St. Louis Cardinals: Five bold predictions for the 2020 season

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JUPITER, FL – MARCH 07: Matt Carpenter #13 of the St. Louis Cardinals in action against the Houston Astors during the second inning of a spring training baseball game at Roger Dean Chevrolet Stadium on March 7, 2020 in Jupiter, Florida. The Cardinals defeated the Astros 5-1. (Photo by Rich Schultz/Getty Images) /

No. 3: Matt Carpenter will hit the 3rd most home runs of his career, knocking 25 out of the park

My colleagues here at Redbird Rants can testify, I’m about as strong of a Carpenter defender as there is in the fanbase today. Yes, it’s a real bummer that his 2019 season went so poorly, but it really wasn’t as bad as people remember it to be.

He’s just been such an elite (yes, I said elite), reliable player that any blip in the radar feels like the end of the world.

Carpenter spent all offseason getting into fantastic shape and reworking parts of his swing that needed to be fixed. Even the best fall down sometimes.

Overall, this might not seem like a bold prediction. The 3rd most home runs of his career? Ok, cool. What’s significant about that?

The broadcast team during Spring Training has made sure to point out the work Carp has done to his swing with a bigger focus on taking the ball the other way this season and shying away from his pull heavy approach of recent years. In other words, he’s not going to be swinging for the fences every at-bat, like he admitted he got into the habit of last year.

He’s going to get into a groove this year and start pounding the ball like he usually does. The numbers will pile up.

Matt Carpenter is going to have a bounce-back year and rediscover his long lost love with the leadoff spot in the lineup. Book it.

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