5 most surprising first impressions at Cardinals spring training 2025

Nope, this article is not titled "Look at the St. Louis Cardinals players who are primed to breakout in 2025 because of four spring training at-bats or two fun innings of work!". To say it's early is an understatement, and frankly, we should all know by now that spring training production doesn't correlate to regular season success.

That doesn't mean players who have looked good at the start of camp won't be factors in 2025, but it is not time to jump out of your shoes in excitement about anyone due to a few flashes here and there (or for that matter, to freak out about struggles as well).

With that being said, these five Cardinals have had good first impressions so far, and they may not be names you were expecting to hear much from during camp this year.

OF Matt Koperniak

Added to the Cardinals' 40-man roster this offseason, outfielder Matt Koperniak is one of those players in the upper levels of the Cardinals' pipeline who is without a clear path toward playing time with the organization.

Even so, it's hard to call the Cardinals' current outfield group stable by any means. We've seen the injuries from Lars Nootbaar before, Michael Siani and Victor Scott II's struggles offensively leave the door open for others to fight for a spot, and Jordan Walker needs to make good on his potential after a rough 2024 campaign. Yes, there are a lot of players in his way (I did not even mention Brendan Donovan, Alec Burleson, or Michael Helman), but Koperniak hasn't let that stop him from impressing so far in camp.

No matter what situation a player finds themselves in, they have control over their own performance on the field, and if they keep showing ways to provide value, the opportunity seems to find them eventually. I could see that happening for Koperniak in 2025.

Manager Oliver Marmol has taken note of that hit tool thus far, and after slashing .309/.370/.512 with 20 home runs and 73 RBI for the Memphis Redbirds last season, it's hard to ignore the continued production. Posting a 128 wRC+ in Triple-A is nothing to sneeze at, the question just becomes whether or not he can keep up what he has going on at the plate and be ready when the opportunity comes knocking.