4 surprising performances in Cardinals opening series

Nolan Arenado #28 of the St. Louis Cardinals tags out David Bote #13 of the Chicago Cubs after being caught in a pickle in the eight inning at Wrigley Field on September 25, 2021 in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo by Quinn Harris/Getty Images)
Nolan Arenado #28 of the St. Louis Cardinals tags out David Bote #13 of the Chicago Cubs after being caught in a pickle in the eight inning at Wrigley Field on September 25, 2021 in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo by Quinn Harris/Getty Images) /
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ST LOUIS, MO – APRIL 09: Paul DeJong #11 of the St. Louis Cardinals rounds third base after hitting a two-run home run against the Pittsburgh Pirates in the third inning at Busch Stadium on April 9, 2022 in St Louis, Missouri. (Photo by Dilip Vishwanat/Getty Images)
ST LOUIS, MO – APRIL 09: Paul DeJong #11 of the St. Louis Cardinals rounds third base after hitting a two-run home run against the Pittsburgh Pirates in the third inning at Busch Stadium on April 9, 2022 in St Louis, Missouri. (Photo by Dilip Vishwanat/Getty Images) /

Paul DeJong

DeJong is working hard to show off the improvements he made in the offseason. So far, so good!

In the sixth inning of Saturday’s game, DeJong hit his first home run of the season on a fly-to right-center to score Nolan Arenado. Yes, he went opposite field! The homer traveled 377-feet with an exit velocity of 103.8 mph.

While he did strike out twice, he did earn a walk. He’s working hard and looking good on defense too.

On Sunday, DeJong was one-for-four. He made some pretty nifty plays at short as well.

DeJong showed glimpses of the hard work he put in during the offseason. The further we get into the season, it will be fun to see how well DeJong does, proving wrong the people who wanted him replaced with one of the high-priced free agent targets from the offseason.