The month of July is quite a hectic one for the sport of baseball.
It ends with the trade deadline, which has shown in recent years to be one of the most dramatic times of the season.
The middle of the month features the MLB All-Star Game, a game between the stars of the American League and National League fighting out for league superiority, and is preceded by events such as the Celebrity Softball Game and the Home Run Derby, the latter seeing some of the game’s best power hitters stand in the box and crank as many baseballs as far as the earth will allow.
However, there is also one other event around this time that seems to get swept under the rug sometimes.
The MLB Draft.
The selection of the next generation of baseball legends.
And the St. Louis Cardinals might be faced with a difficult decision come July 13th.
In the 2025 draft, they have been graced with a very high pick, fifth overall in the first round.
Last year, the Red Birds were given the seventh pick, which they used to draft infielder J.J. Wetherholt, who is already in Triple-A and awaiting the call-up any day now.
Of course, not everyone is lucky with the picks they take. There are plenty of busts in the baseball world, just like there are in the football and basketball world. The lights get big, and the skillset seems to get small for the young athletes.
And with the Cardinals coming off of a struggling 2024 season, they have seen quite the rebound in 2025, putting even more pressure on the team to draft the next Stan Musial or Albert Pujols, someone that can lead this team back to the Fall Classic.
Keith Law of The Athletic has said that Eli Willits, a high school shortstop, might be the answer that the Birds are looking for, and the shortstop even has baseball in his DNA, with his father, Reggie, having coached for the New York Yankees, and his brother, Jaxon, also plays.
The shortstop has drawn comparisons to current Yankee Anthony Volpe, citing better physical tools at his young stage out of high school.
