St. Louis Cardinals: 2017 Season Review and Offseason Preview
A few bright spots for the Birds on the Bat
Tommy Pham
Pham is the first St. Louis Cardinals player to achieve the feat of a 20/20 season since Reggie Sanders in 2004, where he ended the campaign with 23 long bombs and 25 bags swiped, to go along with a .306 batting average, winning a bet with Yadier Molina in the process. The Cardinals five-tool emerging star is not satisfied though, looking to add more to his repertoire in 2018:
Tommy Pham hopes to build off of his breakout 2017 season: "I've had a good year, but I think there's still a lot of areas I can improve." pic.twitter.com/8FLDp28J4X
— Bally Sports Midwest (@BallySportsMW) September 29, 2017
This hard-nosed, no-nonsense attitude is exactly what the Cardinals need, with more needing to follow suit. If Tommy Pham can stay healthy, keep his vision 20/20 and play an entire 162 game slate in 2018, the sky is the limit for the rising star.
Paul DeJong
If it wasn’t for Cody Bellinger and his 39 home runs, DeJong would be the front-runner for the Rookie of the Year award. Starting this season in AAA Memphis, the shortstop showcased his tremendous power and took advantage of the struggles from Aledmys Díaz, earning that spot without any contest or debate.
Like Tommy Pham, we only got a 3/4 sample size of what the youngster can accomplish, but its enough to know he is destined for great things wearing the Cardinal red. Take a look at this incredible stats from the former college catcher: .285 BA, 25 HR, 26 doubles, 55 runs and 65 RBI in only 108 Major League games. His defense at shortstop was steady, even superb, giving the Cardinals the middle-infield staple they had been looking for (in other places).
Another surprise, coming from AAA Memphis as well, was the outstanding play of (Jose) Martinez. Not known for his defense, the utility man was able to become serviceable, but he wasn’t consistently in the lineup for his glove. His stats rivaled that of the formerly mentioned bright spots, earning him a spot on Matheny’s make-shift daily lineup card: .309 BA, 14 HR, 46 RBI, and 47 runs in only 106 games played. Once Martinez found his way into the Cards rotation, his production skyrocketed. Like Pham and DeJong, Martinez can take one giant leap in 2018 if he can play a full season.
Once he figured things out towards the middle of the season, the southpaw dominated in a gas-fire of a bullpen. His scoreless streak of nearly a full-game worth of innings out of the bullpen was just flat out impressive to go along with these amazing statistics: 2.83 ERA, 4-1 record, 68 SO, and 20 BB.