The St. Louis Cardinals had plenty to be excited about over the past week or so. With JJ Wetherholt inking an extension and Jordan Walker making history, the draft almost took a back seat to everything else over the All-Star break. That could have been the case if it were not for the Cardinals receiving rave reviews from experts everywhere for Chaim Bloom and Randy Flores’ work on the 2026 MLB Draft.
With the draft complete and the signing period underway, the Cardinals began opening up roster spots
and moving people around to different levels. I will do my best to summarize them below, but I wanted to shout out MILBToday.com where I have been getting a lot of my St. Louis system trends and stats. Take a look over there and give a follow on Twitter if you like what the site does.
Chase Davis and Jurrangelo Cijntje promoted, others released amid organization roster shuffle
In good news, Chase Davis was activated and promoted to Triple-A Memphis as the former first rounder looks to get back on the organization’s radar. He is joined by Jurrangelo Cijntje, who the Cardinals have been more aggressive with promoting that most of their other pitching prospects. These spots came to be vacant after multiple releases and opt outs were triggered among the Memphis roster.
Doubleheader savior Bruce Zimmerman officially elected free agency and Scott Blewett is planning to exercise his opt-out clause. Zimmerman was an expected loss after his solid season debut, but losing Blewett could be a bummer for a bullpen that will be undergoing some shuffling in the next couple weeks. He was putting together a solid season but the other pitching prospects around the veteran and the Cardinals needing roster spots, Blewett will look to catch on elsewhere.
Also getting removed from the roster was Bligh Madris, who will be going to the KBO, Jeremy Rivas, Jason Savacool, and feel-good outfielder Matt Koperniak who were all released from Memphis. So far, Brody Moore has been called up to fill one of those spots but other promotions are likely to follow.
Elsewhere, Zach Levenson is back in Springfield and maybe most excitingly, Brandon Clarke is in the FSL getting some mound work in. Clarke underwent surgery for a shoulder aneurysm early in the year and was left without a clear timetable, so this news is definitely welcomed. On the rehab front, it appears that Ixan Henderson is also back on the bump and will hopefully build off his great 2025 season when he is back to full health.
There may be plenty more that I missed or that will be coming up shortly, so feel free to drop in the comments and let us know! Also, feel free to add your exciting second half prospects to watch!
Thanks as always!
