3 St. Louis Cardinals surprise second-half studs

The St. Louis Cardinals have surged since the All-Star Break with help from a few unexpected sources

Sure, everyone knows how good Paul Goldschmidt and Nolan Arenado are, though it’s debatable whether anyone expected them to be this good.  And Adam Wainwright continues to excel as he crosses the threshold into his 40s.  But there have been some surprising contributors in the second half that have helped the Cardinals surge well ahead of the Milwaukee Brewers atop the National League Central division.

Cardinals second-half stud No. 1: Albert Pujols

When the Cardinals re-signed Pujols for a retirement tour with his original squad, most people expected a performance commensurate with his modest $2.5M salary.  And through the season’s first three months, even the word “modest” would have overstated Pujols’ output.

From April through June, Pujols batted .198 with four home runs, 17 RBI, and 11 runs scored in 116 at-bats.  His numbers declined month over month, and it looked like the end of the future first-ballot Hall of Famer’s career was arriving earlier than planned.

But then the calendar flipped to July, and Pujols seemed to flip a switch.  During the July-August time frame, he batted .342 with 11 homers, 24 RBI, and 17 runs scored in five fewer at-bats than he had in the first three months. August was particularly kind to Pujols, as he posted an astounding 1.224 OPS.

His pursuit of 700 career home runs seemed highly questionable with Pujols beginning the season 21 long balls short of that total and him earmarked for hitting duties primarily against left-handed pitchers, who are in the significant minority among major league moundsmen.

And while Pujols has done most of his damage against southpaws, he also has cranked four home runs against righties, helping him get to 694 long balls … and counting.  Alex Rodriguez is just ahead with 696 round-trippers, and 7-0-0 is within reach.

Exactly where Pujols finishes on the home run leaderboard will play out over the next month.  Where he stands in the hearts of Cardinals fans has been secured once again by his excellent run through the late summer.  The Machine has been firing on all cylinders, and St. Louis – the team and the city – has benefitted greatly from his efforts.

Cardinals second-half stud No. 3: Corey Dickerson

What Cardinals player has the most consecutive at-bats with a hit?  Nope, not Fernando Tatis Sr, Felix Jose, or Curt Flood, at least not any more.  Each of those three players went eight straight ABs with a hit – Flood doing so twice – but the new St. Louis player atop that leaderboard is Dickerson, who surpassed all of them by two hits, becoming only the 13th player in MLB history to record a hit in 10 straight at-bats.

Dickerson was expected to bring a veteran presence, an experienced bat to join Nootbaar in the outfield against righty starters or take on a bigger role in the even Nootbaar scuffled in his second season in the bigs.  Instead, Dickerson fell flat in the first few couple of months of his one-year, $5M contract, batting .180 with zero long balls, nine RBI, and nine runs scored through the end of May.

His bat showed signs of line in an extremely small nine-AB sample in June, when he recorded three hits – two of which were solo home runs.  Since getting more frequent playing time the last couple of months, Dickerson has hit a combined .370 with five home runs, 15 RBI, and 14 runs scored in an even 100 at-bats in the June-August period.

Virtually all of his damage has been done against right-handers, which was another part of the plan when bringing him into the Cardinals clubhouse.  He and Pujols were supposed to complement each other in the lineup depending on the handedness of the pitcher on the mound at any given time.  It took a while for both of them to find their groove, but now things are clicking like was hoped.

The future

Will these torrid streaks continue for these three hitters?  Who knows?  Player run hot and cold for no apparent reason sometimes, at least from the outside.  It certainly seems like something has been fixed, allowing them and the team to prosper, just like the front office drew it up before the season began.