St. Louis Cardinals move Randal Grichuk to Triple-A Memphis
After nearly two weeks at the Cardinals’ Jupiter facility, Randal Grichuk is headed to Triple-A Memphis.
Since being optioned to High-A Palm Beach on May 29, outfielder Randal Grichuk has spent nearly two weeks in the “maximum-security” environment that is the St. Louis Cardinals’ Jupiter, Florida facility. He actually only received three official at-bats with Palm Beach, instead spending the large majority of his time working out under the watchful eye of Cardinals instructors and playing in extended spring training games.
Grichuk obviously has made the adjustments that the Cardinals wanted him to make, though, so he’s been transferred to Triple-A Memphis on “good behavior,” so to speak. The 25-year-old will now try to complete the task of earning back his spot on the Cardinals’ major-league club.
Even though he struggled during the early going, hitting .222/.276/.377 with four homers through his first 46 games, it shouldn’t be too difficult of a task for Grichuk to earn a spot on the big-league roster.
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After all, the major-league club currently includes former infielder/current pinch hitter who happens to start in the infield at times Jhonny Peralta, who a vocal chunk of the fan base wants to be released, as well as 23-year-old Paul DeJong, who will basically be useless once starting second baseman Kolten Wong returns from the disabled list, and 32-year-old career minor-leaguer Chad Huffman, who really doesn’t have any purpose right now other than being a back-of-the-bench pinch hitter.
Even if he can’t supplant Tommy Pham and earn back his job as the Cardinals’ starting left fielder, Grichuk would almost certainly be a better bench bat than any of the three aforementioned players because of his tremendous power. He obviously needs to adjust his approach to the point where he’s capable of tapping into that power, but he’s got the ability to be a solid contributor if he’s right, having posted a .249/.298/.476 career slash line in the majors while averaging 20 homers a season over the past two campaigns.
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Grichuk, who will wear No. 61 in Memphis, will compete for outfield at-bats with Harrison Bader, Todd Cunningham, Nick Martini, and Rangel Ravelo while with the Redbirds. Despite the fact that Ravelo and Martini, two career minor-leaguers, have put up video-game numbers at Memphis, it shouldn’t be too much of a challenge for Grichuk to earn consistent playing time.