TOWER GROVE — Before we get to the final spot in the Bird Land Community Top 30, we should first discuss the top spots in another ranking of the St. Louis Cardinals’ system. Kevin Goldstein, the accomplished minor-league expert and pundit over at Baseball Prospectus, released his Cardinals Top 11 on Wednesday and said what we’ve been saying all along: “Spots one through four are almost too easy, but it’s a bit messy from there down.”

Like many of us, Goldstein is high on fireball pitcher Adam Reifer (No. 6) and intrigued by infielder Niko Vasquez (No. 11). The poll of readers here placed Vasquez at the same spot, and put Reifer at No. 16. (There is a comprehensive list of the Comm Top 30 below today’s poll.) More telling than the 11 names that made Goldstein’s list is how he sorts them — by his movie review-like scale of 5-star, 4-star and 3-star prospects. The Cardinals, by Goldstein’s estimation, have two 5-star and two 4-star prospects. They are:

• Colby Rasmus *****
• Brett Wallace *****
• Chris Perez ****
• Daryl Jones ****

It’s important to note that when he makes his Cardinals Top 11 he’s obviously comparing Cardinals prospects against Cardinals prospects — we’ve discussed that before — but when assigning the star rankings he’s comparing these prospects against others all across baseball. That offers valuable context. The Atlanta Braves have two five-star prospects — pitcher Tommy Hanson and outfielder Jason Heyward – and outfielder Gorkys Hernandez is considered a four-star prospect. Florida’s Cameron Maybin, often considered a peer of Rasmus’, is also a five-star prospect. The Cubs claim third baseman Josh Vitters as their only five-star prospect, and rising star Jeff Samardzija is on the same level as Perez: four stars.

Milwaukee, by Goldstein’s measure, does not one five-star prospect, but speaking the overall look of a system the Brewers can claim five four-star prospects. One, for example, is shortstop Mat Gamel.

We move from that top 11 to the last spot in this Comm Top 30 after some confusion about No. 28. After the poll for No. 29 was posted, pitcher Shaun Garceau got an unexpected bump in voting and actually pulled away with the No. 28 poll. Deryk Hooker was comfortably ahead at this time yesterday morning and he was declared the winner at No. 28. By yesterday afternoon an additional 100 votes had been cast at No. 28 and Garceau received a majority of them, pulling ahead to 42 percent of the vote. It’s the first time such a thing happened, and there was a quick resolution.

Garceau won the No. 29 spot in the poll, with 27 percent of the vote AT THIS MOMENT.

Throughout the two months and 20-plus entries for this Comm Top 30, I’ve been a slave to the Rule of 7, a suggestion that polls and lists and such contain seven names. Seems like a good number. For the final spot in the poll, I want to open it up a bit. It’s the last spot, the last chance to vote, so I’m going to expand the list and give each person the chance to vote for THREE options. Really get your thoughts out there. It’s not ideal, but repeated requests for better ways to do this have gone without a response.

This whole thing has been an experiment. It’s better than it was a year ago. It will be better a year from now.

And this much is certain: However No. 30 turns out, the readers can be excited that in my opinion and only a few exceptions this Comm Top 30 is an accurate snapshot of how the Cardinals’ prospects rank.

The final poll:

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A detailed recap of the Bird Land Community Top 30, including the percentage of voting each prospect received, starting all the way back in November when I thought the No. 2 spot was really a tossup:

1. Colby Rasmus, OF … First-round bye.
2. Brett Wallace, 3B … 55 percent of 1,038 votes.
3. Chris Perez, RHP … 47 percent of 737.
4. Bryan Anderson, C … 32 percent of 673.
5. David Freese, 3B … 20 percent of 675.
6. Jason Motte, RHP … 42 percent of 1,017.
7. Daryl Jones, OF … 28 percent of 968.
8. Jess Todd, RHP … 26 percent of 968.
9. Mitchell Boggs, RHP … 37 percent of 869.
10. Jaime Garcia, LHP … 23 percent of 791.
11. Niko Vasquez, SS … 26 percent of 281.
12. Clayton Mortensen, RHP … 45 percent of 351.
13. Pete Kozma, SS … 33 percent of 1,116.
14. Allen Craig, INF … 35 percent of 340.
15. Jon Jay, OF … 31 percent of 340.
16. Adam Reifer, RHP … 29 percent of 299.
17. Tyler Greene, INF … 40 percent of 294.
18. Lance Lynn, RHP … 29 percent of 399.
19. P.J. Walters, RHP … 30 percent of 528.
20. Adam Ottavino, RHP … 35 percent of 448.
21. Fernando Salas, RHP … 56 percent of 185-vote runoff.
22. Nick Additon, LHP … 28 percent of 266.
23. Shane Robinson, OF … 29 percent of 348.
24. Francisco Samuel, RHP … 25 percent of 310.
25. Roberto De La Cruz (or Pina), 3B … 34 percent of 234.
26. Tyler Herron, RHP … 41 percent of 343.
27. Richard Castillo, RHP … 22 percent of 275.
28. Deryk Hooker, RHP … 33 percent of 375.
29. Shaun Garceau, RHP … 42 percent of 475/27 percent of 230.
30. TODAY

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