (can’t trade him for a year after his pick). And then there is the unexpected name, the prospect that has slipped through the cracks here: Francisco Samuel.

A Candidate for No. 22: LHP Nick Additon

With 56 percent of the vote, Fernando Salas, the pitcher Samuel is sometimes confused with because of the similar construction of their names (I’m assuming), won the runoff against Shane Robinson for the 21st spot in our countup of the Top 30 prospects in the St. Louis Cardinals system.  As we near the end of our tour of prospects and your voting of their place in the system, there is a handful of prospects I’d rank higher, move lower, eject, etc. I do, however, really like the personality that this poll has taken on. P.J. Walters “will pitch in the big leagues,” a coach recently told me. Can we assume the same major-league arrival of No. 12 Clayton Mortensen (certainly) and No. 11 Niko Vasquez (harder to say)? Yet, Walters inches into the top 20, and only barely so according to the votes, at No. 19.

The poll for No. 22 is loaded with a few guys who have slipped through the community cracks. There’s Samuel, whose name came up often in Las Vegas as a target of other teams. There’s Nick Additon (pictured), whose numbers — 11-5, 2.23 ERA, 108 Ks, 35 BB, in 137 innings; .258 BA on balls in play in 119 innings at Low-A Quad Cities — stack up well against any other prospect being considered. There’s the intrigue of the international additions like Roberto De La Cruz and Richard Castillo. There’s Shane Robinson, one of the highest-vote getters in the poll who has yet to find a spot in the poll.

And there’s the newcomer for No. 22 — Arnoldi “Tony” Cruz. All he does is hit.

Oh, yeah, and improve as a catcher.

Robinson has the momentum going in, Samuel has the stuff, the outside interest, and resume, and lefty Additon has the position and the performance. Should be a good race.

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A recap of the Comm Top 30 so far, as we hit the holidays and near the finish the line:

1. Colby Rasmus, OF
2. Brett Wallace, 3B
3. Chris Perez, RHP
4. Bryan Anderson, C
5. David Freese, 3B
6. Jason Motte, RHP
7. Daryl Jones, OF
8. Jess Todd, RHP
9. Mitchell Boggs, RHP
10. Jaime Garcia, LHP
11. Niko Vasquez, SS
12. Clayton Mortensen, RHP
13. Pete Kozma, SS
14. Allen Craig, INF
15. Jon Jay, OF
16. Adam Reifer, RHP
17. Tyler Greene, INF
18. Lance Lynn, RHP
19. P.J. Walters, RHP
20. Adam Ottavino, RHP
21. Fernando Salas, RHP
22. TODAY

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* PTBNL — Players To Be Named Later.

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