5 Cardinals Players With the Best Chances to Make the All-Star Game

May 23, 2022; St. Louis, Missouri, USA; St. Louis Cardinals first baseman Paul Goldschmidt (46) is congratulated by teammates at home plate after hitting a walk-off grand slam against the Toronto Blue Jays during the tenth inning at Busch Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Curry-USA TODAY Sports
May 23, 2022; St. Louis, Missouri, USA; St. Louis Cardinals first baseman Paul Goldschmidt (46) is congratulated by teammates at home plate after hitting a walk-off grand slam against the Toronto Blue Jays during the tenth inning at Busch Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Curry-USA TODAY Sports /
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St. Louis Cardinals
Tommy Edman of the St. Louis Cardinals. (Photo by Joe Puetz/Getty Images) /

Tommy Edman, Infielder

Similar to Brendan Donovan, Edman is a utility guy. He can play absolutley any position you need him to play. Or so it seems. However. unlike Brendan Donovan, Tommy Edman should be a lock for the all-star game this year.

Case For Tommy Edman

Tommy Edman has done everything right for the Cardinals since getting his chance in 2019. He’s a switch-hitting, utility fielder with a terrific approach at the plate that allows him to be the Cardinals leadoff hitter for a greater majority of the seasons.

This season, he’s hitting .278/.355/.418, seven home runs, 25 RBI, 15 stolen bases, and a WAR of 3.2 which is currently tied for sixth in MLB with Mike Trout. The only players with a higher WAR is Aaron Judge, Manny Machado, Rafael Devers, Jose Ramirez and Mookie Betts. That’s some pretty good company if you ask me.

I also mentioned his bat earlier in this article and that stands true to this point. The stats back it up as well.

Edman this season has a oWAR of 15.4, which is ranked 15th in the MLB. Saying he is underserving of going to the All-Star Game is pretty ridiculous. He has been a reliable Cardinal for multiple seasons now and is having one of his best statsitical seasons to this point.

Case Against Tommy Edman

Tommy Edman is one of the few players on the Cardinals that I can’t really find an argument against. In order to find something against him is just knit picking.

But when looking at Edman’s stats, he hasn’t outperformed many NL second basemen. Jeff McNeil and Gavin Lux both have better averages than Edman. Additionally, he has a very high strikeout rate (16.9%) which is much higher than some of the other competing second basemen.