The St. Louis Cardinals continued building high-upside arm strength into their system Sunday night, selecting University of California-Los Angeles right-hander Cal Randall with the 146th overall pick in the fifth round of the 2026 MLB Draft.
The 6-foot-4, 235-pound junior from Discovery Bay, California, brings one of the most electric pure fastballs in the entire draft class and immediately becomes a fascinating developmental project for the Cardinals’ pitching infrastructure.
Randall, who turned 21 on May 24, worked exclusively as a high-leverage reliever for the Bruins over three seasons. In 2026 he posted a 3-0 record with a 3.19 ERA, 1.10 WHIP and 57 strikeouts in 31 innings across 34 appearances. That 16.5 strikeouts-per-nine rate and 44.2 percent strikeout rate ranked second among all college pitchers who threw at least 30 innings this spring.
Career numbers at UCLA: 5-1, 3.43 ERA, 97 strikeouts in 63 innings over 66 games, good for a 13.9 K/9 and a 35.5 percent strikeout rate.
“He’s a pure power arm,” one National League scout said. “When that fastball is on, it’s one of the best in college baseball. The Cardinals just bought a ticket to the lottery.”
Randall’s calling card is unmistakable: a riding, high-spin four-seam fastball that averaged nearly 97 mph and touched 101 this spring. He threw the pitch a staggering 89 percent of the time and still generated elite swing-and-miss (36 percent miss rate in some tracking data). The ball explodes out of a lower arm slot with plus extension (north of seven feet) and routinely produces 20-plus inches of induced vertical break. MLB Pipeline grades the offering a 70.
At 6-foot-4 and 235 pounds with a starter’s frame, Randall has the physical tools to handle heavier workloads. He mixes in a low-90s slider/cutter and an occasional changeup, both of which remain works in progress. Command has been the primary question mark — he walked 5.5 batters per nine this season and has hovered around that mark throughout his college career.
Scouts project him as a potential late-inning weapon if the secondary pitches and strike-throwing take even modest steps forward. The Cardinals have shown recent willingness to bet on raw power arms (see 2025 second-rounder Tanner Franklin) and develop them either as multi-inning relievers or eventual starters. Randall fits that mold perfectly.
“He could end up one of the best pure relievers in this draft class if everything clicks,” noted The Prospect Porch in its pre-draft report.
A product of De La Salle High School in Concord, California, Randall was a highly regarded prep arm who ranked as the No. 4 right-hander and No. 13 overall prospect in the state as a senior. He participated in the 2022 MLB/USA Baseball Prospect Development Pipeline League and earned spots on Perfect Game’s Top Prospect Team and the Area Code Games Athletics squad.
He arrived at UCLA as a high-upside freshman and steadily earned trust in the Bruins’ bullpen. By his junior year he had become one of the most dominant short-burst arms in the Big Ten, stringing together long scoreless stretches and racking up multi-strikeout appearances in 20 of his 34 games. He earned Third Team All-Big Ten honors for his efforts.
Randall becomes the first UCLA product selected by St. Louis since right-hander Charles Harrison IV in the seventh round of the 2023 Draft. He is also just the second Bruins player taken by the Cardinals in the fifth round, joining outfielder Jermaine Curtis (2008).
The son of Cindy and Jay Randall and younger brother of Danny, Cal lists Nolan Ryan as his favorite player — an appropriate choice given the velocity and competitive fire he brings to the mound. In his free time he enjoys golf, fishing, hiking, and, yes, riding a unicycle.
With a slot value of approximately $501,300, Randall represents a high-risk, high-reward selection that plays to the Cardinals’ recent drafting philosophy: acquire premium stuff and let the player development staff unlock the rest.
If the organization can refine his command and develop a reliable secondary pitch, the big right-hander has the pure arm talent to rise quickly through the system and eventually contribute high-leverage innings in St. Louis. For a franchise that has long prized power arms who can miss bats, Cal Randall is a classic Cardinals pick — loud stuff, room to grow, and the kind of upside that makes draft night interesting.
The flamethrower from Westwood is officially a Bird. Now the real work begins.
