2015 St. Louis Cardinals Season Review: Top Performers

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Sep 22, 2015; St. Louis, MO, USA; St. Louis Cardinals relief pitcher Kevin Siegrist (46) pitches to a Cincinnati Reds batter during the eighth inning at Busch Stadium. The Cardinals defeated the Reds 3-1. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Curry-USA TODAY Sports

5. Kevin Siegrist 

Yes, we are ending on another pitcher. There just wasn’t many offensive performers who were not either surprises or had great seasons throughout the year.

At the beginning of the year, it was questionable as to how Siegrist was going to perform. Last season was a down year for him, largely due to injuries. The team trusted him enough out of spring training to let go of Sam Freeman, leaving him and Randy Choate the only left-handers out of the bullpen. Again, put your postseason blinders on for this. Siegrist had a very good regular season, with a 2.17 ERA, 10.88 strikeouts per nine innings, all while holding batters to a .193 average.

Oddly enough, Siegrist was much more effective against right-handed hitters than he was left-handed hitters, as left-handers were able to get a .259/.408/.405 line against him versus the .153/.236/.275 line that right-handed hitters had against him. This making the move from Matheny to have Siegrist pitch against Rizzo and Schwarber the other night quite confusing.

The biggest issue for Siegrist this season was the walks, he struggled throughout the year with them and it resulted in a 4.10 BB/9. Hitters did have a tad bit of misfortune against Siegrist, as evident in their .271 BABIP and Siegrist’s 3.28 SIERA and 3.98 expected FIP (Fangraphs). If Siegrist can continue to improve, the back end of the bullpen will continue to get better as guys come back from injury next season and the Cardinals’ get some help from their farm system.

That does it for today, these are your top five performers for the 2015 St. Louis Cardinals’ season. I hope you enjoyed this as much as I enjoyed writing this. Once again, if you particularly liked this or think I left someone out. Don’t hesitate to comment and let me know.