The St. Louis Cardinals were awarded some great draft lottery luck after back-to-back down seasons, a small token from two frustrating years for the Cardinals. Last season, they selected West Virginia University shortstop JJ Wetherholt with the seventh pick and Wetherholt has already made it to Triple-A Memphis and was the leadoff hitter in this weekend’s Futures Game.

This year, they were armed with the number five overall pick. With this being John Mozeliak’s last season as the main decision-maker, this year’s draft looked to the future with assistant GM Randy Flores and incoming Chaim Bloom being in charge of the selection. Coming into the week, there were plenty of mock drafts with different outcomes thanks to a loaded crop of talent and it looked like the Cardinals were going to get to choose between Florida State pitcher Jamie Arnold or high school shortstop Eli Willits.

Neither of those selections came to fruition as Willits gained plenty of traction heading up to the draft and he ended up being selected first overall by the Washington Nationals. After the Angels appeared to reach for Tyler Bremner, there were plenty of options available for the Cardinals, even after Ethan Holliday went one pick before them.

The Cardinals opted to go with who many believed had the best fastball in the draft and selected Tennessee left-handed pitcher Liam Doyle with the fifth pick. According to MLB.com, Doyle had “the most untouchable heater in college baseball this year” that can reach 99 mph. The energetic lefty pairs that with solid secondary pitches, a hard slider, cutter, and a splitter he uses as his changeup.

Baseball America ranks Doyle as a 55-grade (out of 80) talent who could push for ace status.

In round two, the Cardinals dipped back into the state of Tennessee and selected high schooler Ryan Mitchell. The lefty-hitting Mitchell was announced as an outfielder despite playing shortstop in high school. He is praised for his plate discipline and projects to develop at least average power while most likely sticking in the outfield long-term. According to MLB.com and Baseball America, the Cardinals got solid value selecting Mitchell 55th overall.

The Cardinals were awarded a Competitive Balance Round B pick for being a smaller market team in MLB’s effort to keep the lower revenue teams in the mix. With this extra pick between the second and third round, the Cardinals again stayed in the state of Tennessee and selected another Volunteers pitcher in Tanner Franklin. The 6’5 righty has hit 102 mph with his fastball but his command is the biggest concern. His walk rate was over 20% during his first two college seasons, but after transferring to Tennessee, Franklin was able to trim that to below 6%. If he can maintain this command improvement, he could develop into a viable rotation arm but most outlets project him sticking as a power reliever thanks to his big fastball and a 90 mph cutter. He has worked on a slider and changeup but has not needed to hone in those skills thanks to his effective primary offerings.

In what turned into a long day for the Major League team, who sat through four hours of rain delays before beating the Braves, the Cardinals had one more selection in the first day of the draft before calling it an evening. With the 89th pick, St. Louis selected first baseman Jack Gurevitch from the University of San Diego. Despite Gurevitch’s tendency to chase breaking pitches out of the zone, experts believe that he can develop into a solid hitter who can put the ball in play to all fields while developing some decent power.

The MLB Draft continues today at 10:30 CST on MLB Network and ESPN. The draft will conclude with rounds 4-20 taking place today before setting the stage for the All-Star festivities at Truist Park in Atlanta.