Bold St. Louis Cardinals predictions for the 2020 season

An Unlikely Contributor Emerges

Last season the Cardinals got a huge boost from Tommy Edman. His arrival sparked a struggling offense and he now has a defined role as at least a super-sub, if not as an everyday player.

The Cardinals will be facing a sprint this season where every game is magnified so much more than usual. They should play the best players and never try to punt away any opportunities.

With that said, injuries happen. Players can underperform. There are a lot of things that can happen to lead to unexpected chances for unexpected players. Who could that be this season? My guess would be someone stepping up in a big way in the bullpen. Maybe Johan Oviedo grabs a role and runs with it? The team has long had success with young pitching, especially debuting in relief.

Dakota Hudson loses his rotation spot

How good was Dakota Hudson last season?  It’s a serious question. By looking at his “back of the baseball card” stats, he looks like a budding star. Hudson won 16 games in his first season in the rotation and also had a 3.35 ERA. Hard not to like those numbers, right? Dig a little deeper and you’ll notice his FIP was 4.93, over a whole run and a half higher than his ERA. That suggests some of his 2019 success was helped by some good luck.

His walks were also a big red flag. He led baseball in walks, at 4.4 walks per nine innings. Add that to the fact that he’s not a big strikeout pitcher and you’ll see reasons why he’s due for regression.

That’s not to say he’s not valuable, as he is an extreme ground ball pitcher. That will always help him to escape some jams and could help him avoid a major step back. That could play in relief in a Seth Maness type of role.