Buy or Sell: 2022 Projections for St. Louis Cardinals Lineup

Tyler O'Neill #27 of the St. Louis Cardinals celebrates after hitting a home run in the eighth inning against the San Diego Padres at Busch Stadium on September 18, 2021 in St. Louis, Missouri. (Photo by Matt Thomas/San Diego Padres/Getty Images)
Tyler O'Neill #27 of the St. Louis Cardinals celebrates after hitting a home run in the eighth inning against the San Diego Padres at Busch Stadium on September 18, 2021 in St. Louis, Missouri. (Photo by Matt Thomas/San Diego Padres/Getty Images) /
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Harrison Bader #48 of the St. Louis Cardinals reacts after scoring on a passed ball in the night inning against Tommy Nance #45 of the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field on September 25, 2021 in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo by Quinn Harris/Getty Images)
Harrison Bader #48 of the St. Louis Cardinals reacts after scoring on a passed ball in the night inning against Tommy Nance #45 of the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field on September 25, 2021 in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo by Quinn Harris/Getty Images) /

CF Harrison Bader

2022 Projection: BA: .242, OBP: .321, SLG: .421, OPS: .742, R: 54, H: 93, 2B: 20, 3B: 2, HR: 15, RBI: 48, SB: 9, CS: 3, BB: 38, SO: 107

Verdict: Sell

Harrison Bader is the definition of a streaky hitter, and seems to be where some of the decline in production comes into play with this projection. After a pretty solid rookie campaign where he is .264 with 34 XBH, his following seasons went .205 and 27 XBH, .226 in the shortened 2020 season, and then .267 with 38 XBH even after only playing in 103 games.

I would expect Bader to find himself slashing about .255/.320/.460 with around 40 XBH, with the potential for those to rise if he can manage to play a near full season. Harrison is one of many Cardinals who seems to have found their identity over the last year, and I would expect him to be a solid contributor again.

SS Paul DeJong

2022 Projected: BA: .223, OBP: .304, SLG: .405, OPS: .709, R: 54, H: 88, 2B: 16, 3B: 1, HR: 18, RBI: 52, SB: 5, CS: 2, BB: 40, SO: 110

Verdict: Buy

After an abysmal 2021 campaign, the current Baseball Reference projection for Paul DeJong seems pretty on par.

Expect to see a very low average and on-base percentage from the Cardinal shortstop, and but he should still be able to put up some power numbers when he does make contact. If this is how he is trending early in the season though, do not be surprised to see Edmundo Sosa take over at shortstop, or even see Tommy Edman slide over and make way for Nolan Gorman at second base.