Peter Bourjos will be the St. Louis Cardinals center fielder

Peter Bourjos, not Jon Jay, will be starting for the St. Louis Cardinals come Opening Day next week. The math adds up when one takes a look at just how many spring games were started by the newly acquired Cardinal in the Grapefruit League.
Mar 10, 2014; Jupiter, FL, USA; St. Louis Cardinals center fielder Peter Bourjos (8) makes an leaping attempt on a home run hit by Detroit Tigers third baseman Nick Castellanos (not pictured) at Roger Dean Stadium. The Tigers defeated the Cardinals 17-5. Image Credit: Scott Rovak-USA TODAY Sports
Entering today’s game against the Washington Nationals, Bourjos was hitting .343 while Jay has struggled with a .163 batting average.

Making the transition from the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim to the St. Louis Cardinals has been different in that Bourjos came from a team where pitchers specialized in fly ball outs. The Cardinals specialize in the strikeout so there might be many innings in which Bourjos will have nothing to do in the field but just take it all in.

“It’s pretty boring out there,” Bourjos told Post-Dispatch scribe Rick Hummel. “In Anaheim, we had a lot of fly ball pitchers. Here, I maybe get one ball a game and it might be a ground ball.”

Cardinals manager Mike Matheny is still reluctant to declare anyone a winner but the numbers, Hummel suggests, are definitely pointing in the direction of Bourjos.

In other spring news, Lance Lynn is the Miami Marlins specialist for the Cardinals. In the five games between the two, Lynn has started four of them. Lynn had 8 strikeouts over five innings in his most recent start. In 16 2/3 innings, the starter has struck out 27 hitters. Unfortunately for Lynn, he’s also allowed 17 hits and 11 runs for a 6.06 ERA this spring.