St. Louis Cardinals best/worst case 2016: Matt Carpenter

Sep 27, 2014; Phoenix, AZ, USA; St. Louis Cardinals third baseman Matt Carpenter (13) reacts after tagging out Arizona Diamondbacks center fielder Ender Inciarte (not pictured) in the first inning at Chase Field. Mandatory Credit: Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports

Best Case: “Your 2016 National League Most Valuable Player, Matt Carpenter”

Matt Carpenter had a strange season in 2015. He came out of the gates scorching hot en route to a .372/.438/.651 slash line in the first month of the year. Carpenter turned in a solid May as well, hitting five home runs with a .364 OBP.

Then June hit, and Carpenter slashed just .190/.337/.241 without a single long ball in the entire month. After that, Carpenter turned it back on and hit 20 home runs in the final three months of the season to finish with a team-leading 28.

What would Carpenter’s final stat line have looked like had he kept his slash line at least around his career average and hit three or four home runs? The answer, it would have been MVP worthy.

As it stands, Carpenter still finished 12th in NL MVP voting last year, and I think that he is a dark horse candidate for the award in 2016.

In Carpenter’s best-case 2016, he does what he did in 2015, without the June struggles thrown in there. A .300/.390/.475 slash line is entirely realistic for Carpenter this year.

If somebody is able to handle leadoff duties and Carpenter gets comfortable in the middle of the order, he could very well drive in 100 runs.

Matt Carpenter best-case stat line: .300/.390/.475 with 32 home runs, 105 RBI, 100 runs scored and 45 doubles.

Next: Carp can't get comfy, takes a step backwards

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