St. Louis Cardinals: Tommy Edman is looking good at leadoff

Tommy Edman had big shoes to fill at the top of the order for the St. Louis Cardinals. After a strong spring, the switch hitter has looked great at leadoff.

For the majority of the past decade, Matt Carpenter has taken the lead for the St. Louis Cardinals at the top of the lineup. In 2020, it was Kolten Wong at the top, but now neither are options. This spring, one of the biggest questions was how the top option Tommy Edman would do in the leadoff role.

While Tommy Edman had a fantastic .850 OPS in the half-season he played in 2019, almost all of his numbers regressed in the shortened 2020 season. His .250/.317/.368 slash line was about 8% below average last season and less than what the Cardinals would want from their leadoff man.

However, Edman has proven his detractors wrong on both sides of the ball so far.

At the plate, Edman is batting .294/.357/.412 with a homer and three steals. He’s done a great job setting the table for Paul Goldschmidt and Nolan Arenado behind him and his speed has been key.

Defensively, Edman is already at +2 OAA at second base even though he has spent some time in the outfield. He’s made a couple of dazzling plays at second and is keeping fans from missing Kolten Wong’s golden glove too much to this point.

Looking at his peripherals at the plate, it doesn’t appear that Edman’s success has been luck-based so far either. He may be sacrificing some power at the plate to work counts more, but that is something desirable to see from a leadoff hitter.

Edman’s talent on both sides of the ball in the early season has already netted him a 0.9 bWAR which is enough to lead the team.

Eventually, Edman will go through struggles like any other player, but his 0.9 bWAR through 12 games would put him on pace for a hilariously large 12.2 bWAR season. That number is unattainable, but if Edman ends up around that 4.0 bWAR mark or higher, that is more than the Cardinals could ask for from the former 6th rounder.

Edman is still just 25 years old and has made 2020 look like a sophomore slump so far. Consistency in what will be his first full season will be key, but Edman has put up 6.0 bWAR before his 162nd career game. Right now, he’s the perfect leadoff man.