St. Louis Cardinals: Paul DeJong showing signs of life at the plate

It’s been a rough time at the plate for Paul DeJong this spring, but things have started to improve for the St. Louis Cardinals’ shortstop.

Multiple of the St. Louis Cardinals’ top hitters have not had great spring training stat lines. Paul Goldschmidt, Nolan Arenado, Dylan Carlson, Matt Carpenter, and finally Paul DeJong have all struggled at times this spring.

While it’s never good to see top players struggle, there isn’t a real reason to worry about these players. For Paul DeJong though, there is pressure on him coming into the season. Based on the lineups that manager Mike Shildt has been using, DeJong will probably be the team’s Opening Day cleanup hitter.

On top of that pressure, it is a big year in general for DeJong to prove that he is better than how he has played the past few seasons.

At the time of writing the article about not worrying about the team’s veterans, DeJong was just 2-14. That is a bad 4-5 days in a normal season, so it’s unsurprising to see him turning things around. In his last three games, he’s got four hits including a homer.

DeJong is going to get a lot of chances with runners on with Tommy Edman, Paul Goldschmidt, and Nolan Arenado batting in front of him. The Cards are going to need DeJong to step up.

Dylan Carlson has also started to wake up at the plate after his slow start. Both of these two are going to be very important for the Cardinals’ lineup to be much more than a two-trick pony.

DeJong has the potential to be a fine cleanup hitter when he’s on, he’s just struggled to stay consistent at times. This is still just spring training, but it’s a good sign to see DeJong getting up to speed at the plate.