Instead of rebuilding passively, the St. Louis Cardinals have chosen to rebuild aggressively this offseason.
Sonny Gray and Willson Contreras were dealt to the Boston Red Sox earlier this winter, and the Cardinals have traded several seasoned players this offseason. Additionally, the Cardinals traded Nolan Arenado to the Arizona Diamondbacks and Brendan Donovan to the Seattle Mariners.
It follows that the Cardinals will have to use the farm system to develop their next generation. The aforementioned transactions have allowed them to acquire a number of elite prospects, but they also appeared to strike gold with a few foreign free agents.
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The Cardinals have reached an agreement with 18-year-old international free agent Leonil De Leon this offseason, according to a recent report by MLB reporter Francys Romero.
Cardinals agree to deal with RHP Leonil De Leon
“According to sources who spoke to Beisbol FR, the Dominican right-handed pitcher Leonil De Leon is in agreement with the St. Louis Cardinals to sign during the current 2025–2026 international signing period. An official signing date has not yet been announced and is still up in the air, but it may happen in the days ahead,” Romero wrote. A physical inspection of the agreement is still pending. Standing 6’3″, he was born in the Dominican Republic. The Miracles Baseball Academy is where De Leon trains.
According to reports, De Leon’s fastball has reached the mid-nineties. He has the projectability of a future celebrity and is a physically fit adolescent.
The Cardinals should be thrilled with this move because he is a youngster with a fastball that can reach at least 95 miles per hour. The addition of another potential star to the farm system should make Cardinals supporters optimistic about their future, even though the transaction is still pending a medical and De Leon is years away from making his big-league debut.
Leon will be a part of the Cardinals’ stacked farm system, which already boasts several elite pitchers. He might be listed among the Cardinals’ top 30 prospects if he can live up to his potential over the next years.
