Cards have eight top picks signed, a ninth on the way – STLtoday.com

MINNEAPOLIS • Even with this week’s news and hacking allegations hovering over Busch Stadium, there is still work to be done for the front office and Cardinals’ executives with a draft having just finished and a trade deadline approaching.

The signing of picks does continue with eight of the team’s top 12 picks already in the fold with finalized deals.

A ninth could finalize a deal shortly.

The Cardinals have an agreement in place with lefty Ian Oxnevad, a high school pitcher from Washington. The Cardinals selected him in the eighth round, but one of the Pacific Northwest’s top pitching prospects has a commitment to Oregon State. The deal with the Cardinals is contingent on Oxnevad passing a physical.

The team does not comment on deals until they are finalized after a physical has been taken.

The Cardinals signed outfielder Nick Plummer (first round), righty Jake Woodford (39th overall), and righthander Jordan Hicks (third round) to deals this past week. Plummer received the slot value for the 23rd overall pick while Hicks and Woodford received above the bonus assigned by Major League Baseball.

The Cardinals do have room left under the cap to pursue the three unsigned members of the top 12 picks:

• Bryce Denton, 3B (second), who has strong commitment to Vanderbilt
• Harrison Bader, OF (third), who is active with Florida at the College World Series and cannot sign until after the Gators are eliminated
• Kep Brown, OF (10th), who slipped in the draft because of an injury. Power prospect has commitment to Miami

I’m still in the process of gathering some information on where things stand with individual pitchers and even the bonuses of the players, so there will be an update in the morning’s paper and online here at StlToday.com.

Plummer has been assigned to the Gulf Coast League affiliate.

For the record here are the players that have signed from the top 10 rounds: Plummer, Woodford, Hicks, infielder Paul DeJong (fourth round), righthander Ryan Helsley (fifth round), lefty Jacob Evans (sixth round), catcher Jesse Jenner (seventh round), and second baseman Andrew Brodbeck (ninth round).

More updates on this coming.

This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service – if this is your content and you’re reading it on someone else’s site, please read the FAQ at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php#publishers.