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

By Patrick Karraker

Sep 12, 2016; St. Louis, MO, USA; St. Louis Cardinals first baseman Matt Carpenter (13) fields a ground ball hit by Chicago Cubs center fielder Dexter Fowler (not pictured) during the first inning at Busch Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Curry-USA TODAY Sports
Sep 12, 2016; St. Louis, MO, USA; St. Louis Cardinals first baseman Matt Carpenter (13) fields a ground ball hit by Chicago Cubs center fielder Dexter Fowler (not pictured) during the first inning at Busch Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Curry-USA TODAY Sports /
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Mar 26, 2016; Jupiter, FL, USA; St. Louis Cardinals second baseman Kolten Wong (16) connects for a double during a spring training game against the Washington Nationals at Roger Dean Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Steve Mitchell-USA TODAY Sports
Mar 26, 2016; Jupiter, FL, USA; St. Louis Cardinals second baseman Kolten Wong (16) connects for a double during a spring training game against the Washington Nationals at Roger Dean Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Steve Mitchell-USA TODAY Sports /

There will be a roster crunch as the St. Louis Cardinals assemble their group of 25 for Opening Day. Will a veteran infielder be a casualty?

As spring training gets underway this week, the St. Louis Cardinals’ infield looks relatively stable. Matt Carpenter is expected to play mostly at first base, Kolten Wong and Aledmys Díaz will form the middle infield tandem, and either Jhonny Peralta or Jedd Gyorko will play third base.

Then again, the infield appeared even more steady at the outset of last spring, with Matt Adams and Brandon Moss expected to split time at first base, Wong and Peralta expected to play every day up the middle, and Carpenter expected to play third base. Instead, they used six different first basemen (with Adams leading the pack with 69 starts). Wong started just 70 games at second and yielded playing time to Carpenter, Jedd Gyorko, and Greg Garcia. Peralta started 60 more games (67) at third than he did at shortstop, and the infielder who ended up starting the most games at one position for the Cardinals was Díaz, who was expected to spend the year developing in Triple-A.

While we believe right now that the infield will be more static in 2017 than it was last year, it’s no sure thing, especially with two aging starters (31-year-old Carpenter and 34-year-old Peralta). Versatile players like Gyorko and Garcia threaten to shake things up, especially if Peralta can’t bounce back from a rough 2016 or Wong remains inconsistent. There likely won’t be that much competition for the infield spots on the Opening Day roster, but there’s definitely a few different ways that the players who occupy those spots could be utilized.

We’ll take a look at how the infielders in Cardinals camp can expect to fare this season:

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