St. Louis Cardinals 2022 MLB Draft: Picks, bonus pool, slot values

The 2022 MLB Draft is in the books and the St. Louis Cardinals made 22 picks. The Athletic has comprehensive live coverage of the 20-round, three-day event, including top-100 prospect rankings, mock drafts, prospect profiles, team-by-team analysis and much more. Find out how the Cardinals fared in the draft and much more…

How did the Cardinals do in the draft?

The Cardinals took 19 college players before taking one high school guy in the 20th round, West Virginia recruit Gavin Kempen (20), who I assume is going to school. In the first round, they took Cooper Hjerpe (1), a darling of data hounds who shows a plus slider and plus changeup from a low arm slot. He’s got average velocity but the pitch plays up due to its secondary characteristics and the deception in his delivery. He comes way across his body, however, which is very unusual in a starter, and he does it more than most. Lefty Brycen Mautz (2) also comes from a low 3/4 slot, with less crossfire action but without Hjerpe’s changeup, so he had trouble with right-handed batters this year. The University of San Diego starter needs another weapon to remain in the rotation long-term. Texas lefty — see a trend? — Pete Hansen (3) is an extreme strike-thrower with an above-average slider, but his fastball is fringy and he barely has a changeup, which also points to a more likely reliever future.

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Oklahoma catcher Jimmy Crooks III (4) turned 21 on Day 3 of the draft, making him sophomore-eligible. He’s a good fastball hitter, struggling with everything else, and did a good enough job catching a very talented Oklahoma pitching staff that he projects to stay behind the plate long term. Victor Scott II (5) is a speedy centerfielder from the University of West Virginia with a hitch to start his swing and no further load, so he doesn’t hit for much power, and he’s had trouble with good velocity. He’s at least a 70 runner. UCLA’s Max Rajcic (6) is a 6-foot right-hander who’s maxed out physically and doesn’t look very athletic, but he has a four-pitch mix of 45s and 50s, with the changeup his best pitch and potentially a 55. He has above-average control and works aggressively with what he has, making him someone to watch if the Cardinals find any way to improve his fringy fastball. Cal right-hander Joseph King (9) has above-average control of a 45 fastball/50 changeup combo, enough to say he could be interesting if the Cardinals can boost his velocity.

Keith Law’s National League report card

The Athletic selects the most intriguing draft pick from each team

Cardinals draft bonus pool

$6,842,300 — 24th-largest bonus pool in this draft
Source: MLB.com

Cardinals draft picks with top-10 round slot values

(bonus information from MLB.com)

Round 1, Pick No. 22: Cooper Hjerpe, LHP, Oregon State (signed: $3,180,600 / pick slot value: $3,180,600)
Scouting Report: Hjerpe had eye-popping numbers this spring for the Beavers, with a Division I-leading 161 strikeouts and a strikeouts-per-nine-innings rate that ranked second, behind only a 23-year-old sophomore at FIU. Hjerpe does it with two potentially plus secondary pitches in his slider and changeup – the former getting big sweeping action from his low slot, while the latter is helped by the deception in his delivery. The delivery is one of the main concerns, however, as Hjerpe cuts himself off and comes way across his body, while he delivers the ball from a very low slot not far above sidearm. The other concern is that his fastball is ordinary, 88-93 mph now, with multiple scouts saying they fear it’ll go backwards in pro ball when he’s asked to pitch every fifth day. He may be able to start thanks to those two secondary pitches, but there is no big-league starter in recent memory who was this cross-body, so Hjerpe may have a lot more upside in the bullpen instead.

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Round 2, Pick No. 59: Brycen Mautz, LHP, University of San Diego (signed: $1,100,000 / pick slot value: $1,245,600)
Scouting Report: Mautz had a tremendous year as a 20-year-old junior for the Toreros, punching out a third of the batters he faced with a walk rate under 6 percent. He comes from a low 3/4 slot with a stiff release, sitting 91-93 with a low to mid-70s slider that absolutely destroys left-handed batters, but the same arm slot that gives him so much deception against same-side hitters gives right-handed hitters a long look at the ball, and he had a huge platoon split even in a productive season. He’s much more likely to be a reliever, but with a decent changeup he could be fine as a once-through-the-order guy.

Round 3, Pick No. 97: Pete Hansen, P, Texas (signed: $629,800 / pick slot value: $629,800)
Scouting Report: Hansen is a finesse lefty who struck out 120 in 107 innings with just 19 walks for Texas, albeit with 16 homers, half of them hit by lefties. He’s mostly 88-90, touching 92, and works primarily fastball/slider since the latter is his only above-average pitch, with good tilt and enough deception to miss bats. He barely has a changeup, and his fastball plays below its velocity; he’s had success by avoiding walks and locating well even within the zone. If there’s more velocity here, he could be a back-end starter, but as it is, he’s probably a depth starter or swingman.

Round 4, Pick No. 127: Jimmy Crooks III, C, Oklahoma (signed: $470,300 / pick slot value: $470,300)

Round 5, Pick No. 157: Victor Scott II, OF, West Virginia (signed: $350,400 / pick slot value: $350,400)

Round 6, Pick No. 187: Max Rajcic, RHP, UCLA (signed: $600,000 / pick slot value: $270,500)

Rd. 7, Pick No. 217: Alex Iadisernia, OF, Elon University (signed: $212,000 / pick slot value: $212,000)

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Rd. 8, Pick No. 247: Cade Winquest, RHP, University of Texas — Arlington (signed: $174,600 / pick slot value: $174,600)

Round 9, Pick No. 277: Joseph King, RHP, California (signed: $125,000 / pick slot value: $159,000)

Round 10, Pick No. 307: Tanner Jacobson, RHP, Queens University of Charlotte (NC) (signed: $25,000 / pick slot value: $150,500)

Round 11, Pick No. 337: Nathan Church, OF, University of California — Irvine (signed)

Round 12, Pick No. 367: Michael Curialle, SS, UCLA (signed: $150,000 / $25,000 counts towards bonus pool)

Round 13, Pick No. 397: Chandler Arnold, RHP, Dallas Baptist (signed: $175,000 / $50,000 counts towards bonus pool)

Round 14, Pick No. 427: D.J. Carpenter, RHP, Oregon State (signed)

Round 15, Pick No. 457: Matt Hickey, RHP, Tarleton St U (signed)

Round 16, Pick No. 487: Hunter Hayes, RHP, Pacific (signed)

Round 17, Pick No. 517: Brody Moore, SS, Auburn (signed)

Round 18, Pick No. 547: John Lynch, LHP, Xavier U (signed)

Round 19, Pick No. 577: Chris Rotondo, OF, Villanova U (signed)

Round 20, Pick No. 607: Gavin Van Kempen, RHP, Maple Hill High School (NY)

Dates, location and times

The 2022 MLB Draft is a three-day event spanning Sunday through Tuesday of MLB All-Star weekend in Los Angeles. The Sunday evening kickoff includes the first two rounds and will be held live with representatives from each team on hand, as well as several potential draft picks and MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred.

When: July 17, at 7pm EST; July 18, at 2pm EST; July 19, at 2pm EST
Where: Los Angeles
TV: MLB Network (first 80 picks) and ESPN (first round)

Top prospect rankings and mock draft

Druw Jones leads Keith Law’s latest top-100 prospect ranking.

Will the Orioles go with best player available for the top pick? How will the Mets approach their two top-15 picks? The Athletic’s MLB staff weighs in with a first-round mock draft.

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Get all of our latest draft coverage here.

MLB Draft explainer

How does the draft bonus pool work? And why can’t all picks be traded?

(Photo: Alex Trautwig / MLB Photos via Getty Images)