St. Louis Cardinals: A plea to see Magneuris Sierra

St. Louis Cardinals young outfielder Magneuris Sierra has been impressive in the short stints of opportunity he has found this season.

Coaches at all levels tell players to take advantage of the opportunities given and that will lead to more time, but that theory has yet to flourish for the 21-year-old outfielder.  Magneuris Sierra is a potential piece in a movement for the St. Louis Cardinals to cause change offensively.  Nathan gives a few more ideas of how to do that here.

Truth is, he has earned a legitimate shot to play, or at least be the fourth outfielder.  Stephen Piscotty and Dexter Fowler are going to hold down their respective spots, but there should be a conversation about who can take over left field.  Right now, it is predominately Tommy Pham.  And Jose Martinez should be in the conversation too.

Both Pham and Martinez have had the time to make their case to start.  Sierra, however, hasn’t received that chance.  He has played in only eight games, but he has hit safely in all of them.  He has shown to play a good outfield and has the speed to make a difference on the base paths.

At 21, he is not a sure-fire player to spark the lineup and become a mainstay.  There is a chance he has already shown the best he will do.  But through his first thirty-two at bats he is hitting .375 with three RBI.  It should be worth trying to put his bat in the lineup to see if he can’t get on first, then turn a single into a double with his speed.

Sierra appears to have a smooth swing and has shown the ability to use all parts of the field.  He has gone with the pitch nicely and collected several hits on off-speed pitches and breaking balls.  But that can also be his mechanical kryptonite.  While he is seeing the ball well, his mechanics will potentially make it difficult to hit harder fastballs.

He uses a decently high leg kick and appears to barely get his foot down in time to be able to hit the slower, off-speed pitches.  If his foot is late getting down, he will struggle hitting fastballs because his whole swing will be late.

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Those mechanics work for him right now though because he is not a hitter trying to put on a laser show at the plate.  Through his time playing in the majors, his average exit velocity is 82.4 MPH with an average distance of 146.3 feet.  He is a singles hitter, and a consistent one at that, who can keep the line moving.

Though the pitching at the top level is inherently more difficult to hit, Sierra’s minor league stats show consistency at the plate.  He is a career .296 hitter throughout his time in the minors.  Keeping in mind that his professional career started in 2013, that is a good sample size to show his ability as a baseball player.

Without a doubt Sierra needs to be in the discussion for ways to help the St. Louis Cardinals very soon.  Even if the front office feels he needs more time to develop, or he isn’t ready, they need to give him a chance to prove that.  So far, he has proved just the opposite.

Next: Slumpbusting

All in all, Sierra is a very promising prospect for the St. Louis Cardinals.  Personally, he is my favorite prospect they have.  He has earned the right to show what he can do on a consistent basis in the big leagues.