Cardinals' Prospect Joins MLB Pipeline's Top 100 Amid Breakout Season

Bernal, 21, is in the midst of a great year for Double-A Springfield. He's slashing .284/.361/.516 with a team-leading 11 home runs and 41 RBI in 51 games this year. His numbers are good enough to rank third in home runs and OPS (.877) and second in RBI and slugging among Texas League hitters. 

He's already met his previous season-high in home runs and is trending towards the best statistical year of his four-plus year minor league career. 

Due to signing as an international free agent in 2021 at 17 years old, Bernal will likely be added to the team's 40-man roster before next season, when he will be eligible to be selected in the Rule 5 Draft. 

In addition to being added to the Top 100, Bernal's rank in the team's top 10 also improved, moving from No. 6 to No. 3 in the organization. He took over Hence's spot, who made his return to Double-A last week, pushing the righty down to No. 4 in the Cardinals' pipeline. 

The switch-hitting Panama City, Panama native is one of three catchers in the Cardinals organization's top 10 prospects - joined by No. 5 Jimmy Crooks (Triple-A) and No. 6 Rainiel Rodriguez (Low-A). 

These three, along with Ivan Herrera, Pedro Pages and Yohel Pozo at the big league level, are showing that the team's front office has their work cut out for them in figuring out who should be the Cardinals' starting and back up catchers in the near future.