St. Louis Cardinals Player Update: Jason Heyward

So I thought I’d start a series where, during the season, I’d evaluate how various players are doing so far. I figured for the first few I would concentrate on the new guys. Today we’ll start with the biggest new guy, Jason Heyward.

So how is Heyward doing in his first week as a member of the Cardinals?

Here are the official stats as of Tuesday Morning.

With the caveat that this is a small sample size, he’s off to a slow start, hitting .241 with no walks, no homers and 3 doubles and one stolen base. He didn’t catch Billy Hamilton the other day when he scored on a shallow fly ball to right, but I’m not sure anybody could catch that kid. Otherwise his defense has been good, as expected.

As I said, it’s only 29 AB’s, and he’s gonna get better from here on out. He is after all, with a new team and in a new environment, which takes some getting used to.

This is true especially in regards to OBP. Having no walks so far, his OBO is the same as his Batting Average, .241. Considering that he has a .350 career OBP, this is a wild aberration.

I do wonder how long it’ll take for things to improve, because as he’s out #2 hitter, he needs to get on base. Without that, he’s just a great glove. As I’ve said many times before, I don’t care about Heyward’s power. If he provides the Cardinals with the same output he gave Atlanta last year (.271 BA/.351 OBP/.384 Slugging Percentage). I will be very happy.

I think he’ll get there. He may not be off to the kind of start that everybody hoped for, but a guy with that kind of talent will eventually settle in, and you’ll his stats improve. There is of course a small chance I’m wrong, but I don’t think I will be.

As always, thanks for reading.