St. Louis Cardinals: Early Ruben Tejada Impressions

With a couple of games under his belt, Ruben Tejada looks like he is going to be a quality shortstop replacement for the St. Louis Cardinals

Ruben Tejada collected his first RBI in a St. Louis Cardinals uniform earlier this afternoon in a 4-1 spring training win over the Marlins.

With Jeremy Hazelbaker (there’s that name again) running from first base, Tejada executed the hit-and-run to perfection, shooting a double down the right field line and into the corner.

Tejada was also part of a nice double play turn with Kolten Wong in the 5th, as Carlos Martinez was struggling a bit with command.

It’s obviously way too early to tell what kind of player Tejada is going to be in the 50-60 starts that he figures to get ahead of Peralta’s return.

Hopefully, though, his performance today is a sign of things to come.

Tejada isn’t going to hit for power, and he’s probably not going to turn in a great batting average.

Good career OBP numbers makes you assume that he knows the strike zone well, and that he has a quality approach at the plate.

So far, his swing has looked simple and compact. His approach seems to be very professional, and he seems to be a smart hitter, regardless of how naturally talented he is at putting barrel on baseball.

The ability of Tejada to execute in game situations (the hit-and-run today, bunting, defensive situations, etc.) is going to be where his true value lies.

There’s a pretty good gauge of what Tejada is capable of in terms of his natural baseball ability. Is he going to add value to the club by doing the necessary little things?

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Tejada says that he is willing to be flexible with St. Louis, that he’s just looking for a chance to compete. I have no reason to doubt him on those statements, and I think that he knows that nothing is guaranteed for him with Cardinals at all.

Any lack of focus, conditioning problems, whatever it was that caused issues for him in New York won’t be tolerated in St. Louis.

All Mike Matheny has to do is plug in Jedd Gyorko or Greg Garcia and it’s “bye bye Ruben Tejada.”

Tejada understands the fact (at least he should) that if things fall apart for him in St. Louis, there may not be a team that comes calling next time. Certainly not with the type of opportunity that the Cardinals are giving him.

There isn’t any pressure to “replace” Peralta, as less than a handful of shortstops in the game today would be capable of that. All Tejada needs to do is be solid.

All he needs to do is play smart, play hard, and have the utmost attention to detail in each and every game until Peralta is back.

Next: What happens to Cardinal shortstops upon Peralta's return?

Give it everything you have for three months, Ruben. They’ll give you a break when Jhonny gets back. Then they’ll reward you with favorable match ups, and give you the best chance to shine as a utility man/second base spot-start candidate.