Four Cardinals Prospects Acquired at MLB Trade Deadline Thriving in Minor Leagues

The Cardinals announced to the baseball world that theywere in rebuilding mode last winter when they traded Nolan Arenado, Sonny Gray,Willson Contreras and Brendan Donovan for a host of Minor League prospects.

Then, they backed up those actions by doing more of thesame at the MLB Trade Deadline by shipping veteran pitchers Dustin May and JoJoRomero to the Brewers and outfielder Lars Nootbaar to the Dbacks for fourprospects.

With it being a month since the Aug. 3 Trade Deadline dealsbetween the Cards and Brewers and Cards and Dbacks, let's take a look at howthe former St. Louis players have fared and how the two transactions haveworked out so far.

Brewers receive right-handed starter Dustin Mayand left-handed reliever JoJo Romero. May, who was 5-7 with a 4.38ERA in 21 starts with the Cardinals, has mostly struggled with the Brewers andwas recently hit with some tough luck. May is 1-2 with a 6.41 ERA over fivestarts with Milwaukee. He was hit hard by the Mariners (seven hits, sevenearned runs in two innings pitched) and Rangers (six hits, four earned runs in4 1/3 innings pitched) and literally hit hard in a one-pitch start against theMets. New York's AJ Ewing drilled a 106-mph liner on the game's first pitch, andit hit off May's right shoulder blade. He left that game after just one pitchand luckily escaped with just a bruise.

Romero, 29, missed his final three weeks with the Cardinalsafter needing an emergency appendectomy over the break for the MLB All-StarGame. After going on a rehab assignment with the High-A Wisconsin TimberRattlers, Romero was activated on Sept. 1. In two games, Romero has yet to giveup a run while registering one hold out of the Milwaukee bullpen.

Cardinals receive Class-A outfielder AlexanderFrias and Double-A outfielder Josiah Ragsdale. MinorLeague talent evaluators were somewhat shocked that the Cardinals could pryaway the 6-foot-2 Frias, who was immediately installed as the No. 4 prospect inthe Cardinals' Minor League system. The 18-year-old Frias, who was signed to a$350,000 international free-agent deal out of the Dominican Republic in Januaryof 2025, has played 22 games with Class-A Palm Beach thus far. He's smashedfour doubles, a triple and two home runs to build a .749 OPS. He's also flashedby dynamic speed by swiping six bases.

As for Ragsdale, 22, he has continued his stellar season withDouble-A Springfield. In 23 games with the Cards, he has four doubles, atriple, five homers and 13 RBI. He's also stolen five bases in five tries. Infour Minor League stops in 2026, Ragsdale – the No. 11-ranked prospect in theCards' system – has racked up 25 doubles, 24 homers and 36 stolen bases while hitting.308 with a 1.001 OPS.

Diamondbacks receive outfielder Lars Nootbaar. The 28-year-oldoutfielder, who was a fan favorite in St. Louis for his infectious smile andfun-loving nature, got off to a slow start with Arizona. His first homer didn'tcome until his 12th game with the Dbacks and he smashed homers onback-to-back days on Aug. 28 and 29 in San Francisco. The final one was a grandslam. In 22 games with a DBacks team pushing for a playoff spot, Nootbaar ishitting .224 with four doubles, three homers and 11 RBI.

Cardinals receive right-handed starter DanielEagen and left-handed reliever Sandro Santana. Eagen,23, registered a 10-strikeout performance and an 11-strikeout performance sixdays apart in August for Double-A Springfield. The No. 22-ranked prospect is just2-3 with a 4.03 ERA in the hitter-friendly Texas League, but he has piled up animpressive 37 strikeouts in 29 innings of work. Foes are hitting just .206against Eagen.

Santana, 21, has been so impressive that he's alreadyearned a promotion from Double-A Springfield to Triple-A Memphis. In 9.2innings of work, Santana – who features a frisbee-like sweeper – has allowedjust two hits and one earned run. Incredibly, he has struck out 19 whilewalking none since becoming a member of the Cardinals organization.