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BenFred: Cardinals' Siegrist should inspire late-rounders

Disappointment and the Major League Baseball draft go together like a ball and a glove.

But prospects who don't land with a club Thursday or Friday can draw some encouragement from a current Cardinal.

Just revisit the draft depths from which Redbirds reliever Kevin Siegrist climbed.

The easiest way to explain it: If you are picked before the draft shuts down Saturday, you fared better than the 26-year-old lefty who has become a crucial member of the Cardinals' bullpen.

The Cardinals picked Siegrist, then a scrawny starter who hadn't hurled harder than 89 mph during his freshman season at his Florida junior college, in the 41st round of the 2008 draft.