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

Pete Kozma

Spring Training (2013-2015): 148 at-bats, .338/.381/.453, 11 extra-base hits, 21 RBI

Cardinals Regular Season: 99 at-bats, .152/.236/.152, 0 extra-base hits, 2 RBI

Looking to stop the shortstop cycle, the Cardinals made Pete Kozma their first-round pick in the 2007 draft. He was the first shortstop taken and signed for $1.395 million out of high school. He played for the three lower levels in the Cardinals system as a 19-year-old before being pushed up to Double-A, where he spent most of the next three seasons. Kozma held true to his defense-first attributes and did not show much with the bat in the minors, but the Cardinals pushed him up to major league camp for brief stints from 2010 until 2012.

Kozma made his MLB debut during the 2012 season, and in 26 games, he put together a strong offensive performance, with a career-best at any level .952 OPS with 10 extra-base hits and 14 RBI as a short-term fill-in. The Cardinals rewarded his debut with a chance to win the everyday job after losing Rafael Furcal and not having another strong option ready for the big leagues. Kozma took full advantage of the opportunity during 2013 camp and exploded for a .359 average with three homers and 15 RBI in his 22-game sample, making him the clear choice to start the season as the team's opening-day shortstop.

The former first-round pick kept the hot bat going when the team headed out of Jupiter, as he was slashing .333/.346/.500 with five RBI in the team's first six games. His power and run production stalled shortly after that, however, and he finished April with a pedestrian .657 OPS and only three RBI throughout the rest of the month. Kozma's numbers were pretty consistent through June as he settled into his defensive position. The second half of the season, though, was a different story altogether. Including an abysmal August where Kozma hit .063, the shortstop's last three months were ones to forget as he totaled a .496 OPS with only six RBI.

His mediocre performance forced the Cardinals to go external for their shortstop upgrade and they signed Jhonny Peralta to a four-year deal heading into 2014. The signing limited the need for Kozma to be more than a backup, and his 2014 Spring Training was less productive, so he spent the majority of the season in Triple-A. He was solid, yet unspectacular with Memphis, hitting .248 but drove in 54 runs. Kozma received a late-season call-up when rosters expanded in September and hit .263 to go into the offseason with another undefined role.

The 2015 Spring Training season catapulted Kozma into big-league roster consideration as a 27-year-old. In 49 at-bats, the shortstop turned utility infielder hit .408 with five RBI and came to St. Louis in mid-April as a backup infielder. With Peralta, Kolten Wong, and Matt Carpenter staying healthy and performing at their respective positions, there was not much opportunity for Kozma. Most of his playing time came as a defensive replacement, as he appeared in 76 games but only tallied 99 at-bats during the season. The overall numbers were again a far cry from Spring Training, as he totaled a miserable .388 OPS.

Kozma's Cardinal contract expired after the season, and he ended up bouncing around between the Yankees, Rangers, Tigers, Braves, and Athletics and never appeared in more than 39 games in a season for the rest of his major league career. He ended up spending the final years of professional baseball in the Independent American Association before calling it a career in 2023.