Cardinals Predicted To Bring Lefty Flamethrower To St. Louis

The St. Louis Cardinals are going to have a big decision to make on July 13th.

The 2025 Major League Baseball Draft will kick off that day and the Cardinals have the No. 5 pick in the first round. St. Louis will have plenty of high-end prospects at its disposal when it gets on the clock. The Cardinals could use some more pitching depth in the minors -- as could every team, but it's unknown what direction the club will go in.

Chaim Bloom is taking over as the team's president of baseball operations this upcoming offseason. So, will he make the pick even thought John Mozeliak is still in the position? Or, will Mozeliak make the pick? There will likely be some level of collaboration on the selection, but that is speculation.

Bloom was the chief baseball officer for the Red Sox from Oct. 2019 through Sept. 2023 and over that stretch showed heavy interest in high school bats in the first round.

What direction will the Cardinals go in this summer?

Baseball America's Carlos Collazo predicted that the Cardinals will go with left-handed flamethrower Jamie Arnold out of Florida State.

"No. 5. Cardinals — Jamie Arnold, LHP, Florida State," Collazo said. "Range: 2-5. "Jace LaViolette gets linked to a number of teams in this range, but I wonder if the Cardinals’ preference for in-zone contact skills would make them one of the teams more skeptical of his profile. Getting a shot at Jamie Arnold might have seemed less likely for the Cardinals previously than it does now. He is the safest college starter in the class given his stuff, strike-throwing and track record, but he hasn’t been quite as electric this year as he was as a sophomore."

Arnold has a 3.12 ERA so far this season in 14 starts to go along with a 110-to-26 strikeout-to-walk ratio in 78 innings pitched.