Lack of Playing Time hurts Peter Bourjos’ rhythm

The lack of playing time for St. Louis Cardinals outfielder Peter Bourjos is hurting his ability to find a rhythm at the plate.
Apr 13, 2014; St. Louis, MO, USA; St. Louis Cardinals center fielder Peter Bourjos (8) makes a catch against the Chicago Cubs at Busch Stadium. The Cardinals won 6-4. Image Credit: Scott Rovak-USA TODAY Sports
From Wednesday’s game notes, the breakdown of outfield starts by position is as follows.
Left field: Matt Holliday 27, Allen Craig 1
Center field: Peter Bourjos 14, Jon Jay 13, Randal Grichuk 1
Right field: Allen Craig 24, Jon Jay 2, Shane Robinson 2

Bourjos might lead the team in games started in center but he’s not getting any kind of consistency as manager Mike Matheny seems to favor Jay of late at the position. I can understand Matheny going with Jay over Bourjos today. Jay entered the game with a career batting average of .583 against Milwaukee Brewers starting pitcher Matt Garza. As such, he broke a hitless streak today that had stretched 15 at-bats in the last few days, including an 0-for-6 night on Monday. With a 3-for-3 day, Jay raised his average up to .284 as we move to May.

Bourjos told St. Louis Post-Dispatch writer Derrick Goold his thoughts on not being able to play regularly.

"“Look at an oh-for-15 over a two-week span or a week span and that seems pretty bad but realistically some of those guys are getting the same number of at-bats in three days,” Bourjos said. “It’s tough to get in a rhythm. Obviously the offense hasn’t been producing like we know it can. So obviously it has to take someone’s playing time to get that rhythm going, and it’s been me so far.”"

With the Bourjos acquisition, it was thought that Shane Robinson would end up being the odd one out. So far, this appears to be the case.

But once Oscar Taveras is promoted, and we don’t know yet as to when that will be, it appears that Bourjos, not Jay, could end up being the fourth outfielder.