St. Louis Cardinals: Protection (or better) waiting in the wings

ST. LOUIS, MO - AUGUST 11: Manager Mike Matheny
ST. LOUIS, MO - AUGUST 11: Manager Mike Matheny /
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St. Louis Cardinals
JUPITER, FL – FEBRUARY 25: Patrick Wisdom of the St. Louis Cardinals poses for a photograph at Spring Training photo day at Roger Dean Stadium on February 25, 2016 in Jupiter, Florida. (Photo by Chris Trotman/Getty Images) /

The St. Louis Cardinals may find answers to their infield questions waiting in the minors.

The St. Louis Cardinals contemplated making additions to their 2018 roster in the infield. While not making any additions, the Cardinals may need to look to their farm system for support.

Before digging into the young guys, let me share that fans were able to hear from Matt Carpenter and Carson Kelly during the Winter Warmup. Carpenter suggested that he has not ever requested/demanded to bat leadoff and Kelly praised his battery-mate, Alex Reyes.

Additionally, fans of the Cardinals were able to hear from Jose Martinez who may play into both the infield and outfield of the 2018 season. One other piece of news from the Warmup: Paul DeJong has relinquished jersey number 11 so that Jose Oquendo may have his number back; he will now wear number 12.

All of these sleepy pieces of news pale in comparison to the potential promise of last year’s surprising appearance of Patrick Wisdom who also appeared at the Warmup. Let’s take a look at Wisdom’s career and why last season’s numbers may present solutions to the 2018 Cardinals.

Register Batting
Year Age AgeDif Tm Lg Lev Aff G PA AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB CS BB SO BA OBP SLG OPS TB GDP HBP SH SF IBB
2012 20 -1.1 Batavia NYPL A- STL 65 279 241 40 68 16 5 6 32 2 1 31 58 .282 .373 .465 .837 112 2 5 0 2 2
2013 21 -0.6 2 Teams 2 Lgs A-A+ STL 129 525 464 62 109 24 4 15 73 5 1 51 137 .235 .313 .401 .714 186 6 3 4 3 0
2013 21 -1.8 Palm Beach FLOR A+ STL 25 102 92 8 23 4 0 2 11 1 0 9 23 .250 .317 .359 .676 33 2 0 1 0 0
2013 21 -0.3 Peoria MIDW A STL 104 423 372 54 86 20 4 13 62 4 1 42 114 .231 .312 .411 .723 153 4 3 3 3 0
2014 22 -2.1 Springfield TL AA STL 128 498 452 49 97 19 4 14 53 5 1 39 149 .215 .277 .367 .644 166 11 2 0 5 0
2015 23 -1.2 Springfield TL AA STL 114 455 414 51 98 20 4 14 61 11 3 35 107 .237 .294 .406 .699 168 6 0 2 4 0
2015 23 0.8 Surprise AZFL Fal 24 97 93 15 22 6 1 4 21 3 1 4 17 .237 .268 .452 .720 42 0 0 0 0 0
2016 24 -2.4 2 Teams 2 Lgs AAA-Rk STL 81 303 268 31 64 20 1 5 33 6 1 29 75 .239 .314 .377 .690 101 5 2 0 4 0
2016 24 -2.6 Memphis PCL AAA STL 78 294 262 29 61 20 1 5 30 5 1 26 73 .233 .303 .374 .677 98 5 2 0 4 0
2016 24 4.3 Cardinals GULF Rk STL 3 9 6 2 3 0 0 0 3 1 0 3 2 .500 .667 .500 1.167 3 0 0 0 0 0
2017 25 -1.4 Memphis PCL AAA STL 127 506 456 68 111 25 1 31 89 2 2 38 149 .243 .310 .507 .817 231 7 8 0 4 0
Minors (6 seasons) Minors 644 2566 2295 301 547 124 19 85 341 31 9 223 675 .238 .309 .420 .729 964 37 20 6 22 2
All Levels (6 Seasons) 668 2663 2388 316 569 130 20 89 362 34 10 227 692 .238 .307 .421 .728 1006 37 20 6 22 2
AAA (2 seasons) Minors 205 800 718 97 172 45 2 36 119 7 3 64 222 .240 .308 .458 .766 329 12 10 0 8 0
AA (2 seasons) Minors 242 953 866 100 195 39 8 28 114 16 4 74 256 .225 .285 .386 .671 334 17 2 2 9 0

Should Wisdom repeat the impressive numbers of 2017, he could be a nice supporter for first and third base in 2018.

Here’s my thought on Wisdom: he will clearly start the 2018 season in Memphis to see if he can replicate his numbers of last season. Then, if he is near the numbers, look for him to be used should an injury or poor performance rear its ugly head in St. Louis. This move will show other teams that he is MLB-ready and build his value as a trade piece for the deadline.

In short, I doubt that Wisdom- who survived the rule 5 selections in 2017- is on any other team’s radar at present but I predict that to change quickly in the 2018 season.

Wisdom isn’t the only name that St. Louis Cardinals should keep a keen eye on. For my take, I recommend watching the rise of Luke Voit, Breyvic Valera, Delvin Perez, Yairo Munoz, and Edmundo Sosa.