St. Louis Cardinals’ Tyler O’Neill emerges as strong MVP candidate

After finishing 8th in MVP voting in 2021, Cardinals slugger Tyler O’Neill has emerged as a strong candidate to win the award in 2022.

Perhaps the best development of the St. Louis Cardinals’ 2021 season was the emergence of Tyler O’Neill.

Entering the season, the team hoped that consistent at-bats would help O’Neill reach the potential that the Cardinals – and so many other teams in baseball – have long salivated over. That is exactly what happened, but no one could have expected this. He hit .286/.352/.560 with 34 home runs and 80 RBI, winning a Gold Glove, and emerging as a legitimate star and cornerstone player for the Cardinals.

Even in the lockout, the O’Neill hype has continued to soar. Katie Woo of The Athletic believes that O’Neill “emerges as a true MVP candidate” in 2022.

Quite honestly, I would have to agree. He was the Cardinals’ best and most consistent player in 2022, even over the likes of Nolan Arenado and Paul Goldschmidt. There is reason to believe that he can be even better next season – he had a 27.5 percent chase rate and his strikeout rate is still too high – but what he did single handedly kept the Cardinals relevant as their roster was decimated by injuries.

Besides, O’Neill has already received MVP consideration. He finished eighth in MVP voting in 2021, receiving a third place vote from Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle. If he doesn’t win MVP in 2022, it’s reasonable to expect him to finish in the top 5.

It makes you wonder what is possible for the Cardinals this coming season if O’Neill plays at that level. Arenado is expected to make a jump in his second season in St. Louis and Paul Goldschmidt is as steady as ever. The rotation should be improved with Steven Matz and the bullpen should be strong once they make 1-2 more additions.

Entering 2021, the Cardinals knew they had two MVP-caliber players in Arenado and Goldschmidt. Entering 2022, they now have three, and the argument could be made that O’Neill has the strongest case of them all.