15 seasons ago, the St. Louis Cardinals won a World Series title on the backs of Albert Pujols, surprise heroes, and a stout veteran presence. The team looks quite different from the way it did during their World Series bids in the 2000s and early 2010s, but in a way, the Cardinals have reverted to their roots and breathed new life into the Cardinal Way.

The Cardinals are entering a deep rebuild, trading away stars in Willson Contreras, Sonny Gray, Nolan Arenado, and, most recently, Brendan Donovan. While the season outlook is bleak, the Cardinals were able to restock their farm system with pitching that could change the franchise's trajectory in the coming seasons.

Pitching Could Be A Strength Soon

The Cardinals entered the offseason with young pitching depth, including Liam Doyle–their top draft selection a season ago–as well as Brycen Mautz, Ixan Henderson, Cooper Hjerpe, Quinn Matthews, Tink Hence, and Tekoah Roby in the minor league system. Meanwhile, they have begun riding that wave in the big league rotation with Michael McGreevey looking to begin this season where he left off last year.

Those prospects are just the beginning of the pitching talent in the Cardinals system, as that was the compilation from before the offseason trades. In the four trades the Cardinals made this winter, they were able to bring in three more Top 10 prospects into their organization, including switch-pitching phenom Jurrangelo Cijntje, who ranks No. 91 in MLB Pipeline Top 100 prospect rankings.

The other two prospects that the Cardinals raked in this winter include Brandon Clarke and Yhoiker Fajardo, the No. 8 and No. 10 prospects in the Cardinals organization, respectively. Chaim Bloom has focused the Cardinals' efforts on rebuilding their development system for the last two seasons, and now that he is calling the shots as president of baseball operations, he has stockpiled talent to be developed in the new and improved system.

While the Cardinals look towards the youth, they added new talent on top of the existing prospects in their system, with the organization looking down the line rather than the season in front of them. With many of the prospects projected to make their debuts in the next two seasons, the Cardinals could find themselves as one of the league's wealthiest teams in terms of pitching.

Pitching depth has been the most coveted facet of baseball for many seasons, the exact reason why the Los Angeles Dodgers have not swayed from their efforts to continue to build a rotation and bullpen filled with the league’s best arms. If the Cardinals can begin that transition with internal depth and talent, they could find themselves in a position to spend big to complete their roster when the team becomes competitive from homegrown talent.

The New Faces On The Field

Pitching is not the only way that the organization has opted to get younger and focus on depth; their positional groups have been placed in the hands of young players as well. With the trades of Donovan, Arenado, and Contreras this winter, the Cardinals will have a new look around the diamond on Opening Day. With a projected infield of Alec Burleson, JJ Wetherholt, Nolan Gorman, and Masyn Winn, the team is overflowing with youth, causing players like Burleson and Winn to step up early in their young careers and become the leaders on the field and in the clubhouse.

While the outfield remains for the most part consistent as compared to last season, there are some emerging names, such as Joshua Baez, the organization's No. 14 prospect, who emerged last season, including earning a 40-man roster spot ahead of spring training. While some of the players like Lars Nootbaar and Jordan Walker are reaching the end of their leash with the club if they are unable to show jumps in production, the Cardinals are reverting to homegrown talent and investing in the development of the minor league system to build a sustainable structure for the future that looks extremely similar to their string of success in the the 2000s with producing home grown talent and supplementing with impact pieces through trades and free agency.

Times have changed in St. Louis, and they are now looking to build a road map back to the World Series, starting from scratch. With Chaim Bloom spending two seasons making changes on the development side, he can now begin to build his vision on the field.

The Cardinal Way is not lost; it just looks different as it evolves to the new age of baseball.