St. Louis Cardinals outfielders’ performance: 2022 is 2020

PITTSBURGH, PA - SEPTEMBER 18: Tyler O'Neill #41, Harrison Bader #48 and Dylan Carlson #3 of the St. Louis Cardinals celebrate after a 6-5 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates in game one of a doubleheader at PNC Park on September 18, 2020 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Joe Sargent/Getty Images)
PITTSBURGH, PA - SEPTEMBER 18: Tyler O'Neill #41, Harrison Bader #48 and Dylan Carlson #3 of the St. Louis Cardinals celebrate after a 6-5 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates in game one of a doubleheader at PNC Park on September 18, 2020 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Joe Sargent/Getty Images) /
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(Photo by Joe Puetz/Getty Images)
(Photo by Joe Puetz/Getty Images) /

Dylan Carlson broke into the majors during the pandemic-shortened 2020 season, and he and Dexter Fowler had a similar number of plate appearances, with Carlson coming to bat 119 times and Fowler 101.

Carlson’s struggles could at least partially be blamed on the weird year and it being his first season in the big leagues, as his resulting .200/.252/.364 line and 68 OPS+ showed he had still had work to do to become a big leaguer.

The strange 2020 season was similar justification for Fowler, though you’d think his experience would help him overcome that to some extent.  And he was the better of the two, with his .233/.317/.389 triple-slash yielding a 95 OPS+.

While Fowler moved on from St. Louis after that year, Carlson moved up, taking over as a full-time outfielder.  His bat came around, with a .266/.343/.437 line very similar to Bader’s mark, and both outfielders posted the same 114 OPS+ last season.

While Carlson’s counting stats weren’t spectacular with 18 home runs, 65 RBI, and 79 runs scored, it was still a nice showing for a 22-year-old player and good enough to earn him third place in Rookie of the Year voting.

As with his teammates, the expectation was Carlson would continue to grow and improve.  However, that hasn’t happened so far in 2022, with him batting .220/.273/.330 with one homer and only eight RBI, numbers that have yielded an 81 OPS+.