The Cardinals wasted no time getting their fourth-round pick signed, sealed and on his way to the minors. Dee Kennedy, the Kansas State shortstop St. Louis took with the 114th overall pick, put pen to paper on a deal worth $684,300 — exactly full slot value for that pick, according to Jim Callis.
4th-rder Dee Kennedy signs w/@Cardinals for $684,300 (full slot 114 value). @KStateBB SS, breakout year with school-record 20 HR & also totaled 22 SB, LASIK surgery helped him see pitches better & chase less, solid athlete. @MLBDraft
Kennedy's college season is the kind of stat line scouts circle in red pen. He hit .357 with a .461 OBP and .733 slugging over 57 games for the Wildcats, racking up 79 hits, 70 runs and 69 RBIs. The headline number, though, is the 20-20 season — 20 home runs and 22 stolen bases (on 22-of-26 attempts) — which made him just the fifth player in Big 12 history to pull off a 20-homer, 20-steal campaign. The home run total also set a new K-State single-season record.
There's a fun wrinkle to how Kennedy got here, too. Callis' report notes that LASIK surgery played a role in the power spike, helping him see pitches better and chase fewer of them out of the zone. Better vision, more pitches to drive — the results speak for themselves. Add in the third-team All-American nod and Player of the Year recognition from his conference, and it's easy to see why Callis calls him a solid all-around athlete rather than a one-tool prospect.
Signing at full slot isn't a splashy overpay, but it's a clean, no-drama outcome for both sides — the Cardinals lock up a bat-and-glove prospect with real athleticism without negotiating games, and Kennedy skips any remaining eligibility to start getting professional at-bats immediately. For a St. Louis system that's been retooling on the position-player side, adding a shortstop who can both leave the yard and swipe bags is exactly the kind of complementary piece that doesn't need a press conference to matter.
Kennedy is expected to report to the Cardinals' minor league system later this summer, likely starting in one of the lower levels before the org figures out how fast his bat can move. Given the swing-and-run combo he just showed off in the Big 12, don't be shocked if his name starts popping up on prospect lists sooner rather than later.
