Cardinals Young Core Ranked In Top 10 In MLB

The St. Louis Cardinals are riding an eight-game win streak into Philadelphia to kick off a long stretch of games against postseason contenders. How the Cardinals come out of this stretch could determine the trajectory of their season.

Their young core looks quite promising early on this year. They were not expected to be a contending team, and while they may not last where they currently are, the future is brighter than expected for this team.

Kerry Miller of Bleacher Report recently ranked the Top 10 young cores in Major League Baseball, and he had the Cardinals ranked No. 6 on that list.

"Not only does St. Louis have four quality young players here, but it has them at the ideal foundational locations: short, center, catcher and pitcher.

"Though, we shall see what sort of staying power the center fielder and starting pitcher have," Miller writes.

"If they're the real deal—and if 23-year-old right fielder Jordan Walker can start to figure things out before the end of the season—the Cardinals' rebuilding situation becomes much less onerous."

Walker has struggled at the plate, but Victor Scott II, Matthew Liberatore, Masyn Winn and Ivan Herrera have all performed well. Better yet, there is more in the system that looks promising.

Gordon Graceffo has settled into a relief role while Thomas Saggese and Michael McGreevy continue to perform well at Triple-A Memphis. Even if the Cardinals end up selling this year at the trade deadline, the future looks bright.

We'll see if the young core can sustain this success.