Cardinals Insider Shares High Praise For Versatile Star

The St. Louis Cardinals have quite a great young core on their hands. They're loaded with young pitching talent, but the veteran starting rotation partially blocks some of these prospects from coming up.

Their lineup is also loaded from top to bottom in young talent including the likes of Iván Herrera and Masyn Winn.

Redbird Rants' Josh Jacobs recently listed Brendan Donovan as the third most valuable young player in the Cardinals' organization while sharing some high praise for the versatile star.

"I had a really difficult time choosing between Lars Nootbaar and Brendan Donovan for number three on my list, but Donovan got the slight edge for a number of reasons," Jacobs wrote. "Donovan is one of the most versatile players in all of baseball, truly deserving of consideration for his second career utility man Gold Glove for his ability to play tremendous defense in the corner outfield spots and all four infield positions as well.

"Donovan has gotten the opportunity to settle in at second base more than usual this year, and he continues to make incredible plays for the Cardinals as they boast MLB's best defense."

Donovan has quietly been one of the best utility players in the league this season. His bat has become very dependable in the middle of the team's lineup while his glove never slumps.

The Cardinals can practically put Donovan wherever they want on defense and he's going to excel. With defense being a huge reason why the Cardinals are off to such a great start this season, having an anchor like Donovan is huge.

His production should only get better as he gets older, too. It's safe to assume he's going to be a member of the Cardinals for a long time.