Projecting the St. Louis Cardinals’ 25-Man Opening Day Roster

Reinhold Matay-USA TODAY Sports

Infielders (6): Matt Adams, Kolten Wong, Matt Carpenter, Jhonny Peralta, Mark Reynolds, Pete Kozma
The Cardinals’ infield group is almost set in stone, as Pete Kozma seems to have established a firm grasp on the vacant backup infielder spot that was created by the departures of Daniel Descalso and Mark Ellis this offseason. Kozma figures to be the primary backup at both middle infield spots, while Reynolds will be the first to provide insurance at the corners. Perhaps the one real question mark in the infield is how much the first base position will become a platoon between Reynolds and Adams.
The righthanded-hitting Reynolds doesn’t really provide a strong platoon presence against lefthanded pitchers, as he’s a career .231 hitter against lefties and hit just .173 against them last season, which was actually inferior to his .204 average against righthanded pitchers.
With that said, his numbers aren’t much worse than Adams’ against lefties, as Adams hit just .190 against lefties in 2014. Reynolds has vastly superior power, having hit at least 20 homers in his past seven seasons, and he has 58 homers in 1,007 career at-bats against lefties, good for a 5.76 percent home run rate, which is better than Adams’ homer rate against lefties. Those numbers may not warrant a full-on platoon, but if the Cardinals want to get Reynolds involved, playing him against lefties in place of Adams may be the best opportunity.

Next: Outfielders