5 Players the Cardinals Should Target With Their Competitive Balance Round B Pick (#72 Overall)
Photo by: Connor Kvatek/Tulane Athletics
I continue my draft preview with the Cardinals’ Competitive Balance Round B pick, which is the 72nd overall selection—taking place after the second round. This year, the Cardinals hold two important picks between the first and third rounds (55th and 72nd overall), both of which could play a key role in shaping the success of their draft class. These selections offer opportunities to add high-upside talent to a farm system that could benefit from a boost. In recent years, the Cardinals forfeited their second-round picks due to the signings of Wilson Contreras (2023) and Sonny Gray (2024), which has contributed to a noticeable gap in top-tier minor league talent. This makes the 55th and 72nd picks even more crucial in replenishing organizational depth.
RHP Michael Lombardi (Tulane)
One of my favorite arms in this draft, Lombardi, was a two-way player at Tulane, but his future is on the mound as Lombardi has an electric fastball that sits 93-95, touching 97 with an elite 22 inches of induced vertical break. He pairs this with an above-average curveball, which sits around 78 mph with 38 inches of downward vertical separation, generating a 48% whiff rate.
He also has a changeup, which he has used a bit, averaging 83 mph and showing promising signs despite the low usage, as well as a slider, which he seldom uses. Both of those pitches should progress as he solely focuses on pitching in pro ball. Lombardi is a low-mileage arm as he has only thrown 113.0 IP across three seasons at Tulane, including a career high 42 innings in 2025 across 23 appearances, including 6 starts towards the end of the season. A dynamic athlete, he played mainly CF for the Green Wave in 2025 and should have the ability to gain more velocity and length out of his 6’3 201-pound frame.
The main concerns with Lombardi are that with his two-way status, Tulane was very mindful of his pitch count, so he has only gone over 3 innings pitched three times in his career, though his 7-inning, 11-strikeout game against FAU in the AAC tournament shows that he can go length and be effective. The other concern is command, as he has walked 6.5 BB/9 over his college career, though 2025 was his lowest at a 4.5 BB/9, and with some of the best swing and miss rates in college and a 15.6 K/9, he should go in the second or third round.
OF Griffin Enis (Corinth HS, Mississippi)
If the Cardinals don’t go with a Prep player with their first two picks, they may be looking for one with this pick, and Enis would certainly be my pick. A great athlete, Enis, has a 60-yard dash time of 6.28, which gives him double-plus speed, which will allow him to stick in centerfield as he progresses through the minors. Along with the speed, Enis has shown tremendous power potential as he hit 13 home runs in 28 games during the high school season, where he was playing in the competitive 5A division of Mississippi.
On the hitting side, Enis stands out for his bat speed, which many scouts say is near the top, if not at the top of the draft class, and allows him to consistently get to line drives and power from his 6’1 200 200-pound frame. He has posted exit velocities over 100 mph at multiple showcases and Perfect Game tournaments throughout the southeast. The most underrated part of Enis' game is the arm strength in CF, as he has been up to 95 mph on throws from the outfield and is considered to have both above-average arm strength and arm accuracy
The main concern with Enis' game is that he does have some swing and miss, though that swing and miss isn’t because of a lack of discipline, as he doesn’t chase much, and is something that can be developed once in an MLB organization. The other concern is that he is committed to Duke, and it may take an overslot at this spot to entice him away from that commitment.
2B Henry Godbout (Virginia)
A guy I thought had first-round potential coming into the season, Godbout has slipped a bit but is your typical Cardinals draft pick, as he is a pure contact hitter and may be the best in the top half of this class. In 2025, Godbout struck out only 19 times in 191 at-bats, good for a strikeout rate of 9%, while walking 26 times. Godbout has well above average contact rates, increasing them every year at Virginia, and being at 88% in 2025. Godbout has posted average raw power at Virginia with a 103.7 mph 90th exit velocity and a max exit velocity of 108.4 mph in 2025. At 6 '2 190 pounds, he could project into above-average raw power if an MLB organization could get a bit more bat speed out of him.
Defensively, he will more than likely be a second baseman where he will be above average, though he could be tried at SS or 3B, but is likely to be below average at those positions as his arm strength is fringy. A slightly above average runner, it could limit his range at second base, especially if he bulks up to try and tap into his power potential a bit more. Also, many scouts have noted his above-average baseball IQ, which allows him to run the bases at an above-average level, and he is considered a leader in the Virginia clubhouse over the past few years. These characteristics are all things that the Cardinals have targeted over the past few years, and it wouldn’t surprise me at all if the Cardinals end up taking him at this pick or in the third round if he falls to that pick.
The main questions with Godbout are that his actual counting numbers went down from 2024 to 2025, though that could be just a case of some bad luck and lack of lineup protection in 2025 for that Virginia lineup. Scouts are also wondering if the athleticism is already starting to decrease, as the speed went down a little bit, and the defense wasn’t as sharp in 2025. Even with these concerns, he should be on your radar when it comes to draft time, as he has the mold of a Cardinals draft pick.
LHP Joseph Dzierwa (Michigan State)
The Big Ten pitcher of the year, Dzierwa, was in the top five in almost every statistical category, leading the conference in ERA (2.36) and WHIP (0.98) and second in the conference in strikeouts (104) and BAA (.201). A consistent starter at Michigan State, Dzierwa has thrown over 70 innings all three years and has improved constantly each year as he figures out how to pitch with his wiry 6 '8, 200-pound frame.
A four-pitch pitcher, Dzierwa has a fastball, cutter, changeup and slider. The fastball is one of his better pitches, and he added two mph on that pitch in 2025, where now it sits 91-93 mph topping out at 95 with 16 inches of induced vertical break, which is decent carry on the fastball. He rarely uses the cutter, which sits around 84 mph and doesn’t generate many whiffs. The changeup is by far Dzierwa’s best pitch, and it’s one of the better left-handed changeups in the entire draft. It has great depth and plays well because of the tunnel off the fastball; it averages 81 mph and has registered a 37% whiff rate while suppressing damage. The slider is more of an average pitch as it averages 77 mph with around 9 inches of sweep and doesn’t induce much swing and miss. He has solid command as he only had a 2.2 BB/9 rate, which is very good for college pitchers and ranked 7th in all of the Big Ten. With his size, Dzierwa should be able to add a couple more mph on the fastball as he continues to understand his body and mechanics more, but even if he doesn’t, he seems to have a solid floor of a backend starter due to his strike-throwing ability and above-average changeup.
The primary question mark with Dzierwa is his overall ceiling, which may be a bit lower than most players taken around this range. However, his high floor could offset that concern, making him a steady and intriguing option for the Cardinals organization. He’s shown he can handle a starter’s workload over his college career, which only adds to his appeal as a reliable arm at the next level.
SS Kyle Lodise (Georgia Tech)
While his cousin Alex has a chance to be a backend first-round or Comp-A pick, Kyle is no slouch himself. Some scouts think that Kyle may be the more polished all-around player at this point. After transferring to Georgia Tech from DII Augusta, Kyle was one of the best hitters in the ACC, slashing .329/.429/.667 for a 1.095 OPS ranking 7th in the very competitive ACC. A smaller frame at 5’11 180 pounds, Lodise has surprising raw power from his frame, posting a max exit velocity of 114.2 mph, hitting 16 homers and 20 doubles for the Yellow Jackets. He had more XBH than his cousin, with 39 to Alex’s 38. A disciplined hitter, Lodise took his walks with a 15% BB rate this year, to only a 21% strikeout rate.
Lodise doesn’t chase nearly as much as his cousin does, and this allows him to make louder contact than many would expect and gives him more power projectability than I think MLB Pipeline gives him at a 45 grade. Kyle’s defense is also a strong suit of his, as he is much more twitchy and athletic than Alex, and this should allow him to stick at SS if a team wants him to, or play as a utility player who should have the ability to play both infield and outfield if a team would like him to. He also has the intangibles that the Cardinals may like, as he is considered to have a high baseball IQ, which allows him to play much better at SS than the true athleticism shows, and he is a smart above above-average baserunner with good speed, which should allow him to steal 20+ bags a season if he is aggressive on the basepaths. A solid player similar to Godbout, he would be an unsurprising selection for the Cardinals if they are looking for a solid college bat to add to their system in this round.
The main concerns with Lodise are that he didn’t tap into his power as much during his stint in the Cape Cod League in 2024 making some scouts skeptical of his overall power potential, though his strong season at Georgia Tech should alleviate some of those worries, and the other “concern” is that he’s already close to a finished product and may not have much projectability left in his game. Even if he doesn’t grow into his tools much more, he still projects to be a solid MLB contributor.
