A total of 43 players were invited to the Cardinals' minor-league instructional camp in Jupiter, Fla., and that list includes the club's three most-recent top draft choices: shortstop Delvin Perez (2016), outfielder Scott Hurst (2017), and this past year’s first-round pick, Nolan Gorman.

Gorman, 18, headlines the Cardinals sudden and strong depth at third base — which is on display this week in Jupiter. In addition to Gorman, the 19th overall pick this past summer, the Cardinals have third basemen Elehuris Montero, Evan Mendoza and Malcom Nunez working with minor-league coaches this week.

Montero, 20, won the Midwest League’s MVP this past season and became the first Low-A Peoria player to do so since Albert Pujols in 2000. Before a promotion to High-A Palm Beach, Montero hit .322/.381/.529 with 15 homers and 69 RBIs in 103 games for Peoria.

Mendoza, 22, spent this past season at Class AA Springfield, and he’s considered one of the finer fielders at the position with a true arm. He hit .254 with a .654 OPS for the S-Cards.