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Arch Awards: Who Was the Rising Star of St. Louis Sports in 2016?

By Patrick Karraker

Oct 2, 2016; St. Louis, MO, USA; St. Louis Cardinals shortstop Aledmys Diaz (36) throws on the run to force out Pittsburgh Pirates shortstop Pedro Florimon (not pictured) during the eighth inning at Busch Stadium. The Cardinals won 10-4. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Curry-USA TODAY Sports
Oct 2, 2016; St. Louis, MO, USA; St. Louis Cardinals shortstop Aledmys Diaz (36) throws on the run to force out Pittsburgh Pirates shortstop Pedro Florimon (not pictured) during the eighth inning at Busch Stadium. The Cardinals won 10-4. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Curry-USA TODAY Sports /
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Sep 27, 2016; St. Louis, MO, USA; St. Louis Cardinals shortstop Aledmys Diaz (36) pays respect to his childhood friend Jose Fernandez after hitting a grand slam off of Cincinnati Reds starting pitcher Robert Stephenson (not pictured) during the fourth inning at Busch Stadium. Diaz had just returned to the team after meeting with Fernandez
Sep 27, 2016; St. Louis, MO, USA; St. Louis Cardinals shortstop Aledmys Diaz (36) pays respect to his childhood friend Jose Fernandez after hitting a grand slam off of Cincinnati Reds starting pitcher Robert Stephenson (not pictured) during the fourth inning at Busch Stadium. Diaz had just returned to the team after meeting with Fernandez /

Aledmys Díaz, SS, St. Louis Cardinals

When Jhonny Peralta went down with a thumb injury in the first week of March, it set off alarms across Cardinal Nation (and looking back, perhaps that was still justified because of the overall loss of production that Peralta’s absence created). With Peralta possibly out until the All-Star break, who was going to take over Peralta’s position at shortstop? Would it be Jedd Gyorko, who had played just 29 professional games at shortstop, or dependable backup Greg Garcia, who was solid defensively but had never hit like a major-leaguer? Or could it be Aledmys Díaz, who had dominated over the second half of his 2015 minor-league campaign and played lights-out ‘ball over the opening days of spring training?

That issue seemed to be solved on March 19, when the Cardinals signed deposed Mets shortstop Ruben Tejada to fill their void. But he himself suffered a quad strain late in the spring that forced him to open the season on the DL, and though Díaz was optioned to the minor leagues to begin the season with Gyorko getting the start at short on Opening Day, he was called back to the majors on the second day of the season when outfielder Tommy Pham hit the DL with an oblique injury.

Díaz was quickly given an opportunity to grab the starting shortstop job, and he did just that, having one of the greatest first months of a career in baseball history at the plate—hitting .423/.453/.732 with four homers in 71 at-bats—though he was a bit timid defensively, making five errors in his first 20 games.

It was inevitable that Díaz would cool off a bit at the plate over the remainder of the season, but he was still one of the better offensive shortstops in the National League, finishing the season with a .300 batting average (second-best among NL shortstops with more than 200 plate appearances), a .369 OBP (best among players with that same qualifier), and a .510 slugging percentage (third among that group). His .879 OPS ranked second among his league positional peers.

His defense also improved as the season went on, as he made four errors in 59 games from June 1 until the end of the season. More importantly, Díaz displayed some impressive range, showing that he’s got the potential to stick at short long-term as a major-leaguer. If it hadn’t been for a broken hand caused by Miami Marlins fireballer Andrew Cashner that caused Díaz to miss all of August and the beginning of September, he likely would have received greater consideration for the NL Rookie of the Year award.

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