10 Cardinals hitters who were on fire in spring training, then flamed out

Nick Stavinoha

Spring Training (2009-2010): 80 at-bats, .338/.375/.500, 6 extra-base hits, 11 RBI

Cardinals Regular Season career: 265 at-bats, .234/.256/.325, 16 homers, 30 RBI

After making the full-time switch from football to baseball, Nick Stavinoha was drafted in the seventh round out of LSU thanks to his advanced hit tool. He made a strong impression in his professional debut in 111 games with Quad Cities, where he hit .350 with 14 homers, 23 walks, and 24 strikeouts in 246 at-bats. He followed up that success in Double-A with a .297 average and another 12 homers. He parlayed that success into a short big league Spring Training appearance in 2007, where he went three-for-four before being sent to minor league camp.

His batting average took a step back during that regular season, but his power and plate discipline stayed consistent. After another short Spring Training in 2008, Stavinoha took off with Triple-A Memphis. By June of that season, Stavinoha was hitting a robust .350 with six homers and 33 RBI and received his first major-league call-up in the middle of the month. His time in St. Louis was quick the first time around, as he hit .250 in 16 at-bats before being sent back down to AAA. Stavinoha's hitting kept up after his demotion, and he came back to the Cardinals in late July. He filled a bench role during his second promotion and finished the season with a major-league slash line of .193/.217/.211, which was a far cry from his .337/.366/.518 line in Memphis, where he also added 16 homers.

With Stavinoha having little left to prove in the minors, the Cardinals planned to give him an opportunity to break camp in 2009 and 2010 as a fourth outfielder and platoon option with lefties Chris Duncan and Colby Rasmus. At major league Spring Training over the next two seasons, Stavinoha hit a combined .338 with 11 RBI. He received a midseason call-up in 2009 and knocked his first two big league homers but only received 87 at-bats over 39 games. At Memphis, he kept tormenting younger arms, with another 11 homers in 72 games.

2010 finally looked like the year for Stavinoha to carve out a consistent role with the team, and after putting up an .828 OPS, he cracked the Opening Day roster. With Matt Holliday entrenched in left and Ryan Ludwick manning right, playing time was again tough to come by for the 28-year-old, especially after he missed some time with a shoulder strain. He was up and down between Memphis four times over the next month, and his rollercoaster season finished with a below-average .256 batting average over 121 at-bats.

The Cardinals brought Stavinoha back on a non-roster deal, but his run of Spring Training success ended in 2011. In his last season of professional baseball, the 29-year-old spent the entire season with Memphis and hit 28 homers while finally increasing his walk rate to a palpable 7.5%, but there was no room for the older prospect on the World Series champion roster throughout the year.

Stavinoha received one more chance at the bigs, as he signed a minor league deal with the Astros in November of that year, but he was released a month later before appearing in a Spring Training game.