4 surprising standouts in April for St. Louis Cardinals

CINCINNATI, OHIO - APRIL 22: A detail view of St. Louis Cardinals hats in the dugout during the game against the Cincinnati Reds at Great American Ball Park on April 22, 2022 in Cincinnati, Ohio. (Photo by Dylan Buell/Getty Images)
CINCINNATI, OHIO - APRIL 22: A detail view of St. Louis Cardinals hats in the dugout during the game against the Cincinnati Reds at Great American Ball Park on April 22, 2022 in Cincinnati, Ohio. (Photo by Dylan Buell/Getty Images)
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CINCINNATI, OHIO – APRIL 22: A detail view of St. Louis Cardinals hats in the dugout during the game against the Cincinnati Reds at Great American Ball Park on April 22, 2022 in Cincinnati, Ohio. (Photo by Dylan Buell/Getty Images)
CINCINNATI, OHIO – APRIL 22: A detail view of St. Louis Cardinals hats in the dugout during the game against the Cincinnati Reds at Great American Ball Park on April 22, 2022 in Cincinnati, Ohio. (Photo by Dylan Buell/Getty Images) /

The St. Louis Cardinals have had a slow start to the 2022 season. They have had a handful of standouts who should help them as we go deeper into the season.

The St. Louis Cardinals are ending the month of April with a record of 11-9. While they have either split or taken a game from a series, the Cardinals have yet to sweep a series.

This slow start is likely the result of the MLB lockout combined with a shortened Spring Training along with a delayed start to the regular season.

The Cardinals started the season with high hopes after bringing back fan-favorite and future Hall of Famer Albert Pujols. He has two home runs on the season, bringing him to 681 home runs all time. Many would love to see him get about 19 more in order to reach 700.

The team does seem to have issues with pitching. Jack Flaherty is on the injured list due to right shoulder discomfort. Alex Reyes is expected to spend extended time on the injured list as well. The club has Jordan Hicks working as the fifth starter. Adam Wainwright is the presumptive ace with Miles Mikolas, Steven Matz, and Dakota Hudson helping. The bullpen appears to be a bright spot with Jake Woodford, Genesis Cabrera, and Giovanny Gallegos working hard.

It’s been frustrating to see as the Cardinals have had very slow starts from Paul DeJong, Corey Dickerson, Yadier Molina, Albert Pujols, Paul Goldschmidt, Tyler O’Neill, and Dylan Carlson.

This is Oli Marmol’s first season as the Cardinals manager and he is doing outstanding work, considering. He has definitely kept his promise of being different from previous Cardinals’ skippers as he does seem better in playing guys that fit match-ups. He is also better at working with bench coach Skip Schumaker to use the information provided by analytics and hitting coach Jeff Albert to help the players. As the season unfolds and we get deeper into the season, we should definitely see the Cardinals get out of their slumps and improve.

Let’s take a look at the players who have stood out during the month of April.

ST. LOUIS, MO – APRIL 30: Starter Miles Mikolas #39 of the St. Louis Cardinals delivers a pitch during the first inning against the Arizona Diamondbacks at Busch Stadium on April 30, 2022 in St. Louis, Missouri. (Photo by Scott Kane/Getty Images)
ST. LOUIS, MO – APRIL 30: Starter Miles Mikolas #39 of the St. Louis Cardinals delivers a pitch during the first inning against the Arizona Diamondbacks at Busch Stadium on April 30, 2022 in St. Louis, Missouri. (Photo by Scott Kane/Getty Images) /

Miles Mikolas

Mikolas has had a tremendous start to 2022. He looks much better than in previous seasons and that’s wonderful to see. He pitched a good seven innings on Saturday before collapsing, giving up one home run. He unfortunately got the loss Saturday.

He is now 1-1 in five games started. He’s pitched 29.1 innings, while giving up five earned runs, two home runs and four walks. He has 25 strikeouts, including seven from his start Saturday. He has a 1.52 ERA and a 24.6% CSW rate.

Mikolas put away pitch has been his four-seam fastball which averages 92.9 mph with a 15.8-inch vertical drop with an active spin of 86%.

He looks great but hasn’t had a productive offense to help him out. This can happen, but this team really needs to step up for Mikolas. He’s pitching his tail off and needs his team to help him out in the weeks ahead.

ST LOUIS, MO – APRIL 28: Tommy Edman #19 of the St. Louis Cardinals hits an RBI single against the Arizona Diamondbacks in the sixth inning at Busch Stadium on April 28, 2022 in St Louis, Missouri. (Photo by Dilip Vishwanat/Getty Images)
ST LOUIS, MO – APRIL 28: Tommy Edman #19 of the St. Louis Cardinals hits an RBI single against the Arizona Diamondbacks in the sixth inning at Busch Stadium on April 28, 2022 in St Louis, Missouri. (Photo by Dilip Vishwanat/Getty Images) /

Tommy Edman

Gold Glove second baseman Tommy Edman has kicked off the 2022 season right where he left off.

He’s hitting .300/.395/.486 with a +161 wRC. He has two doubles, one triple, three home runs, 12 runs, nine walks and five stolen bases.

He’s continuing his outstanding defense with six defensive runs saved through April.

Edman is doing all of this still under team control on a one-year contract worth $722.9k. He will be arbitration eligible in 2023 with free agency looming in 2026.

CINCINNATI, OHIO – APRIL 24: Nolan Arenado #28 of the St. Louis Cardinals looks on from the dugout in the seventh inning against the Cincinnati Reds at Great American Ball Park on April 24, 2022 in Cincinnati, Ohio. (Photo by Dylan Buell/Getty Images)
CINCINNATI, OHIO – APRIL 24: Nolan Arenado #28 of the St. Louis Cardinals looks on from the dugout in the seventh inning against the Cincinnati Reds at Great American Ball Park on April 24, 2022 in Cincinnati, Ohio. (Photo by Dylan Buell/Getty Images) /

Nolan Arenado

Nolan Arenado had to serve a one-game suspension for his involvement in a brawl between the Cardinals and New York Mets on Wednesday. He got the suspension reduced from two games thankfully, but he did serve the suspension on the day of his bobble head giveaway.

Other than this suspension, Arenado is having an outstanding season. The work he put in during the offseason was tremendous and it’s already paying off for him.

He’s hitting .375/.444/.681 with +222 wRC with five home runs, 11 runs, 17 RBI, and seven doubles. About 51.7% of his hits have been pulled, 32.8% of his hits have gone to center, and 15.5% of his hits have gone opposite field. One of his blasts had a max exit velocity of 109.8 mph.

He is hitting hard  and hopefully this continues into the summer and beyond.

The Platinum and Gold Glove winning third baseman has two defensive runs saved through April.

Here’s hoping for more fire from Arenado as the season progresses.

ST LOUIS, MO – APRIL 10: Andre Pallante #53 delivers a pitch against the Pittsburgh Pirates at Busch Stadium on April 10, 2022 in St Louis, Missouri. (Photo by Dilip Vishwanat/Getty Images)
ST LOUIS, MO – APRIL 10: Andre Pallante #53 delivers a pitch against the Pittsburgh Pirates at Busch Stadium on April 10, 2022 in St Louis, Missouri. (Photo by Dilip Vishwanat/Getty Images) /

Andre Pallante

He is the No. 15 ranked prospect in the Cardinals system and he has been an amazing addition to the Cardinals bullpen.

The young righty has pitched 10 innings in six games. He’s given up two walks, nine hits and two runs. He has struck out seven so far. He has a 0.90 ERA.

Pallante’s put away pitch has been his slider. The pitch averages 85 mph with a 43.3-inch vertical drop with a 43% active spin. He also uses a four-seam fastball that averages 95 mph with 20.3-inches of vertical drop with 70% active spin. Pallante’s curveball averages 74.9 mph with 69.2-inches of vertical drop and 94% active spin.

Here’s hoping Pallante’s success continues and grows as the season progresses. That arm will help this team down the stretch.

Solutions to Cards troubles can be found in AAA Memphis. dark. Next

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