St. Louis Cardinals: Short stop epidemic must come to an end

The St. Louis Cardinals have experienced some illness at the short stop position in their recent history. What looked to be solved seems to be resurfacing. Perhaps a good dose of vaccination is necessary.

The St. Louis Cardinals thought they had found their short stop for the foreseeable future in Aledmys Diaz but, of late, he has struggled. While he was impressive in 2016, 2017 has fallen away and has landed him being optioned for work.

Likewise, the St. Louis Cardinals thought they had the short stop of their future in Delvin Perez but he too has experienced struggles and was just recently moved lower in the organization to “work.”

The position of short stop is typically the most athletic player on the field for any MLB team but the Cardinals seem to have fallen on bad luck after a string of successful short stops including the names of Ozzie Smith, Edgar Renteria, and David Eckstein.

Looking at these names, the data is terribly impressive. First up, Ozzie:

…and defensively:

See why the man was known as the Wizard and now sits in both the St. Louis Cardinals hall of fame and the MLB hall of fame?

Moving to Edgar Renteria, another short stop on another World Series title St. Louis Cardinals team. These are his offensive numbers:

…and these his defensive numbers:

Renteria was as amazing as the Wizard in his own right and contributed to the St. Louis Cardinals lore during his years in the gateway state.

Last, and certainly not least of the great St. Louis Cardinals short stops is David Eckstein. Eckstein seemingly came out of nowhere to capture the hearts of fans and the MVP of the World Series.

These are his offensive numbers:

…and these are his defensive numbers:

Since the lineage of short stops is rather rich, Cardinals Nation expects this position to hold dominance on the team. That is until recent years. With the likes of weaknesses showing by Diaz, other recent short stop flops include Khalil Greene and Brendan Ryan, just to name a few.

Here’s a look at the social-anxiety-stricken Greene’s numbers with the Cardinals:

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Following the surprising year that Diaz put together in 2016, the St. Louis Cardinals had once again hoped they had found that elusive short stop mastermind (Jhonny Peralta had fared well there for a while too), but this year’s weaknesses are telling a different story.

The short answer is this: the St. Louis Cardinals need to find a cure for the pandemic of poor performances at the short stop position. Can this come from outside the organization? Perhaps, but it could also come from additional playing time for Paul DeJong.

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Whatever the solution, I hope the Cardinals find it and find it quickly. What do you think? Who should the Cardinals slot at short stop? Anyone for a return of Pete Kozma? I didn’t think so. Thanks for reading!