3 Ex-Cardinal players that are trying to revive their careers overseas

For some players, it doesn't always work out once they get to the major leagues. Sometimes a move overseas can resurrect their career.

The Cardinals are always active when it comes to international free agents that have past major league experience, or experience in another country. Just in the last few years, we have seen Sueng-Hwan Oh, and Kwang-Hyun Kim come to the States after being stars overseas. And then we've seen guys like Andrew Suarez, Drew VerHagen, and Miles Mikolas that went overseas to add something to their game hoping to make it back to the MLB someday.

The benefit of signing international guys is the lack of risk involved. You can usually sign them for cheap, and bet that they evidently did revive their careers playing in a different country and produce. Oh ( aka Stone Buddha ) and Kim saw success in the MLB, especially in their first years with the Cardinals. Mikolas was the Cards' Opening Day starter this year, and VerHagen has become a reliable reliever when healthy.

There are a few players that used to play for the Cardinals that are trying to make a comeback to the big leagues as well. Here is a list of some familiar names.

Outfielder Austin Dean

Austin Dean only played 25 games with the Cardinals but he showed promise early on in his major league career with the Marlins when he hit 10 home runs across 98 games. The Cardinals traded for him in 2020 for minor leaguer Diowill Burgos as a depth outfielder and he made the Cardinals' Opening Day roster in 2021.

Right after being sent down to the minors he suffered a wrist injury that took away most of his season, and at the conclusion of the season he was placed on waivers. In 2022, Dean only had 8 at-bats last season at the big league level with the Giants, then signed with the LG Twins for the 2023 season.

He is currently getting the playing time that he never got in the States, and so far he is taking advantage of it through his first 17 games with a .377 average and a .969 OPS. If Dean, 29, wants to get back to the big leagues, he can help his case with a huge offensive year in Korea.

Utility man Jose Martinez

Jose Martinez was a popular player in St. Louis with his infectious personality, and he was a steady hitter with the Redbirds. He made his MLB debut with the Cardinals in 2016 after he had a very successful minor league run in the Royals organization, and was always consistent with the bat hitting just under .300 in his time with the Cards. Even in the 2019 NLCS against the Nationals, which was one of the most dominant pitching series in recent history by Washington, Martinez kept hitting as he hit .500 in that series.

Martinez was traded to the Rays in the Randy Arozarena-Matthew Liberatore trade and his production declined significantly. He only played 24 games with the Rays before getting traded to the Cubs at the trade deadline in 2020 and failed to record a hit. After his time in Chicago, it has just been a string of bad luck for Martinez with injuries.

After his brief time in Chicago, he signed with the Mets and during the Spring of 2021, he tore his meniscus which forced him to start the season on the IL. The heartbreak continued as while rehabbing the meniscus, he suffered a shoulder injury while rehabbing with the Mets AAA team which effectively ended his season.

Last season Martinez signed with the Acereros de Monclova in the Mexican league and he suffered another injury, this time to his hand, in their first game of the season and he was eventually released in what was another setback. When he recovered from that injury he signed with the Leones de Yucatan which is in the same league, and he was able to play 38 games with them and he hit .346 with a .413 on base. Martinez helped Leones win the 2022 Mexican League Championship hitting a home run in game 7 of the Championship game.

It's sad for me to see Martinez struggle with staying healthy ever since he left St. Louis. Hopefully, he can get a full season in 2023 and produce in the Mexican League like he did when he was with the Cardinals, and who knows maybe we'll see him throwing baseballs up into the upper deck of MLB stadiums again soon.