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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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Kolten Wong St. Louis Cardinals
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 /

Safe and Sound

Matt Adams, Matt Carpenter, Jedd Gyorko, Brandon Moss, Jhonny Peralta, Kolten Wong

Third baseman Matt Carpenter, second baseman Kolten Wong, and shortstop Jhonny Peralta will all return and fill starting roles after each put together a very respectable 2015 campaign.

Though Carpenter moved away from the high-contact, high-on-base tendencies that initially earned him acclaim, he found a new way to be productive at the plate, hitting a career-high 28 homers that exceeded his previous high by 17, while also achieving a career-high in RBI with 28. Despite his batting average being 48 points lower than it was in his top season, 2013, he only missed tying his career-high .873 OPS by two points.

Wong continued to ascend during his age 24 season, achieving career highs in RBI (61), walks (36), batting average (.262), on-base percentage (.321), and OPS (.707). Though he was streaky at the plate, as many young players are, he was exceptionally durable for the Cardinals, playing in 150 games, a total that exceeded his previous high by 37 games.

Despite a drop-off during the second half, Peralta still led all qualifying NL shortstops in batting average (.275) and finished second in OPS (.745) to San Francisco’s Brandon Crawford. Like Wong, he was extremely durable, playing in 155 games, the second-highest total of his 13-season career. Carpenter, Wong, and Peralta are all expected to be core members of the 2016 lineup, and they are quite certainly the three players who the Cardinals are most ill-equipped to replace.

Matt Adams and Brandon Moss, both lefthanded hitters with exceptional power-hitting potential, will compete for the starting job at first base. Even if Moss initially wins the battle, however, Adams could easily end up being the first man off the bench; since Tommy Pham is projected to be the only backup outfielder on the club’s initial roster, Moss could end up playing quite a bit at one of the outfield corners if there’s an injury or if Pham, Randal Grichuk, or Stephen Piscotty deals with a sophomore slump. In that case, Adams would likely slide right back in at first.

Jedd Gyorko, who at one point was thought to be one of the top ascending second basemen in baseball, will fill a utility infielder role after being acquired from the San Diego Padres for Jon Jay at the Winter Meetings. Gyorko spent most of his minor-league career at third and has spent the most time as a major-leaguer at second, but he played 29 games at shortstop over the closing months of 2015 and figures to be Johnny Peralta’s top backup at that position heading into 2015. Depending on if the Cardinals keep a second backup infielder or not, Gyorko could potentially end up being the sole backup at second, third, and short.

Next: On the Bubble

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