# List of St. Louis Cardinals first-round draft picks

The St. Louis Cardinals are a Major League Baseball (MLB) franchise based in St. Louis, Missouri. They play in the National League Central division. Since the institution of MLB's Rule 4 Draft, the Cardinals have selected 77 players in the first round. Officially known as the "First-Year Player Draft", the Rule 4 Draft is MLB's primary mechanism for assigning amateur baseball players from high schools, colleges, and other amateur baseball clubs to its teams. The draft order is determined based on the previous season's standings, with the team possessing the worst record receiving the first pick. In addition, teams which lost free agents in the previous off-season may be awarded compensatory or supplementary picks.
Of the 77 players picked in the first round by St. Louis, 39 have been pitchers, the most of any position; 30 of them were right-handed, while nine were left-handed. Eight outfielders, ten third basemen, six shortstops, six first basemen, five catchers, and two second basemen were taken as well. The team also drafted one player, Leron Lee (1966), who played as an infielder. 16 of the players came from high schools or universities in the state of California, and Texas and Arizona follow with seven and six players. The Cardinals have not drafted any players from their home state of Missouri.
Three of the Cardinals' draft picks have won World Series rings with the team. Braden Looper (1996) and Chris Duncan (1999) were both members of the major league roster when the Cardinals won the 2006 World Series. Lance Lynn was with the 2011 World Series winners. None of the Cardinals' first-round picks have won the Cy Young Award. Todd Worrell (1982) is the only first-round pick of the Cardinals to earn the MLB Rookie of the Year award with the team, winning it in 1986. The Cardinals have never held the first overall pick in the draft, and have only held a top five pick three times. The highest pick the Cardinals have held was the third overall pick, which they used on Looper in 1996.
The Cardinals have made 18 selections in the supplemental round of the draft and 27 compensatory picks since the institution of the First-Year Player Draft in 1965. These additional picks are provided when a team loses a particularly valuable free agent in the previous off-season, or, more recently, if a team fails to sign a draft pick from the previous year. As the Cardinals have signed all of their first-round picks, they have never been awarded a supplementary pick under this provision.

## Key

| Year | Each year links to an article about that year's Major League Baseball Draft. |
| Position | Indicates the secondary/collegiate position at which the player was drafted, rather than the professional position the player may have gone on to play |
| Pick | Indicates the number of the pick |
| † | Member of the National Baseball Hall of Fame |
| * | Player did not sign with the Cardinals |
| § | Indicates a supplemental pick |
| '06 | Player was a member of the Cardinals' 2006 championship team |
| '11 | Player was a member of the Cardinals' 2011 championship team |

## Picks

| Year | Name | Position | School (location) | Pick |
| 1965 | Joe DiFabio | Right-handed pitcher | Delta State University (Cleveland, Mississippi) | 20 |
| 1966 | Leron Lee | Infielder | Grant High School (Sacramento, California) | 7 |
| 1967 | Ted Simmons$^†$ | Catcher | Southfield High School (Southfield, Michigan) | 10 |
| 1968 | James Hairston | Outfielder | Roth High School (Dayton, Ohio) | 19 |
| 1969 | Charles Minott | Left-handed pitcher | Royal Oak High School (Covina, California) | 20 |
| 1970 | Jim Browning | Right-handed pitcher | Emma Sansom High School (Gadsden, Alabama) | 11 |
| 1971 | Ed Kurpiel | First baseman | Archbishop Molloy High School (Hollis, New York) | 8 |
| 1972 | Dan Larson | Right-handed pitcher | Alhambra High School (Alhambra, California) | 21 |
| 1973 | Joe Edelen | Third baseman | Gracemont High School (Gracemont, Oklahoma) | 12 |
| 1974 | Garry Templeton | Shortstop | Santa Ana Valley High School (Santa Ana, California) | 13 |
| 1975 | David Johnson | Left-handed pitcher | Gaylord High School (Gaylord, Michigan) | 16 |
| 1976 | Leon Durham | First baseman | Woodward High School (Cincinnati, Ohio) | 15 |
| 1977 | Terry Kennedy | Catcher | Florida State University (Tallahassee, Florida) | 6 |
| 1978 | Bob Hicks | First baseman | Gonzalez Tate High School (Pensacola, Florida) | 15 |
| 1979 | Andy Van Slyke | Outfielder | New Hartford High School (New Hartford, New York) | 6 |
| 1980 | Don Collins | Right-handed pitcher | Homer L. Ferguson High School (Newport News, Virginia) | 15 |
| 1981 | Bob Meacham | Shortstop | San Diego State University (San Diego, California) | 8 |
| 1982 | Todd Worrell | Right-handed pitcher | Biola University (La Mirada, California) | 21 |
| 1983 | Jim Lindeman | Third baseman | Bradley University (Peoria, Illinois) | 24 |
| 1984 | Mike Dunne | Right-handed pitcher | Bradley University (Peoria, Illinois) | 7 |
| 1985 | Joe Magrane | Left-handed pitcher | University of Arizona (Tucson, Arizona) | 18 |
| 1986 | Luis Alicea | Second baseman | Florida State University (Tallahassee, Florida) | 23 |
| 1987 | Cris Carpenter | Right-handed pitcher | University of Georgia (Athens, Georgia) | 14 |
| 1988 | John Ericks | Right-handed pitcher | University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign (Urbana, Illinois) | 22 |
| 1988 | Brad DuVall | Right-handed pitcher | Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Blacksburg, Virginia) | 23 |
| 1988 | Brian Jordan | Outfielder | University of Richmond (Richmond, Virginia) | 30§ |
| 1989 | Paul Coleman | Outfielder | Frankston High School (Frankston, Texas) | 6 |
| 1990 | Donovan Osborne | Left-handed pitcher | University of Nevada, Las Vegas (Paradise, Nevada) | 13 |
| 1990 | Aaron Holbert | Shortstop | David Starr Jordan High School (Long Beach, California) | 18 |
| 1990 | Paul Ellis | Catcher | University of California, Los Angeles (Los Angeles, California) | 30§ |
| 1991 | Dmitri Young | Third baseman | Rio Mesa High School (Camarillo, California) | 4 |
| 1991 | Allen Watson | Left-handed pitcher | New York Institute of Technology (Brooklyn, New York) | 21 |
| 1991 | Brian Barber | Right-handed pitcher | Dr. Phillips High School (Orlando, Florida) | 22 |
| 1991 | Tom McKinnon | Right-handed pitcher | David Starr Jordan High School (Long Beach, California) | 28§ |
| 1991 | Dan Cholowsky | Third baseman | University of California, Berkeley (Berkeley, California) | 39§ |
| 1992 | Sean Lowe | Right-handed pitcher | Arizona State University (Tempe, Arizona) | 15 |
| 1993 | Alan Benes | Right-handed pitcher | Creighton University (Omaha, Nebraska) | 16 |
| 1994 | Bret Wagner | Left-handed pitcher | Wake Forest University (Winston-Salem, North Carolina) | 19 |
| 1995 | Matt Morris | Right-handed pitcher | Seton Hall University (South Orange, New Jersey) | 12 |
| 1995 | Chris Haas | Third baseman | St. Mary High School (Paducah, Kentucky) | 29§ |
| 1996 | Braden Looper '06 | Right-handed pitcher | Wichita State University (Wichita, Kansas) | 3 |
| 1997 | Adam Kennedy | Shortstop | California State University, Northridge (Northridge, California) | 20 |
| 1998 | J. D. Drew | Outfielder | Florida State University (Tallahassee, Florida) | 5 |
| 1998 | Ben Diggins | First baseman | Bradshaw High School (Dewey, Arizona) | 32§ |
| 1999 | Chance Caple | Right-handed pitcher | Texas A&M University (College Station, Texas) | 30 |
| 1999 | Nick Stocks | Right-handed pitcher | Florida State University (Tallahassee, Florida) | 36§ |
| 1999 | Chris Duncan '06 | First baseman | Canyon del Oro High School (Tucson, Arizona) | 46§ |
| 2000 | Shaun Boyd | Outfielder | Vista High School (Vista, California) | 13 |
| 2000 | Blake Williams | Right-handed pitcher | Southwest Texas State University (San Marcos, Texas) | 24 |
| 2001 | Justin Pope | Right-handed pitcher | University of Central Florida (Orlando, Florida) | 28 |
| 2002 | no first-round pick | no first-round pick | no first-round pick | no first-round pick |
| 2003 | Daric Barton | Catcher | Marina High School (Huntington Beach, California) | 28 |
| 2004 | Chris Lambert | Right-handed pitcher | Boston College (Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts) | 19 |
| 2005 | Colby Rasmus | Outfielder | Russell County High School (Seale, Alabama) | 28 |
| 2005 | Tyler Greene | Shortstop | Georgia Institute of Technology (Atlanta, Georgia) | 30 |
| 2005 | Mark McCormick | Right-handed pitcher | Baylor University (Waco, Texas) | 43§ |
| 2005 | Tyler Herron | Right-handed pitcher | Wellington Community High School (Wellington, Florida) | 46§ |
| 2006 | Adam Ottavino | Right-handed pitcher | Northeastern University (Boston, Massachusetts) | 30 |
| 2006 | Chris Perez | Right-handed pitcher | University of Miami (Coral Gables, Florida) | 42§ |
| 2007 | Pete Kozma | Shortstop | Owasso High School (Owasso, Oklahoma) | 18 |
| 2007 | Clay Mortensen | Right-handed pitcher | Gonzaga University (Spokane, Washington) | 36§ |
| 2008 | Brett Wallace | First baseman | Arizona State University (Tempe, Arizona) | 13 |
| 2008 | Lance Lynn '11 | Right-handed pitcher | University of Mississippi (Oxford, Mississippi) | 39§ |
| 2009 | Shelby Miller | Right-handed pitcher | Brownwood High School (Brownwood, Texas) | 19 |
| 2010 | Zack Cox | Third baseman | University of Arkansas (Fayetteville, Arkansas) | 25 |
| 2010 | Seth Blair | Right-handed pitcher | Arizona State University (Tempe, Arizona) | 46§ |
| 2010 | Tyrell Jenkins | Right-handed pitcher | Henderson High School (Henderson, Texas) | 50§ |
| 2011 | Kolten Wong | Second baseman | University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa (Honolulu, Hawaii) | 22 |
| 2012 | Michael Wacha | Right-Handed pitcher | Texas A&M University (College Station, Texas) | 19 |
| 2012 | James Ramsey | Outfielder | Florida State University (Tallahassee, Florida) | 23 |
| 2012 | Stephen Piscotty | Third baseman | Stanford University (Palo Alto, California) | 36§ |
| 2012 | Patrick Wisdom | Third baseman | Saint Mary's College of California (Moraga, California) | 52§ |
| 2012 | Steve Bean | Catcher | Rockwall High School (Rockwall, Texas) | 59§ |
| 2013 | Marco Gonzales | Left-Handed pitcher | Gonzaga University (Spokane, Washington) | 19 |
| 2013 | Rob Kaminsky | Left-Handed pitcher | St. Joseph Regional High School (Montvale, New Jersey) | 28 |
| 2014 | Luke Weaver | Right-handed pitcher | Florida State University (Tallahassee, Florida) | 27 |
| 2014 | Jack Flaherty | Right-Handed pitcher | Harvard-Westlake School (Los Angeles, California) | 34§ |
| 2015 | Nick Plummer | Outfielder | Brother Rice High School (Bloomfield Township, Michigan) | 23 |
| 2015 | Jake Woodford | Right-Handed pitcher | H.B. Plant High School (Tampa, Florida) | 39§ |
| 2016 | Delvin Pérez | Shortstop | International Baseball Academy (Ceiba, Puerto Rico) | 23 |
| 2016 | Dylan Carlson | Outfielder | Elk Grove High School (Elk Grove, California) | 33§ |
| 2016 | Dakota Hudson | Right-handed pitcher | Mississippi State University (Mississippi State, Mississippi) | 34§ |
| 2017 | no first-round pick | no first-round pick | no first-round pick | no first-round pick |
| 2018 | Nolan Gorman | Third baseman | Sandra Day O'Connor High School (Phoenix, Arizona) | 19 |
| 2019 | Zack Thompson | Left-handed pitcher | University of Kentucky (Lexington, Kentucky) | 19 |
| 2020 | Jordan Walker | Third baseman | Decatur High School (Decatur, Georgia) | 21 |
| 2021 | Michael McGreevy | Right-handed pitcher | UC Santa Barbara (Isla Vista, California) | 18 |
| 2022 | Cooper Hjerpe | Left-handed pitcher | Oregon State University (Corvallis, Oregon) | 22 |
| 2023 | Chase Davis | Outfielder | University of Arizona (Tucson, Arizona) | 21 |
| 2024 | JJ Wetherholt | Shortstop | West Virginia University (Morgantown, West Virginia) | 7 |