St. Louis Cardinals: Looking back at our 2021 bold predictions

John Nogowski will remain on the roster the entire season

Well, there’s a reason we call them bold predictions. Nogowski struggled for playing time at the beginning of the year before ultimately being let go. He just never got a chance. He had one hit in 18 at-bats, playing only seven innings in the field.

After leaving the Cardinals, Nogowski had a hot few weeks in Pittsburgh, batting .261 with 14 RBI over 33 games. He even pitched a few innings before being released and is now with the Giants in Triple-A. San Francisco’s first baseman Brandon Belt just got injured, so maybe Nogowski can make his way onto the playoff roster.

Really, it’s impossible to predict who on the Cardinals will be the key bench batter each season. That’s what makes this team so special. It wasn’t Nogowski, but credit is due for taking the shot.

A certain tongue-wagging, home-run robbing rookie with a veteran presence at the plate? That, in fact, we did see coming. It may not have been an official prediction, but we wrote to “keep an eye out for Lars Nootbaar” this spring:

"Who knows, with a little help from the St. Louis Cardinals “Devil Magic” you may be looking at the next random prospect to come out of nowhere and produce at a high level."

Next time we’ll make that prediction official.

Matthew Liberatore arrives in July and never leaves

Unfortunately, Matthew Liberatore has yet to debut with the big-league club, so that prediction fell short as well. In 18 starts at Memphis this year, Libby is 8-9 with a 4.15 ERA. He’s finished the year strong, however, and looks likely to challenge for a roster spot next season.

Prediction Scores: 0 out of 17 wins in a row (with a bonus point given for Noot)