How Tyler O’Neill can become an All-Star for the St. Louis Cardinals

With a wildly successful 2021 campagin behind him, Tyler O’Neill should now have his sights set on becoming an All-Star for the Cardinals.

Tyler O’Neill had quite the season for the St. Louis Cardinals in 2021. He finished 18th in runs scored, seventh in home runs, 12th in batting average, fifth in slugging percentage, and seventh in OPS. All of these power numbers added to his 15 stolen bases made O’Neill an offensive juggernaut for the Cardinals.

Entering his third full season, O’Neill is in line to have a massive year batting behind Paul Goldschmidt and Nolan Arenado. There is one major weakness he can work on to make his offensive game even more elite, however.

For all of the power he provides, O’Neill struck out the fourth-most of any player in the National League. His 168 strikeouts in 482 at-bats severely limited his batting average and on-base percentage. Although he still ranked relatively high on the leaderboards, he could have had an even better 2021 campaign if the strikeouts were not an issue.

Coming into 2022, O’Neill is likely to have a large role in a top-heavy offense. While it is fun to take risks and swing for the fences every time up to the plate, he may be more valuable putting the ball in play and reaching base safely. With this, his average and on-base percentage would balloon, which would take him even higher on the National League leaderboards.

If he can take a more ball-in-play mindset to the plate, the inflated numbers might lead to the first All-Star appearance of O’Neill’s career in 2022. Despite winning back-to-back Gold Gloves and finishing eighth in MVP voting last season, O’Neill has yet to make it to the Midsummer Classic.

This could be his year. With the right mindset at the plate, O’Neill could be in for a big improvement over 2021’s successful campaign.