Jhonny Peralta Doesn’t Have a Long Leash with St. Louis Cardinals
Jhonny Peralta could be on his last legs with the Cardinals.
While it would have been reasonable to blame the struggles of St. Louis Cardinals third baseman Jhonny Peralta on his troublesome wrist injury during 2016, there’s not much of a defense for the start to his 2017 campaign. Peralta is just 3 for 25 during his first with two walks and nine strikeouts through his first eight games this season, and he’s hitting just .245 with 25 homers in 557 at-bats since the All-Star break in 2015.
Though Peralta is making $10 million this season, the Cardinals apparently aren’t going to let him struggle mightily for too much longer. As MLB.com’s Jenifer Langosch tweeted before Monday evening’s series opener against the Pittsburgh Pirates at Busch Stadium, GM John Mozeliak says Peralta doesn’t have too long of a leash.
4. The leash is short with Jhonny Peralta. 5. Mo is surprised by lack of crisp play by Molina behind the plate, wonders if he's hurt.
— Jenifer Langosch (@LangoschMLB) April 17, 2017
The most obvious alternative to Peralta at third base would be Greg Garcia, who is 4 for 15 with a .450 OBP though his first 12 games this season. Garcia earned the start in Monday night’s win over Pittsburgh. The Cardinals could also search for alternatives within their minor-league system, though none of their top prospects are third basemen.
While Langosch writes that the Cardinals “don’t see a lot of impact options waiting in Triple-A,” two players capable of playing third base have been two of the Redbirds’ best players during the early going. Former first-rounder Patrick Wisdom has continued his momentum from spring training over into the first month of the regular season, hitting .333/.396/.548 with a homer through his first 48 plate appearances.
Next: Tyler Lyons Set to Rejoin Cardinals This Week
23-year-old Paul DeJong, who has been playing shortstop at Memphis but is a natural third baseman, is hitting .317/.333/.488 with a homer through the first 43 plate appearances of his Triple-A career. DeJong also performed well during the early part of spring training this year, though he cooled down as the spring went on.