Dream St. Louis Cardinals lineup for the 2026 season

Batting ninth, center fielder Victor Scott II

Victor Scott II finds himself at the bottom of the 2026 St. Louis Cardinals dream lineup. While no one wants to hit ninth in a batting order, someone has to do it, and it's usually the team's weakest hitter.

In 2025, VS2 played 138 games and slashed .216/.305/.296 with five home runs and 34 stolen bases for a 76 wRC+. He walked at an above-average clip (9.1%), and his K rate of 24% was a bit worse than league average. His Baseball Savant page is littered with blue, as his average exit velocity, barrel rate, bat speed, and hard-hit rate were all well below league average.

Scott II has absurd speed with Gold Glove-caliber defense, but his primary issue offensively has been an inability to get on base. He posted a .305 OBP last year, and that was far too low for him to take advantage of his speed. As a minor leaguer, Scott consistently posted on-base rates well north of .350.

Steamer's projections for VS2 next year aren't anything to write home about. They have him projected for a .226/.297/.327 slash line with only six home runs and 36 RBIs to go along with 44 runs scored. Where Scott does see a decent boost would be in his stolen bases: 26 in 110 games. If Scott can play even 130-140 games, he could easily eclipse the 30-stolen base mark.

Scott was a strong offensive player in the minors, and it's possible that he's able to return to his roots to find success at the plate in 2026. The Cardinals don't need Silver Slugger production from him, however awesome that would be. Instead, they need him to be a serviceable hitter at the bottom of the lineup.

One would ideally like a higher on-base percentage for Scott so that he can take advantage of his plus-plus speed, perhaps a figure approaching .315. If he can reach that mark, he becomes a serious threat as the lineup wraps back around to players like Masyn Winn and Ivan Herrera. A bit more slug from Scott would be ideal, and perhaps he can lean into more doubles and triples next year to take full advantage of his speed.