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St. Louis Cardinals: Evaluating All the Infielders in This Year’s Camp

By Patrick Karraker

Mar 6, 2015; Jupiter, FL, USA; St. Louis Cardinals second baseman Kolten Wong (16) signs some autographs prior to a spring training baseball game against the Houston Astros at Roger Dean Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Steve Mitchell-USA TODAY Sports
Mar 6, 2015; Jupiter, FL, USA; St. Louis Cardinals second baseman Kolten Wong (16) signs some autographs prior to a spring training baseball game against the Houston Astros at Roger Dean Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Steve Mitchell-USA TODAY Sports /
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Matt Carpenter St. Louis Cardinals
Oct 10, 2015; St. Louis, MO, USA; St. Louis Cardinals third baseman Matt Carpenter (13) fields a ball during the ninth inning in game two of the NLDS against the Chicago Cubs at Busch Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jasen Vinlove-USA TODAY Sports /

For the second straight season, the St. Louis Cardinals open up the year without much big-league-tested infield depth. Can they count on an ultra-durable trio of infielders to fuel the lineup again?

As the 2016 season begins, the St. Louis Cardinals once again seem to have one of the best starting infields in all of Major League Baseball, as 2015 All-Star Jhonny Peralta and two others who garnered serious All-Star consideration–Matt Carpenter and Kolten Wong–will return as key components of the Cardinals’ offensive attack. Throw in a lefthanded-hitting, heavy slugging first baseman in either Matt Adams or Brandon Moss, and it looks like the Cards will have a very respectable group of starting infielders on Opening Day.

As full-squad spring training workouts begin this week, though, it’s a good time to wonder whether the Cardinals have enough depth in the infield to survive the injuries that will inevitably occur throughout the course of the season. There’s a host of players on the roster–Carpenter, right fielder Stephen Piscotty, and catcher Brayan Pena–who have a good amount of major-league experience at first base and could step in for the injury-prone Adams and Moss, but at the other positions, things look much murkier.

The Cardinals did make a noticeable upgrade for their number one backup infielder spot this offseason, letting light-hitting Pete Kozma go and replacing him with Jedd Gyorko, who was acquired from the Padres in a trade for Jon Jay at the winter meetings. Still, though, behind their top six infielders (Adams, Moss, Wong, Peralta, Carpenter, and Gyorko), the rest of the infielders in the organization combine for just 76 games of MLB experience, 63 of which come from Greg Garcia.

That’s not even accounting for the Cardinals’ noticeable lack of outfield depth going into 2016. If either Randal Grichuk or Matt Holliday, both of whom dealt with significant injuries in 2015, struggle to stay healthy again this season, the assistance of the versatile Carpenter or Brandon Moss, a candidate for the starting job at first base, could be required.

On the next three slides, we’ll rank all 13 infielders attending big-league camp on a three-grade scale, deciding whether they’re “safe and sound” (virtually assured to be on the opening day roster unless they get injured), “on the bubble” (meaning that they’ve got a shot, but will have to compete for a job during spring training), or “not likely” (meaning that it would take an absolutely unbelievable spring training performance for the player to have even a minuscule chance of cracking the opening day roster).

We’ll lead off with those who look to have roster spots locked up heading into spring training:

Next: Safe and Sound

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