St. Louis Cardinals New Guys Profiles 2

With the new season getting closer and closer, I thought I’d do some character profiles this week of the newly acquired players. I’ve done a few already, but I thought I’d look at others. Today I’ll continue with Ty Kelly.

Kelly, who was dubbed “the most interesting player in camp” by St. Louis Post Dispatch writer Bernie Miklasz in this article, is perhaps my favorite acquisition by the Cardinals this off-season.

I realize Kelly is currently a bench player, and may never be more that with the Cards. I understand this.

But his patient and intelligent approach to the plate, along with enough power to generate extra base hits, remind me of Matt Carpenter, who’s tied with Yadier Molina for my favorite player on the team.

Can you imagine having *two* guys that patient and disciplined in the lineup on a daily basis? It’d drive opposing pitchers nuts! Stack them at the top of the lineup, back to back, and by the time they were done, whether they got on base or not, the frustrated pitcher would be feeding meatballs to our third hitter, whoever it was that day.

I’ve probably mentioned this in the past, but I love high OBP guys. I’ll take 8 of them in the Cards starting lineup any day and watch the team churn out runs.

Some would argue that players who are finicky wait for the perfect pitch and and foul off ones they don’t like, as Carpenter does, are boring. Give me home runs they say. Not me.

Plus Kelly plays multiple positions (2nd base, 3rd base, RF, LF) and can hold his own an SS and can even be an emergency catcher.

Add to that the fact that he’s a switch hitter, and you’ve got a guy who could get a ton of at bats coming off the bench.

I’ve wrote about Kelly in the past, suggesting that he should be our primary pinch hitter off the bench, not Mark Reynolds. As Bernie notes in his article, Kelly will give you a ton of quality at bats. Can the same be said for Reynolds, a man noting as much for striking out as hitting home runs? I don’t think so.

As always, thanks for reading.