Cardinals prospect could be ready to make MLB debut soon

The St. Louis Cardinals offense is finally showing signs of life after beating the Boston Red Sox and sweeping the Baltimore Orioles in back-to-back series last week.

It’s great to see critical hitters like Paul Goldschmidt, Nolan Arenado, Brendan Donovan and Nolan Gorman producing quality hitters, who in turn have catapulted St. Louis to third place in the National League Central.

To add to the good news regarding the organization’s offense, there is a young prospect who is having the best season of his career and could be next in line to help the Cardinals’ roster.

Cesar Prieto – the Cardinals’ No. 18 prospect according to MLB Pipeline – is putting up numbers that can’t be ignored.

Prieto is hitting .333 with 19 extra-base hits, including seven home runs, 27 RBIs and a .911 OPS in 41 games played for Triple-A Memphis.

The 25-year-old was traded from the Baltimore Orioles last season – along with pitchers Drew Rom and Zack Showalter – in a deal for former Cardinals fan favorite Jack Flaherty – with whom St. Louis could find again this summer.

The young second baseman was promoted to Triple-A in Baltimore’s farm system in 2023, where he posted a .317/.365/.471 slash line with 11 extra-base hits and 20 RBIs in 27 games before to be traded to play for Triple. -At Memphis – continuing with similar consistency on offense.

With St. Louis’ team struggling to put up points this season, it might not be a bad idea to call Prieto back up to see what he can do – although it’s likely that he would only be a backup option if a player did so. get injured or need a day off.

Hopefully the Cardinals won’t need to promote Prieto to the big leagues anytime soon, given the offense’s recent success, but at least it’s good to know they have him when needed.

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