St. Louis Cardinals Tap Rocky Top Once More

The St. Louis Cardinals entered the 2026 Major League Baseball Draft with a clear blueprint, continue remodeling their pitching development pipeline with elite, high-ceiling arms. When the 32nd overall pick arrived in Competitive Balance Round A, the front office didn’t hesitate. For the second consecutive year, the Cardinals turned their eyes toward Knoxville. They selected University of Tennessee right-hander Tegan Kuhns.

Following in the footsteps of 2025 first-rounder Liam Doyle, Kuhns represents the latest Volunteer to join the Cardinals organization. It is a selection that draft analysts have widely praised, with many viewing the 32nd spot as an absolute steal for a pitcher who carries top-15 pure talent.

The Evolution of an Ace

Kuhns’ road to professional baseball has been defined by a rapid physical and mechanical maturation. Out of Gettysburg Area High School in Pennsylvania, Kuhns was a highly coveted prep prospect, ranked by Perfect Game as the top overall player in the state for the class of 2024. He reportedly turned down seven-figure overtures in the 2024 draft to honor his commitment to Tony Vitello and Josh Elander at Tennessee.

His freshman year on Rocky Top was a trial by fire. Kuhns flashed brilliant stuff but battled his command, struggling to a 5.40 ERA over 36 2/3 innings. However, a spectacular summer stint in the Cape Cod League with the Brewster Whitecaps served as a turning point. Kuhns learned to repeat his athletic delivery and pounded the strike zone against the country’s best amateur hitters.

That momentum carried directly into a breakout 2026 sophomore campaign. As a draft-eligible sophomore, Kuhns anchored the Tennessee rotation as the undisputed ace, pitching the Volunteers deep into the spring. The young pitcher ranked eighth in the SEC with a 3.56 ERA, led the team with 106 strikeouts and only gave up 16 walks over 81 innings pitched. Impressively, he ranked third in strikeout to walk ratio and second in walks per nine innings in the SEC.

Kuhns’ 2026 season featured legendary single-game performances. He hurled an eight-inning, complete-game shutout against a powerhouse Alabama lineup. Just two weeks later, he authored a master class against Texas, striking out a career-high 15 batters over seven shutout frames. The most punchouts by a Tennessee pitcher in over two decades.

The Scouting Report: Plus Carry and Elite Spin

Standing 6-foot-3 and weighing 193 pounds, Kuhns possesses a projectable, athletic frame that big-league scouts drool over. His success is built upon a formidable one-two punch that features elite spin rates.

Kuhns’ heater sits comfortably between 93–96 mph, topping out at 98 mph. What makes the pitch dynamic is its exceptional “carry” or riding life through the top of the zone, generating a high volume of empty swings.

His primary secondary weapon is an upper-70’s curveball with sharp, vertical break. When Kuhns is on, he uses this pitch effectively as a front-door weapon to right-handed hitters or a dirt-chaser for strikeouts.

The main objective for the Cardinals’ player development staff will be unearthing a reliable third offering. Kuhns recently scrapped an upper-80’s cutter and has shown flashes of a mid-80s changeup and a low-80s slider. However, he has historically struggled to land them for strikes. If he can refine just one of those options into an average Major League pitch, he projects comfortably as a front-half-of-the-rotation starter.

A Perfect Fit for the New-Look Cardinals

The selection of Kuhns highlights a subtle shift in the Cardinals’ front office philosophy. Assistant General Manager Rob Cerfolio (formerly of the Cleveland Guardians) and pitching development director Matt Pierpont (formerly of the Seattle Mariners) have brought a modern, analytical approach to St. Louis.
It is no coincidence that national analysts immediately compared Kuhns’ profile to players developed by those exact organizations. During draft night coverage, MLB Network analysts compared Kuhns’ raw traits to Seattle’s rising star Bryan Woo, while pitching analysts drew comparisons to former Cy Young winner Shane Bieber.

With a slot value of roughly $3.04 million at pick No. 32, the Cardinals managed to capture an elite, metric-friendly power pitcher without picking in the top 10. At just 21 years old, Tegan Kuhns has the perfect blend of collegiate success and raw physical ceiling. If the Cardinals’ new development staff can maximize his third pitch, Kuhns could find himself anchoring the rotation at Busch Stadium in the near future.