St. Louis Cardinals: Don’t rule out these DH options

Dexter Fowler and Matt Carpenter are the most likely designated hitters for the St. Louis Cardinals, but there are a few other options who might make sense.

The St. Louis Cardinals aren’t overflowing with good designated hitter options, but with the potential league realignment for 2020, the DH may be coming sooner than expected.

Dexter Fowler and Matt Carpenter seem to be the best of underwhelming DH choices, but there could be others who might make a bigger splash than those two.

Here are a few players who could potentially serve as decent DHs.

Lane Thomas

Thomas was outstanding at the plate in a small sample size in 2019, with a slash line of .316/.409/.684. But he only had 44 plate appearances, so he needs more to be able to prove himself.

There are some signs that Thomas will fall back to earth, however. Before his arrival in the big leagues, Thomas didn’t have much power. Between Double-A and Triple-A in 2018, Thomas only smacked six homers in 575 plate appearances. In 2019, he hit two in 304 PAs. But when he arrived in St. Louis, he hit four in those 44 PAs.

While Thomas can field and run well and a role in the outfield would allow him to display his whole skill set, a spot at DH might give Thomas a chance to show if he can repeat those numbers given more plate appearances when he isn’t on the field.

Rangel Ravelo

Ravelo’s numbers didn’t look great on the surface last year. Like Thomas, Ravelo didn’t get many plate appearances, but unlike Thomas, he didn’t make the most of them, hitting a meager .205/.256/.410. But if one looks deeper into the numbers, they can see Ravelo could break out with a few more chances.

Ravelo’s hard-hit percentage was 50% on his 28 batted balls in 43 plate appearances, which is well above average. He also had an average exit velocity of 93.8, which was above the MLB average of 87.5. Ravelo also has much less of a chance to play the field with Paul Goldschmidt blocking him at first base, so his best chance would be as a DH.

Brad Miller

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Miller showed some newfound pop in his bat last year when he split time with the Cleveland Indians and Philadelphia Phillies. He slugged .565 and hit .260 in 2019, hitting for a better average than all seasons except his rookie year in 2013 and exceeding his previous high slugging percentage by 83 points.

Miller can play multiple positions but is blocked at all of them and has little chance of being a starter unless injuries befall the team. But his barrel percentage, exit velocity and launch angle were all career bests, and the Cardinals are likely interested to see what they have in their new acquisition.

Andrew Knizner

Knizner is probably the least likely out of these options to contribute to the DH role, but that’s more because of his primary position than anything else. Having insurance in case Yadier Molina goes down is extremely important, but Knizner has shown solid prowess with the bat in the minor leagues, although he hasn’t received many chances at the plate in the majors because of the aforementioned iron man.

Matt Wieters has shown himself to be better behind the plate than Knizner, and even though a DH role wouldn’t help Knizner’s development while donning the tools of ignorance, it would help him find his footing more at the dish. Carson Kelly is a cautionary tale of what can happen when a backup catcher finally gets a decent number of plate appearances, and the Cardinals might not want to let another good hitter go to waste.

While Carpenter and Fowler are likely to bear the brunt of the DH work, it would likely be beneficial if they let some other players get some work. Without the clear-cut DH many other teams possess, a rotation of sorts involving multiple players could be the optimal choice.