St. Louis Cardinals Top Five Players
As the St. Louis Cardinals battle for a Wild Card spot, let’s take a look at the five best players they currently have to offer.
The St. Louis Cardinals are in the midst of a very tight National League Wild Card race. They are competing with the collapsing San Francisco Giants and a very resilient New York Mets team.
The Cardinals might be the most balanced of the three teams with an above average offense and a very good rotation that knows what it is like to pitch in postseason. Their team as a whole has a lot of players with postseason experience who knows what it takes to be in must-win games.
While the Mets and the Giants do as well, they both appear to be riddled with injuries or underachieving players. The Cardinals have been pretty consistently average this season staying in the Wild Card race but unable to compete with the Chicago Cubs for the division.
The Cardinals roster is a mix of young talent and veterans who have been with the Cardinals for a number of years. Over the last decade they have been one of if not the most consistent team in the National League, being postseason contenders year in and year out. The problem for the Cardinals will be finding another Adam Wainwright or Yadier Molina to build their roster around. For now they have a few years remaining to answer that question.
The Cardinals have built a nice farm system, but who are the current top players on the Cardinals roster? Here are the top five.
5. Yadier Molina
Yadier Molina is a star player. No, he doesn’t hit .350, steal 30 bases, or knock 20 or more balls over the fence. Nonetheless, for Cardinals fans who have watched Yadier Molina his entire career, they know that he is a star player who brings a lot to the team.
As a hitter Yadier is above average, especially considering his position. He has hit well over .280 during his long tenure with the Cardinals and gets plenty of key hits in tight spots. He has some pop in his bat and decent speed for a catcher. He has a unique ability to work the count and a good eye at the plate. The last couple of seasons he has changed as a hitter some, but his overall skill set has remained much the same and he continues to get on base when healthy.
While he is an above average hitter that is not what has made Yadier Molina a star with the St. Louis Cardinals. It is his ability to work with young pitchers, his defensive ability, and calming effect that he has on pitchers. Yadi’s career has been a good one and he will no doubt be considered one of the best Cardinals players of the last decade.
Stephen Piscotty is having a much better season than expected for the Cardinals. Which is saying a lot considering that expectations for Piscotty were very high coming into the season. He has taken a starting role without missing a beat this year and looks like a key part of the Cardinals’ future roster.
He is on pace to finish out the season with very respectable numbers and it is doubtful he has had his best seasons just yet. He is a solid fielder, seems to always be hustling, and his attitude appears to have maturity that is rare for a young player who has spent as little time in the major leagues as he has.
The problem for the Cardinals will be a good one next season once everyone is healthy. They should have more players then they have starting spots. Though Stephen Piscotty has ensured himself a position with the season he has put together this year. The 25-year-old outfielder has surprised the Cardinals and forced himself into the Cardinals’ plans for seasons to come.
What will be interesting to watch for with Piscotty as he continues to adjust to the major leagues is whether his power will increase with time.
Matt Carpenter is a very interesting player who is hard to judge. He has had seasons where he hit for average and another where he appeared to be an average power hitter. Both versions are a good hitter, but with injuries this season it is hard to tell exactly which player he is.
He had a season where he hit close to 30 home runs and the two seasons before that he didn’t manage to reach 20 combined. That is a major swing (no pun intended) in the type of hitter Carpenter is exactly. Regardless, both versions of himself make him the current best hitter on the Cardinals roster.
This season his production has been down due to injuries keeping him off the field this season. The good news for the Cardinals is that he is finally healthy and it is at the most crucial point of the season for the Cardinals. They are currently in a three-way tie for a Wild Card spot in what is quickly becoming the most interesting Wild Card race in recent memory.
Matt Carpenter is finishing up his sixth season with the team and it is hard to see him going anywhere else in his career as he may soon become the most recognizable name that the franchise has.
2. Adam Wainwright
Adam Wainwright earns a spot on this list because of what he has done for the Cardinals in seasons past. The current season he is having is the only thing that could keep him from being put in the number one spot on this list. He has looked nothing like the pitcher he once was, as age looks to finally have caught up with the Cardinals ace.
He was the best player on the Cardinals after Albert Pujols left, giving them ace-like production season after season. The problem now is whether he can learn to pitch as an older player with less velocity, or if he is going to have to consider hanging it up sometime soon.
If he does neither of those things and continues to pitch like he has at times this season, he may soon force the Cardinals into a tough decision. For now he can do a lot to convince fans and the front office he can still help the team by helping the postseason push. For the Cardinals to have postseason success they need vintage Adam Wainwright, they need the guy that gave them great seasons and helped lead their team to the postseason in many other years. If they can find that guy the Cardinals will be the team with the most legitimate postseason shot beyond a one-game Wild Card matchup.
Carlos Martinez has become the ace of the St. Louis Cardinals and the best player on the team. While he may not have the best track record on the team, he has had back-to-back seasons of above average production and can be matched up against any other pitcher in the National League and the Cardinals will have a chance to win.
Martinez is having his best season this year, despite his strike outs per nine innings falling just a tick below last season. He is another player who should become a part of the Cardinals’ new core and be around St. Louis for many seasons to come.
The problem for St. Louis is finding arms they can rely on behind Martinez. A rotation that a year ago looked to be one of the best has undergone so many steps back and injuries, it now looks to be the weakness of the team if they cannot get healthy and improve.
Next: Red Sox in Control in Latest Playoff Wrap
The Cardinals, Mets and Giants will all be looking to gain an advantage in the Wild Card race as they are closing in on the final week of the season. It should be a fun race to help distract fans from the recently departed Rams or the disappointing season their college football team is having. The Cardinals will help them forget about all of this if they can get a Wild Card spot and that one win that will count most.