5 most important players for the St. Louis Cardinals in 2022

No. 5: Paul DeJong

Time is running out for Paul DeJong to show what type of player he can be in the MLB. After DeJong’s fantastic rookie year in 2017, the shortstop’s wRC+ has fallen each year. With 19 or more homers in four of his five seasons, DeJong has proven that he can hit for power as a shortstop but the team needs him to do more.

In 2021, DeJong’s 86 wRC+ and .674 OPS were not enough to keep him in the starting role as he lost his spot in the daily lineup to the youngster Edmundo Sosa down the stretch. Falling to a bench bat after starting the year as the team’s cleanup hitter is a tough pill for anyone to swallow, but it is clear that the Cardinals aren’t afraid to bench DeJong if he isn’t performing.

DeJong’s 2021 struggles were masked, in part, by the blossoming of Tyler O’Neill, but in 2022 the team needs DeJong to add length to the lineup. A lot of things went right for the St. Louis Cardinals in 2021 and doing that without DeJong’s help is going to be hard to repeat.

DeJong is slated in as the Opening Day shortstop likely batting 6th after he won back his spot this spring. Over 10 games, DeJong showed a slightly new stance and hit three doubles and two homers, getting on base in more than half of his 22 at-bats.

The biochemist has the brains, it’s just time to see if he can finally get back to the player he was in 2017.

No. 4: Steven Matz

Steven Matz was not the name most St. Louis Cardinals fans were yearning for coming into the offseason, but it’s the biggest name the team signed. Signing the 6’2″ lefty to a four-year, $44 million deal, the Cardinals will hope to have the 30-year-old as a strike-throwing anchor of the team’s rotation for the next few years.

On paper, Matz is the perfect pitcher to throw in the Cardinals’ system — he throws strikes and excels at getting ground balls. The biggest question for Matz (and most of the Cardinals’ rotation) is whether he is going to be able to stay healthy. Only three times in his seven-year career has Matz thrown more than 150 innings in a season. The Cardinals are entering 2022 already without Jack Flaherty and Alex Reyes, putting more weight on the rest of the rotation to stay healthy and eat innings.

Luckily for Matz, the Cardinals won’t be asking him to be anything other than what he is. With the team’s stellar defense behind him, he should see some improvement over his two previous employers (Mets and Blue Jays), but the defense can’t help him if he isn’t healthy. Coming into the season as the team’s third or fourth starter, all Matz needs to do is be on the mound consistently.

Matz is cheap, but if he can’t stay on the mound the Cardinals’ minor league depth is going to be thrown into a bigger role than it is ready for.

No. 3: Dylan Carlson

I don’t think there is a single fan who is mad at how Dylan Carlson’s rookie season went in 2021. Finishing with an OPS near .800 and a wRC+ of 113, the switch-hitter finished third in Rookie of the Year voting, a nice consolation for a season that had its peaks and valleys.

Heading into year two, Carlson has looked great in spring training and by all accounts will be the team’s leadoff man to start the year. The mix of Carlson batting leadoff and heading into year two is why he is so far up this list. In 2021, Carlson had a partial share of leadoff duties with Tommy Edman but after Edman struggled, Carlson gets the nod heading into this season.

Expectations are higher heading into 2022 and the team needs Carlson to set the table for the bats behind him. If Carlson can’t get the job done at leadoff, Edman will likely get the next crack before new manager Ollie Marmol is forced to get more creative. In short, it’s best if Carlson just figures out how to fill that spot well.

Still just 23 for the majority of the season, the Elk Grove, California native will surely have growing pains, but any improvement on his 2.8 fWAR season in 2021 will be great to see from Carlson. Compared to most of his minor-league seasons, Carlson walked slightly less and struck out slightly more in his first full season, but he showed plenty of ability to work the count and get on base which is exactly what the team needs out of their leadoff man.

No. 2: Nolan Arenado

Has the shine worn off yet? Or are you still like me and still in love with the fact that Nolan Arenado is the St. Louis Cardinals’ third baseman. In his first season with the club, Arenado drove in 105 runs, the first Redbird to do that since Matt Holliday in 2012. Even still, the third baseman’s season was a step down from what he had shown at the plate during most of his years in Colorado, at least from an OPS standpoint.

Trading his former home ballpark of Coors Field for the pitcher-friendly confines of Busch Stadium, Arenado’s .807 OPS was his lowest in a full season since his first season in 2013. Where Arenado played his home games definitely had an impact, as the 3rd baseman’s home/road OPS split was .722/.885. Arenado is still Nolan Arenado, but he didn’t walk or hit to all fields as much in 2021 either.

Batting average and on-base percentage are the two biggest sources of Arenado’s drop in OPS, but the reassuring thing is that nobody was more upset with Arenado’s down year than he was. In a conversation with MLB.com’s John Denton, Arenado said of his 2021 performance, “To be honest, it did bother me.” Continuing, “I thought last year was a good season, and I was very proud of some of the things that I accomplished, but it wasn’t good enough for this team. I know some of these guys would say that I had a fine season, but in my heart I didn’t feel like I did nearly enough.”

Moving out of Colorado for the first time in his career and into a new stadium in a new city can add a lot of pressure. Fans saw a superstar come here and initially have a down year as recently as with Paul Goldschmidt. After his first season, it was clear he got more comfortable and his performance backs that up.

As arguably the Cardinals’ best hitter, it’s exciting to think about what an even better year from Arenado could do for the team’s success. If things go the opposite way, however, the team’s heart of the lineup will look a lot less daunting.

No. 1: Jack Flaherty

It has been two-straight frustrating seasons for the St. Louis Cardinals’ No. 1 starter Jack Flaherty. After starting slow in a shortened 2020, injuries kept Flaherty under the 80.0 IP mark in 2021. Now, Flaherty had a flare-up (oops) in his shoulder and will start the season on the IL after getting a PRP shot.

There’s no other way to say it, the Cardinals need Jack Flaherty at the top of their rotation to be considered any sort of threat for the World Series this year. I love Jake Woodford and I love the Cardinals’ young arms, but if the team is relying on those guys for valuable innings, it’s going to be tough considering the rest of the rotation.

Looking at the Cardinals’ rotation, it is led by the 40-year-old Wainwright (who knows how long he’ll hold up), then there is Miles Mikolas who has combined for 44.2 IP in his last two seasons. Behind Mikolas we have Matz who we have already discussed has never reached 200 IP. Dakota Hudson is coming off of Tommy John surgery then will be followed by a minor-league depth pitcher.

Any and all of the team’s rotation are injury risks and Flaherty is leading them all right now as the only one not healthy.

Heading into his age-26 season, the only thing holding Flaherty back is his health and if 2022 is significantly impacted by the right-hander’s injuries, it’s fair to wonder how much the Cardinals can safely stake on him being around to help. If Flaherty can return and be consistent at the top of the team, everyone will be able to sleep easier. If the injuries continue, the Cardinals are going to have to find more pitching help fast.