Season for St. Louis Could Come Down to a Pair of Outfielders

Last season the St. Louis Cardinals were eighth in OPS and eleventh in home runs in the National League. Yet the team won 100 games, which prompts a pair of conclusions.

First, their pitching had to have been dominating and second the team must have been intent on adding bats to its lineup during the winter.

Oddly though, only one of those two conclusions has proven to be correct. The pitching rotation for St. Louis led the league in ERA last season and the bullpen was the second best in ERA behind just the Pittsburgh Pirates.

However, John Mozeliak the general manager reacted to the loss of the team’s second most productive hitter, Jason Heyward their right fielder by standing nearly pat all winter.

Yoenis Cespedes as well as Justin Upton were still available just a few weeks ago, but the GM did not have an interest in signing them.

The Cardinals are instead putting their faith behind two young outfielders Randal Grichuk and Stephen Piscotty. Piscotty looked to be the heir apparent to Heyward while Grichuk who is just 24 will receive a first shot as the everyday center fielder after putting up strong numbers in 350 appearances at the plate last season.

Mozeliak called Grichuk a player with all the tools who was above average on defense. He has great power and does everything well said the GM. He added that if the young talent stayed healthy and can give the team 550 or more appearances at the plate, he could hit over 30 home runs.

Up to this point, Grichuk is known best across baseball as the guy, who was drafted one place ahead of Mike Trout the Angels superstar in the 2009 draft. The label has been unfair since the Angles drafted both of the players and picking Grichuk first before Trout was a negotiating play by the front office since they already had a deal in place with Grichuk.

One veteran scout in the NL said he believes that both Piscotty and Grichuk will reward the faith that GM Mozeliak has put in them if they receive at-bats on a regular basis.

Both players said the scout, show up to play and last year, as they were not considered the everyday players, there were inconsistencies in each of their games.

He added that he believes each will be a very good player in the major leagues.

St. Louis has a great deal riding on that now and for a number of years ahead of them.