St. Louis Cardinals’ Best Fantasy Draft Targets

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
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 /
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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
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.

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