Odle, Cho and Kross Push Their Way Up the Board
The Cardinal Chronicle
Odle, Cho and Kross Push Their Way Up the Board
St. Louis, MO
By Ray Mileur
Prospect value does not move in a straight line. Some players force the issue with performance. Some hold their place because the talent still matters, even when the week does not change the picture much. Others start sliding because the results, health or role questions begin to outweigh the projection.
That is where this week’s Cardinals prospect board sits.
Jacob Odle has gone from Single-A breakout arm to High-A promotion in a hurry. Won-Bin Cho is swinging one of the hottest bats in the system. Josh Kross continues to put together the kind of offensive line that makes a player hard to ignore. Meanwhile, Jimmy Crooks, Liam Doyle and Jurrangelo Cijntje remain high-interest names who are holding their ground. On the other side, Quinn Mathews, Braden Davis and Nate Dohm have work to do.
That is the prospect market in late May. The board does not wait.
📈 Stock Rising
Jacob Odle, RHP, Peoria
Ranking: Not listed in The Cardinal Chronicle Top 30
The Movement: Up.
Jacob Odle is not just rising. He is forcing his way into the conversation.
The right-hander opened the year at Single-A Palm Beach and made quick work of the level, posting a 1.00 ERA, 1.00 WHIP and 31 strikeouts over 18 innings. That is not just good production. That is the kind of line that gets a pitcher moved.
And now he has been moved.
Odle was promoted over the weekend from Palm Beach to High-A Peoria, giving him the next test in what has quickly become one of the better pitching stories in the Cardinals’ system. He is also coming off The Cardinal Chronicle’s Pitcher of the Week honors and has positioned himself as the leading contender for Cardinals Minor League Pitcher of the Month.
The most encouraging part is the strikeout total. Thirty-one strikeouts in 18 innings tells you the stuff is playing. The ERA and WHIP tell you he has not just been missing bats — he has been controlling innings.
That combination is how a prospect starts moving.
Odle was not on the Top 30 board entering this snapshot, but that may not last much longer. A pitcher can remain outside the rankings for only so long when the performance starts demanding space.
Old School Take: You do not have to be ranked to be rising. Sometimes the numbers kick the door open before the lists catch up. Odle has kicked it open.
Won-Bin Cho, OF, Peoria
Ranking: Not listed in The Cardinal Chronicle Top 30
The Movement: Up.
Won-Bin Cho has become one of the hottest hitters in the Cardinals’ minor league system.
The High-A outfielder is hitting .303 with a 1.016 OPS, and that kind of production changes the conversation quickly. Cho has always had tools worth watching, but now the performance is matching the promise.
There is a difference between being interesting and being loud. Cho is getting loud.
The OPS jumps off the page. It shows more than a few singles falling in or one good series carrying the line. It reflects extra-base impact, on-base ability and the kind of offensive presence that can carry a player up the board.
Cho’s rise is important because outfield production in the system has been uneven. When a player at High-A starts hitting with authority and stacking quality at-bats, he earns a closer look.
Like Odle, Cho is not currently listed in The Cardinal Chronicle Top 30. But if this continues, that becomes harder to defend.
Old School Take: Hot bats get noticed. Hot bats with a 1.016 OPS force a conversation. Cho has moved from “keep an eye on him” to “start paying attention.”
Josh Kross, C/1B, Peoria
Ranking: Not listed in The Cardinal Chronicle Top 30
The Movement: Up.
Josh Kross may be one of the most obvious stock-rising position players in the system right now.
Through 18 games at High-A Peoria, Kross is hitting .353 with a 1.104 OPS, five home runs, 17 RBIs, 24 hits, 12 runs scored and 13 walks. That is a complete offensive line. He is not just running into power. He is reaching base, driving the baseball and producing runs.
That matters.
A .353 average gets attention. A 1.104 OPS demands it. Five home runs and 17 RBIs in 18 games show the production has not been empty. He has been a force in the middle of the Peoria lineup.
Kross also brings positional value because of his catching background. If the bat continues to play, the Cardinals will have another name to sort through in what has quickly become a much deeper catching conversation across the system.
He is not currently part of The Cardinal Chronicle Top 30, but he is making a strong case that the next version of the board needs to find room.
Old School Take: Production still counts. Kross is not asking for attention. He is earning it every time he steps in the box.
⏸️ Stock Holding
Jimmy Crooks, C, Memphis
Ranking: No. 7
The Movement: Holding.
Jimmy Crooks remains firmly on the board.
The Memphis catcher is hitting .263 with a .989 OPS, 13 home runs and 29 RBIs. That is real production at Triple-A, and it keeps him near the front of the Cardinals’ upper-level position-player conversation.
Crooks is not holding because he has gone quiet. He is holding because his value is already established. At this point, the question is not whether he belongs on the prospect board. He does. The question is whether he can keep hitting enough to force a bigger conversation in St. Louis.
There is also a practical side to his value. Catchers who can hit at Triple-A do not grow on trees. Even if his future role is not fully settled, the bat has done enough to keep him in the mix.
Crooks remains one of the closest offensive prospects to the major league conversation. That is a good place to be.
Old School Take: Triple-A power matters. Crooks is not soaring this week, but he is not slipping either. He holds because the bat still plays.
Liam Doyle, LHP, Springfield
Ranking: No. 1 Cardinals / No. 23 MLB
The Movement: Holding.
Liam Doyle remains the top-ranked prospect on The Cardinal Chronicle board, but the performance is still trying to catch up to the ranking.
The left-hander has a 6.44 ERA, 1.60 WHIP and 40 strikeouts over 29 1/3 innings at Double-A Springfield. The strikeout total is still the reason to believe. The traffic and run prevention are the reasons this is a holding grade instead of a rising one.
Doyle’s stuff remains legitimate. He can miss bats, and that continues to separate him from most arms in the system. But Double-A is a hard test, and right now the results are uneven.
That does not knock him from the top of the board. It does keep the stock from climbing.
Doyle is holding because the talent still supports the ranking, but the next step has to be more consistent command, cleaner innings and better run prevention.
Old School Take: First-round arms get judged hard. Doyle still has the stuff. Now he has to turn stuff into starts.
Jurrangelo Cijntje, SHP, Springfield
Ranking: No. 4 Cardinals / No. 88 MLB
The Movement: Holding.
Jurrangelo Cijntje remains one of the most unique prospects in baseball.
The switch-pitcher is ranked No. 4 on The Cardinal Chronicle board and No. 88 among MLB prospects. Through 41 2/3 innings at Double-A Springfield, he has a 5.18 ERA, 1.44 WHIP and 53 strikeouts.
That line explains the hold.
The strikeouts are real. Fifty-three punchouts in 41 2/3 innings show the stuff can miss bats at Double-A. But the ERA and WHIP also show that the innings have not been clean enough to push the stock higher.
Cijntje remains too talented and too unusual to slide too far. But he is also not climbing on novelty alone. The next move depends on run prevention.
If he trims the traffic and starts stacking cleaner outings, the stock can move up quickly. For now, it holds.
Old School Take: The switch-pitching makes people look. The results decide how long they keep watching. Cijntje is still holding his place, but the next step is cleaner innings.
📉 Stock Falling
Quinn Mathews, LHP, Memphis
Ranking: No. 6
The Movement: Down.
Quinn Mathews is the most obvious name in the falling group this week.
The left-hander is ranked No. 6 on The Cardinal Chronicle board, but his Triple-A line has not matched that placement. Mathews has a 5.55 ERA, 1.63 WHIP and 44 strikeouts over 35 2/3 innings for Memphis.
The strikeouts still matter. Mathews can miss bats, and that part of the profile has not disappeared. But the problem is the traffic. A 1.63 WHIP at Triple-A puts too many innings under stress, and too many of those innings have turned into damage.
This does not mean Mathews is no longer a real prospect. He is. But the market has to respond to performance, and right now the performance is pushing the stock down.
The good news is that upper-level pitchers can change the conversation quickly. A few clean starts at Memphis would stabilize the picture. But until that happens, Mathews belongs in the falling group.
Old School Take: Strikeouts are nice, but baserunners tell the truth. Mathews still has the arm, but he needs cleaner innings in a hurry.
Braden Davis, LHP, Springfield
Ranking: No. 26
The Movement: Down.
Braden Davis has missed bats, but the overall line has not been clean enough to hold steady.
The Springfield left-hander has a 6.08 ERA, 1.54 WHIP and 46 strikeouts over 37 innings. The strikeout total keeps him interesting, and it shows the stuff can still finish hitters. But the run prevention and traffic have become too much to ignore.
This is not a case of a pitcher without ability. Davis has shown flashes, including outings where the strikeout stuff looks plenty good enough to climb. But prospect stock is not built on flashes alone. It is built on turning those flashes into repeated, reliable performance.
Right now, the gap between the strikeouts and the run prevention is the issue. If Davis can start limiting baserunners and avoiding the big inning, the stock can stabilize quickly. Until then, he slides into the falling group.
Old School Take: Strikeouts keep a pitcher on the radar. Clean innings move him up the board. Davis has the first part. Now he needs the second.
Nate Dohm, RHP, Peoria
Ranking: No. 30
The Movement: Down.
Nate Dohm holds the final spot on The Cardinal Chronicle Top 30, but the early results are putting pressure on that ranking.
The High-A right-hander has a 10.53 ERA, 1.88 WHIP and 22 strikeouts over 19 2/3 innings. The strikeouts show there is still some ability to miss bats, but the run prevention has been a serious issue.
A 10.53 ERA does not need much dressing up. It is a hard number. The WHIP tells the same story. Too much traffic, too much damage and not enough clean work.
That does not mean Dohm is finished as a prospect. Young pitchers can look rough one month and much better the next. But based on the current board, his stock has clearly taken a hit.
At No. 30, there is not much room beneath him. If the results do not improve, others will begin pushing for that spot.
Old School Take: The back of the board is no place to struggle. Dohm still has time, but he needs to stop the slide.
Final Board
📈 Stock Rising: Jacob Odle, Won-Bin Cho, Josh Kross.
⏸️ Stock Holding: Jimmy Crooks, Liam Doyle, Jurrangelo Cijntje.
📉 Stock Falling: Quinn Mathews, Braden Davis, Nate Dohm.
This week’s report is a reminder that prospect rankings are not museum pieces. They move. Sometimes the listed names hold firm. Sometimes unranked players force their way into the conversation. Sometimes high-ranked arms remind us that talent and performance are not always walking side by side.
Odle, Cho and Kross have made the loudest positive statements. Crooks, Doyle and Cijntje remain firmly relevant. Mathews, Davis and Dohm still have the talent to change the story, but the next few weeks matter.
That is the prospect market. It does not care where a player started.
It only cares where he is headed.
The Cardinal Chronicle, in association with Gateway Sports
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