St. Louis Cardinals: Power ranking active former Cardinals

#10 Randal Grichuk

We are starting this list with a player who seemed to have as much potential as any player the Cardinals brought up in the last six years. Grichuk will forever be known as “the player drafted right before Mike Trout” and was acquired by the team in a trade with the Angels where the Cardinals gave up another player on this list.

Grichuk had four of the most tease-filled years I have gotten to experience as he would show flashes of superstar-slugger power but then look clueless at the plate the next day. For his St. Louis Cardinals career, he batted .249/.297/.488 averaging over 16 homers a year while getting inconsistent playing time. The “Ferrari in the garage” never really showed up.

While Grichuk was a scapegoat for the team at times, fans couldn’t help dream about what he could be, which is why he slides in this list at #10. Grichuk was traded to the Blue Jays in January of 2018 for Dominic Leone and has yet to make his return to St. Louis. Hat’s off to him though as he recently signed a 5 year/$52M extension with the Blue Jays. He won’t make his return in 2019 either as the Blue Jays aren’t scheduled to play here this year.

#9 Matt Adams

It’s almost unfair to include Adams on this list because of how much he has returned already, even returning to the Cardinals 25-man roster. Adams came up with the team all the way back in 2012 and looked like a power hitting slugger that could begin to fill the shoes of Albert Pujols. Unfortunately, injuries and inconsistent play (and a seemingly fractured relationship with the manager at the time) signaled it was time for Adams to get a change of scenery.

Adams was traded to the Braves in the middle of the 2017 season for a Minor league lottery ticket and proceeded to explode offensively for 19 homers and a .858 OPS in just 290 AB’s that year. After the 2017 season, he signed with the Nationals where he struggled before being claimed by the Cardinals last August. In his return, Adams hit just .158 with three homers in 59 AB’s. Adams then signed again with the Nationals where he is playing this year.

Adams has returned to St. Louis too many times to count and always gets a warm welcome. It’s hard not to after postseason moments like the ones he has provided for Cardinals history.

#8 Daniel Descalso

Daniel Descalso was never an amazing player for the St. Louis Cardinals. That being said, he contributed to the magical 2011 postseason run and that puts him among the most beloved former Cardinals. Drafted all the way back in 2007, the now 32-year-old spent five seasons with the Cardinals from 2010 to 2014 mostly serving as a backup infielder. Averaging just a .243 batting average and a .654 OPS, he really wasn’t great, but for the role he filled, he was perfect.

From 2014, Descalso has jumped from St. Louis to the Rockies, Diamondbacks, and now the Cubs. He never really improved with the bat and was touted as the Cubs’ “big addition” this offseason when he signed his current 2 year/$5M deal.

Descalso has returned to St. Louis many times and always gets a very warm welcome, as he should. He was a role player, but he filled his role well and had some great moments in Cardinals history. Being that he is now on the Cubs, we will see him plenty of times this year.

#7 Jon Jay

Jon Jay is another Cubs traitor who had some great years in St. Louis. The slap hitter manned center field for the team from 2010 to 2015 and while he was also a frequent scapegoat, his ability to slap the ball around the field and get on base was a fixture at the top of the lineup for each year he was here.

He averaged a .287 BA and .354 OBP in his time with St. Louis and was included in one of the best trades of the last decade. After Jay had a rough 2015, he was flipped to the Padres for a man by the name of Jedd Gyorko. Gyorko fit the need of a super-utility infielder that the team needed and Jay was a cheap outfielder for the constantly-rebuilding Padres. Gyorko went on to outperform Jay in just about every way to this day and make that trade look like a steal.

Jay has always gotten a warm welcome and likely still will, but as a current member of the White Sox, he won’t be back in St. Louis this year.

#6 Jason Heyward

Jason Heyward was a move forced by a very unfortunate situation. After league-wide top prospect Oscar Taveras was tragically killed in a car accident, the Cardinals sent Shelby Miller in a package to the Atlanta Braves for their young poster boy who was a year away from free agency.

In his year in St. Louis, Jason Heyward started the year extremely sluggish but finished the year batting .293 with 13 homers and an OPS just under .800 winning a Gold Glove in right field. Despite the slow start, that was just about all the Cardinals could’ve asked for from Heyward. We all just hoped he loved the city enough to stay.

Truth be told, the reaction for Heywards’ at-bats in St. Louis may not be as loud as others earlier on this list, but I wanted to include him because he is one of the very few players that Cardinals fans consistently boo. The reason is not for him leaving, but the way he left-regardless of how glad fans may be that he didn’t take our deal.

The Heyward Sweepstakes came down to the wire, but the Cardinals lost to the Cubs. When it came out afterward that the Cardinals had offered Heyward more than the 8 year/ $184M deal the Cubs offered, many were livid. Heyward then went on to insult the Cardinals core basically calling our team washed up. And now he gets booed.

Heyward’s time in Chicago hasn’t been great, as he has averaged just over 7 homers a year and a .253 BA with a .696 OPS. He even got benched during the majority of the Cubs World Series because he couldn’t produce at the plate. Now at the age of 29, Heyward has started the year hot but will have to be amazing for the rest of the contract to make that deal worth it for the Cubs. He will be back at Busch plenty of times and will likely get booed each time.

Never change Cardinals fans-only we get to make fun of our team!

#5 Stephen Piscotty

The Stephen Piscotty era in St. Louis was cut way short of what I think we all expected it to be. After coming up and tearing it up in 2015, Piscotty had a great year in 2016 then crashed and burned in 2017. It came out after the season that Piscotty was dealing with the weight of his Mother being diagnosed with ALS out in Oakland, California. Having something of this magnitude behind the scenes more than explains Piscotty’s fall in every offensive category.

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Piscotty went from a former first-round draft pick with a world of potential to a player (understandably) distracted by life.

After the Cardinals acquired Marcell Ozuna after the 2017 season, they traded Piscotty to Oakland for Max Shrock and Yairo Munoz in one of the best all-around trades in a long time. Munoz has added great depth to the team and Piscotty had the chance to be with his mom when she passed away last year. He has returned to form offensively for the most part but you can’t be mad about this trade as a Cardinals fan.

Piscotty will come back to Busch for a two-game series on June 25-26 and given that it is his first time back, I’m sure he will get a huge ovation.

#4 Tommy Pham

Next up is a guy who a lot of Cardinals fans seem to be missing right now. Tommy Pham was a powder keg of a player who didn’t hesitate to speak his mind, and I believe that is ultimately the reason why he isn’t on the team anymore.

Tommy Pham would’ve made it to the Majors much before his short-lived debut in 2014 at the age of 26 had it not been for injury as well as a chronic eye condition. When he did find his groove he became one of the most productive players on the team. 2017 was the first year he had consistent AB’s and he returned on the opportunity by hitting .306 with 23 homers and a .931 OPS.

Then before the start of the 2018 season, Pham spoke with Sports Illustrated about his career and the Cardinals in an article that came out on April 2, 2018. Pham was not exactly kind to Cardinals management and it was no surprise to see him traded to the Rays at the deadline for prospects (including Genesis Cabrera) who could turn out to be something special.

While Cabrera has a chance to be great, Pham has been the great outfielder the Cardinals wish they had in Dexter Fowler and Marcell Ozuna right now. Since the trade, Pham has hit .326 with a .979 OPS and 7 homers in 187 AB’s. Wouldn’t that be nice to have right now…

Pham won’t return to St. Louis in 2019 but I am sure when Pham does return, fans will remember the grit and passion he has shown and give him the applause he deserves.

#3 Lance Lynn

Ah, I miss this guy the most. Lance Lynn was one of the most intriguing postgame interviews that I have ever seen. He rarely answered the questions seriously and always provided a good sound clip.

Lynn came up with the Cardinals in 2011 and was a stalwart in the middle of the rotation very quickly after beginning his career in the bullpen. Over his 6 years pitching with the Cardinals (missed one year with an injury), Lynn averaged a very consistent 3.38 ERA averaging just under 26 starts and 191 innings a year. He was the definition of a 3rd starter.

While he did create his own noun (a “lynning-an inning that spirals out of control horribly”) he never went too high or too low and was lovable the whole time. Towards the end of his career here, his performance began to trend downward, but when he left in free agency, I don’t think I was alone in being sad to see him go.

In the two years since he was on the Cardinals, he has been with the Twins and the Yankees, and now is pitching on a mediocre Rangers pitching staff. Lynn hasn’t returned to St. Louis and won’t this year, but you know everyone will give him a huge standing ovation. Lynn makes the shortlist of players I would want to have a talk show or podcast.

#2 David Freese

Now we get to the player that sparked this entire article. David Freese may never pay for another meal in St. Louis. While the vast majority of his fandom comes from the fact that he grew up in St. Louis and his performance in the 2011 postseason, that performance was big enough to last him a lifetime.

Freese was only on the Cardinals from 2009 to 2013, and while he averaged a .286 BA and .783 OPS with just under 9 homers a year, he wasn’t ever a Gold Glove award winner and he made it to just one All-Star Game. Again, what matters for his career was the postseason.

Freese has a career .291 BA and .911 OPS in the postseason and was the MVP of both the NLCS and World Series in 2011 and provided Cardinals fans with one of the most memorable postseason moments ever.

Chills every time.

After 2013, Freese was traded to the Angels for Randall Grichuk and Peter Bourjos where he played for two years before bouncing to the Pirates and the Dodgers. Freese has never again had any flashy moments but has carved himself out a very solid career entering his 10th year in the league. He has been a role player and leader for the last two Dodgers postseason runs and made his 20th return to St. Louis this week.

Cardinals fans will never forget Freese and he deserves this ovation every time he comes back to St. Louis.

#1 Albert Pujols

This will be the biggest ovation that will likely ever grace Busch Stadium III. “The Machine” is coming back on June 21st for the first time since 2011. It is a shame that Pujols hasn’t come back yet, but maybe the MLB was just trying to build suspense.

Albert Pujols led the St. Louis Cardinals from the minute he came up in 2001 to the day he left after the 2011 World Series. In that time, he averaged a batting line of .328/.420/.617 with a 1.037 OPS and an average of over 40 homers a year. He added to that 10 All-Star appearances, a Rookie of the Year award and three MVP awards. The other amazing thing is that his lowest games played amount was 143. That is the definition of consistency.

Albert left after the 2011 season to the dismay of many fans. Since then, the Angels have been more or less overpaying him as his production has slid mostly due to plantar fasciitis. Pujols has still served as a great mentor to many players on the Angels including Mike Trout as well as continued his philanthropic efforts in the St. Louis area.

Pujols recently opened up about leaving St. Louis and more which I think helped me get some more insight into how everything went down.

Regardless of if that interview rubbed you the wrong way, or if you are still salty that he left, his history and years with the Cardinals will no doubt get him not only into the Cardinals Hall of Fame but the National Hall of Fame. I would also expect that nobody on the Cardinals will ever wear #5 again; as it should be. Albert already has a statue in West Port Plaza, but I would also expect him to get one eventually in front of Busch.

The weekend of the 21st of June will be an amazingly nostalgic one I’m sure.

This list grew from three to five to now 10 and was honestly a lot of fun to write. There are many ways this list could’ve been ordered, but I believe for the most part that the top of the list sits exactly how it should.

Some fans on Twitter believe that giving players (especially Freese) a standing ovation every time they come back to St. Louis is dumb or a waste of time, but I believe it’s moments like those that prove how great of a fanbase we are. It’s the little things like cheering for the Padres first base coach (Skip Schumaker) that proves how knowledgable we are. It’s not something to discourage.

The players on this list all have their special moment in St. Louis Cardinals history and that’s why they deserve the ovations they get. There need not be any other explanation.

If you disagree with the ordering of this list feel free to argue. There is plenty of play here and reasons why players who just missed should’ve been on the main list. Albert’s return will be an amazing weekend and I can’t wait to see what special things the Cardinals have planned for the return of their best player in the last two decades.