We have reached under the two-week mark until the MLB Draft. In 13 days, teams will draft the prospects they best feel will help change their franchises in the future.
In the latest ESPN mock draft, MLB writers Jeff Passan, David Schoenfield and Kiley McDaniel collaborated on a first round mock draft that includes trades along with the first 40 draft picks.
With the No. 5 overall pick, the St. Louis Cardinals can go in a lot of different directions. In the mock draft, the ESPN writers believe the Cardinals will go with JoJo Parker, a shortstop out of Purvis High School in Mississippi.
“Parker is projected to have an excellent hit tool, similar to JJ Wetherholt, last year’s first-round pick. Parker probably slides over to third, giving them a potential long-term infield of Wetherholt at second, Masyn Winn at shortstop and Parker at third,” Schoenfield wrote.
Parker would give more youth to the Cardinals’ infield. Winn, the current shortstop, is just 23-years-old and in his second year in the league. It is likely he would stay at his position as Parker would play elsewhere in the infield to potentially pair the two young players.
In his senior season, Parker batted .465, drove in 35 runs, and hit 13 home runs in 37 games. He has a career average of .426 with 146 RBIs on 203 hits. Parker has also been discussed as one of the best hitters in this year’s draft.
The Cardinals have not selected this high in the draft since they took J.D. Drew at No. 5 overall in 1998, who was later traded for star pitcher Adam Wainwright after five seasons.
