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

Safe and Sound

Matt Adams, Matt Carpenter, Aledmys Díaz, Kolten Wong

Matt Carpenter, Kolten Wong, and Aledmys Díaz will almost surely comprise the Cardinals’ first-to-short alignment come Opening Day. Carpenter and Díaz were the two of the Cardinals’ primary offensive catalysts in 2016 and will be relied on to do the same this season. Wong, meanwhile, seemingly is going to be given a long leash as the starter at second base this year after he was quickly bumped from the job in favor of Jedd Gyorko last year.

That’s not to say Díaz and Wong are bulletproof, however. Mike Matheny quickly pulled both Wong and Randal Grichuk from the starting lineup after they struggled to begin last season following strong 2015 campaigns, and while it seems that he’s been instructed to be more patient in 2017, it’s still easy to see how Wong (or Díaz, for that matter) could end up dropping in the pecking order if he struggles out of the gate.

The other infielder who seems to be totally safe heading into spring training is first baseman Matt Adams, who made a major commitment to improving his fitness heading into 2017 and dropping 30 pounds. While it remains to be seen how that weight loss will affect one of his few well-developed skills–his power–one would think that he’d be better defensively and on the basepaths this season. There won’t be a ton of playing time for Adams, but he’ll be their top lefthanded-hitting pinch hitter off the bench, and he’ll serve as Matt Carpenter’s backup and a potential alternative at first base if the Cards need to shift Carpenter back to second or third base.