St. Louis Cardinals: Here’s the outlook on Edmundo Sosa

St. Louis Cardinals shortstop Edmundo Sosa is making the most out of his playing opportunities.

I won’t blame you if you haven’t been watching the St. Louis Cardinals too much lately; as a whole, the team is struggling on offense. But a player who shouldn’t go overlooked during this tough stretch is dynamic 25-year-old shortstop Edmundo Sosa.

When Paul DeJong suffered a fractured rib, Sosa stepped into the starting shortstop role. The Cardinals figured they were getting excellent defense and a subpar bat. In other words, a shortstop one can find dozens of in the minor leagues. But Sosa has impressed with his bat during his time this season.

In 46 plate appearances, Sosa has slashed an exceptional .378./.500/.514. He has also displayed excellent speed and an outstanding glove. He’s pretty much been the ideal shortstop. But can he keep it up? Let’s look a little deeper into his stats.

One stat that jumps out at me is his batting average on balls in play: It’s .452. That is crazy high and screams of regression. Sosa’s average exit velocity, though is 91.3 mph, which is pretty good, although not elite.

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Sosa has never been a top prospect, and indeed, his minor league numbers are decent but not special. He rarely walks, which keeps his on-base percentage down, and that lack of discipline can easily be exploited in the major leagues. His batting average has been good throughout his time in the minors, but one can’t help but think if he had a more discerning eye at the plate, it could be even better.

Sosa doesn’t have too much power — the juiced Triple-A ball in 2019 amounted to his career-high 17 home runs — but his speed and defense have led him to outperform DeJong at the position this year. But while some people are already calling for DeJong to be traded and Sosa to step in as the starter, I think that’s an extremely hasty move.

With Sosa’s adequate but not eye-popping numbers in the minors, his hilariously high BABIP and his reluctance to walk, he will likely crash back to earth very soon. I do think he is good enough to remain in the major leagues and serve in a bench role, and I’m happy he’s receiving this opportunity with DeJong out. If he can continue to show progress in more sporadic at-bats when DeJong comes back, though, the Cardinals might have something here.