2015 St. Louis Cardinals’ Season Review: Disappointments

Sep 24, 2015; St. Louis, MO, USA; St. Louis Cardinals center fielder
Jon Jay(19) sits on the dugout steps while watching the in the fifth inning of a baseball game against the Milwaukee Brewers at Busch Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Scott Kane-USA TODAY Sports
3. Jon Jay
This is tough, Jay only made it in 79 games this season due to an injury to his wrist (of which he surgery on in the offseason) that he fought throughout the season and spent two lengthy trips on the DL for. I don’t want to join the everybody bash Jon Jay crowd as he really shouldn’t have been playing this season, but his manager put him out there anyways.
Hand/wrist injuries for hitters are hard and always will be (ask David Freese). Unlike lower body injuries, you can’t really keep your timing while your down and the pain from swinging and hitting is probably pretty bad even after it has healed.
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However, Jay was declared healed at a couple different points this season and was awarded the CF starting job (because he’s Jon Jay) and then mysteriously found the DL again when his manager finally realized he wasn’t the same Jon Jay.
Last season, Jay had a really good year with his .379 OBP and .303 average. He has always been a bit of a slap hitter, a BABIP hitter, and a guy with a knack for getting on base. However, this year Jay just wasn’t right. He finished the year with a .210 average and .306 OBP. Not very good at all, yet his manager kept writing his name down in the lineup, as opposed to guys like Tommy Pham and Randal Grichuk.
Jay will be back next season, unless a move is made to send him elsewhere. For the team’s sake, I hope Jay can bring his high OBP and BABIP back with him, otherwise we will see him play more than he needs to “in order for him to get right”. Jay will at best be a bench guy next season and if he continues to play like he did this season, he may find himself playing in Memphis.