St. Louis Cardinals could use John Nogowski for bench option

With an impressive showing in Wednesday’s Spring Training contest against the New York Mets, first baseman John Nogowski proved he is an option the St. Louis Cardinals should consider for their bench.

John Nogowski blasted a 404 ft, three-run homer off Jerad Eickhoff in the second inning of the St. Louis Cardinals’ contest with the Mets. The home run had an exit velocity of 101.7 mph, according to Baseball Savant. He took walks in his next two at-bats.

Nogwoski, 28, is from Tallahassee, FL, where he graduated from North Florida Christian High School before attending Florida State University. He played three seasons with the Seminoles before being drafted with the 27th pick of the 34th round, the overall 1,032 pick of the 2014 MLB Amateur Draft by the Oakland Athletics.

He played throughout the lower levels of the Athletics minor league system before being released in March 2017. In May 2017, he played with the Sioux City Explorers of the American Association of Independent Professional Baseball. In 34 games with Sioux City, he hit .402/.482/.607.

The Cardinals were apparently impressed and purchased his contract in June 2017. From there, Nogowski has been grinding it out and playing as much ball as he could.

From Sioux City, Nogowski was assigned to the Springfield Cardinals and played 59 games before being sent to the Arizona Fall League. In 2018, he had a short stint with the Gulf Coast League Cardinals rookie ball club. He then went back to Springfield. He played for Obregon of the Mexican Pacific Winter League. He then joined the Memphis Redbirds, the club’s Triple-A affiliate, for the 2019 season where he hit .295/.413/.476. That winter he played for Aguilas with the Dominican Winter League. He hit .316/.413/.474.

In 2020, he ended up playing the Cardinals Training Site on the ‘Taxi Squad.” Nogowski joined the 40-man roster and made his major league debut, Aug. 16, against the Chicago White Sox where he knocked his first major league hit off of Dallas Kuechel. He hit .250 with a 36 wRC+.

Once the 2020 season was over, Nogowski rejoined Aguilas for some more Domican Winter League Ball and hit .260/.337/.299.

Nogowski had a good game Wednesday and that can be paired with the knowledge that he will put in effort throughout the year, no matter the location, to improve his game. This shows that he is someone the team should give a chance. It would be great to see him get that chance with St. Louis. Staying in St. Louis, however, would guarantee a lot of bench time unless Paul Goldschmidt needs more consistent off-time this season at first base.

Nogowski will more than likely see a majority of his time with the Memphis Redbirds to continue growth. But, I guarantee we will see Nogowski a few times in 2021. Hopefully, he will have some more power hitting up his sleeves.