St. Louis Cardinals' Best Fantasy Draft Targets

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Oct 10, 2015; St. Louis, MO, USA; St. Louis Cardinals third baseman Matt Carpenter (13) celebrates after hitting a solo home run against the Chicago Cubs during the first inning in game two of the NLDS at Busch Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Curry-USA TODAY Sports /

Which St. Louis Cardinals players should you look to take in your fantasy baseball draft?

As March approaches that means Spring Training games will soon be starting. It also means that your fantasy baseball draft is likely right around the corner.

With that in mind, I take a look at the top St. Louis Cardinals fantasy options for you to target come draft day.

Matt Carpenter

Cardinals third baseman Matt Carpenter is by far the best fantasy option on this St. Louis team. He’s also the highest ranked Cardinal player in both Yahoo! and ESPN’s 2016 Top 300 Fantasy Baseball rankings. Carpenter comes in at 34th on ESPN’s list and 66th on Yahoo’s list. There are some discrepancies with the rankings as the 34th ranking for Carpenter is on ESPN’s Top 300 Roto rankings. Carpenter came in at 62nd on ESPN’s Top 250 Rotisserie 6×6 rankings. For the sake of this article, we’ll stick with ESPN’s Top 300 Roto rankings.

Still, whether you are doing a rotisserie, categories, or even a points league, Carpenter is the best Cardinals player to target in 2016. Last season, Carpenter showed that he has more than just doubles power by blasting 28 homers while hitting .272/.365/.505 with a .871 OPS. And he still hit 44 doubles on top of that.

Carpenter will do just fine in batting average for your team, but he will really excel in providing a high OBP, 100 plus runs scored, and solid slugging and OPS numbers. Carpenter has a career on base percentage of .375 and his OBP hasn’t been below .365 in any season of his career so far (minimum 200 at bats).

Carpenter is easily a top 10 third baseman in fantasy baseball. ESPN has him ranked as the 6th best third baseman, while Yahoo! has him ranked 7th. Depending on where you sit in your draft order, you could have to take Carpenter earlier than expected, but odds are you won’t be disappointed with the pick.

This could be an MVP type season from Carpenter, and I expect the 30-year old to continue to show solid plate discipline and even eclipse 30 home runs for the first time in his career.

Next: Uncle Charlie

Adam Wainwright

Adam Wainwright is back in 2016 and ready to take his mantle as the Cardinals’ ace once again. And you better believe he is the Cardinals best fantasy starting pitcher option.

Wainwright is ranked 83rd overall on Yahoo’s list and 104th overall on ESPN. The ESPN ranking in particular is much too low and probably a product of Wainwright missing pretty much all of last season with his Achilles injury. ESPN even has Wainwright ranked 25th on their Top Starting Pitchers list behind Jon Lester, Danny Salazar, Marcus Stroman and the Cardinals very own Carlos Martinez. Wainwright is better than that.

I’ve already said I believe Wainwright will put up Cy Young worthy numbers this season. All signs point to him being over the Achilles injury. Not to mention, the injury wasn’t arm related and Wainwright saved a ton of innings and mileage on that arm, which is a blessing in disguise. He likely won’t give you 200 plus strikeouts (he’s only done that three times in his career), but what’s not to like about a guy with a career 2.98 ERA, 3.11 FIP and a 1.16 WHIP?

He shouldn’t be the very first pitcher you take in your draft (starting pitching is fairly deep this season in fantasy baseball), but if Wainwright falls far enough, then don’t waste time on scooping him up. You’ll be thankful that you did.

Next: Your next Cardinals' record holder

Trevor Rosenthal

I’m not a big fan of drafting high ranked closers early on in fantasy baseball, but there’s probably not too many more safer bets at the closer position than Trevor Rosenthal.

Rosenthal comes in at 8th overall on Yahoo’s relievers list and 7th on EPSPN’s list. Guys like Craig Kimbrel, Aroldis Chapman and Kenley Jansen get their fair due, and are probably flashier and more well known closers. But in terms of racking up saves for your fantasy team — Rosenthal is the guy you want.

Since 2014, Rosenthal ranks first in all of baseball with 93 saves. The next closest is Kimbrel with 86. Rosy will provide plenty of strikeouts as well — 83 in 68.2 IP last season.

What’s more, the 25-year old cut down his walks per nine from 5.37 in 2014 to 3.28 in 2015. Rosenthal has also done exceptionally well at pitching out of jams and leaving runners on base. Last season, the righty had a career high 85.9 left on base percentage, which ranked third among National League closers.

He may get a bit more rest this season with guys like Jordan Walden and Seung Hwan Oh joining the bullpen, but Rosenthal should still be good for 45 plus saves in 2016. I wouldn’t go too far to reach for Rosenthal, but if you are looking to take a closer earlier on in your draft then he’s the guy to snag.

Next: The young studs

May 9, 2015; Pittsburgh, PA, USA; St. Louis Cardinals pitchers Michael Wacha (L) and starting pitcher Carlos Martinez (C) and John Lackey (R) look on over the dugout rail against the Pittsburgh Pirates during the sixth inning at PNC Park. The Pirates won 7-5. Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports /

Carlos Martinez and Michael Wacha

Carlos Martinez and Michael Wacha, the Cardinals two youngest starters in the rotation, should both be solid starting pitching options in fantasy baseball as well. Martinez probably has the most upside of either starter and is ranked 33rd on Yahoo’s Top Starters list and 22nd on ESPN’s list. While Wacha is ranked 28th on Yahoo! and 34th on ESPN.

The only cause for concern with Martinez is the shoulder injury that sidelined him last September. But so far he appears to be over the injury. 2016 will be a crucial season for Wacha in proving that his 2013 breakout postseason wasn’t a fluke.

Wacha struggled mightily in the second half of the 2015 season with a 4.01 ERA, 1.38 WHIP and he gave up 12 home runs. He likely ran out of gas. Still, both pitchers have the upside to produce Top 25 stats one day soon. However, if Wacha can start to command his fastball, he will become a much better pitcher, and could be a good play for fantasy players.

My pick between the two would be Martinez as he’s the best bet to put up 200 plus IP and 200 plus strikeouts in 2016. The hype around Martinez is fairly high in the fantasy world too, and some teams may reach too high to snag him. If you are in a keeper league, both guys are also no-brainer keeper options.

Next: The Middle Infield

Apr 17, 2015; St. Louis, MO, USA; St. Louis Cardinals center fielder Jon Jay (19) celebrates with shortstop Jhonny Peralta (27) and second baseman Kolten Wong (16) after defeating the Cincinnati Reds 6-1 at Busch Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Curry-USA TODAY Sports /

Kolten Wong and Jhonny Peralta

The Cardinals actually have two of the better fantasy options up the middle in Kolten Wong and Jhonny Peralta. Wong is ranked 10th on Yahoo’s top second baseman list, and ESPN has him ranked 9th ahead of Daniel Murphy, Ben Zobrist, and Anthony Rendon. That’s pretty good props to a guy that just turned 25 back in October.

Wong has decent pop and speed and should be a guy who hits 15 homers and swipes 15 bags this season. I believe his ceiling can be even higher than that as a future 25 plus stolen base guy and maybe closer to 20 home runs.

Over the last two seasons, Wong actually ranks 8th among all second baseman with 23 home runs, which isn’t too shabby for the second base position. He has to cut down on the strikeouts and increase his OBP this season, though. Wong is also another solid keeper option.

Peralta has also quietly been one of the better fantasy shortstop options over the last two seasons. Since 2014, he ranks second (behind only Ian Desmond) among all shortstops with 38 homers. Peralta also ranks third during that span with 146 RBI.

With the 33-year old set to get more rest in 2016 because of the addition of Jedd Gyorko as a backup up the middle, Peralta could once again put up 20 plus homers with 75 plus RBI. He’s the 7th ranked shortstop on Yahoo’s list and 10th on ESPN.

Next: Sleepers

Oct 8, 2015; St. Louis, MO, USA; St. Louis Cardinals left fielder Matt Holliday (7) looks on during NLDS workout day prior to game one of the NLDS against the Chicago Cubs at Busch Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Curry-USA TODAY Sports /

Sleepers

The above players are the safest Cardinals to target in your fantasy draft, but St. Louis also has some great sleeper picks for those late rounds.

More from Redbird Rants

The entire Cardinals outfield including Matt Holliday, Randal Grichuk and Stephen Piscotty are all solid picks to target later in the draft. I didn’t include Grichuk and Piscotty in the above group because outfield is such a deep position in fantasy baseball and while the Cardinals young hitters should be productive, they likely won’t be real high draft picks.

Still, Grichuk and Piscotty are solid options because of their upside. If all goes well for Grichuk health wise, he could be a guy who hits 30 plus homers in 2016. Piscotty won’t quite have the same power but he should still provide about 20 homers with solid production in RBIs, OBP, SLG and OPS and a better batting average than Grichuk.

Holliday, in particular, is a fantastic sleeper option. After dealing with quad injuries and missing much of last season, Holliday will probably drop further in drafts than he should. He is ranked 42nd in Yahoo’s outfield rankings and all the way down to 69th in ESPN’s rankings of outfielders for 2016. Holliday is out to prove the critics wrong.

Not to mention, he is looking to have a great bounce back season so the Cardinals will pick up his option. Last season’s injury was really the first big one in Holliday’s career. He has been a very durable outfielder averaging 138 games played a season throughout his career. I expect the 36-year old to have a great season hitting about .290 with 25 homers and 90 plus RBI.

Jaime Garcia is probably the best starting pitcher sleeper option on the Cardinals. He’s ranked 55th in Yahoo’s starting pitchers rankings and 42nd by ESPN. But proceed with caution. As always with Garcia, injuries are a possibility so make sure you have a solid backup plan in case the lefty catches the injury bug again.

Last is Matt Adams. While I believe that Brandon Moss will win the first base job, it wouldn’t surprise me if Adams is able to get back in Matheny’s good graces and put together a bounce back season. Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch wrote last week that Adams has fine tuned his swing and believes he has his power back.

After being out most of last season with injuries and a rough 2014 performance, Adams can be a cheap first base option later in drafts. Adams is ranked 44th in Yahoo’s top 50 first basemen rankings and 38th on ESPN’s top 40 list. Adams has a lot to prove and if he can bounce back with a 25 plus homer campaign and flash that power that once excited Cardinals fans, fantasy owners will take that in a heartbeat for where you can get him in the draft.

Next: Center Field: Middle-of-the-Line Offense?

That about wraps up my take on Cardinals to target in fantasy baseball. Happy drafting to those who have drafts coming up soon.

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St. Louis Cardinals’ Best Fantasy Draft Targets