4 former Cardinals who are putting on a show in Spring Training

As Spring Training enters its final stretch, players on the fringes of a roster are giving it all they've got to attempt to persuade their managers that they belong on the roster. Many former St. Louis Cardinals who dot the landscape of Florida and Arizona during Spring Training are hoping to prove their previous employer to be fools for letting them leave, and several of those who have left the redbird nest have performed beyond expectations to this point.

These four players who were Cardinals in 2023 are providing strong numbers in Spring Training.

Juan Yepez

When Albert Pujols sees something in a player, it might be best to keep that guy around. The Cardinals didn't do that with Juan Yepez, who was squeezed off of the roster in 2023 because of his defensive limitations. The Washington Nationals scooped him up in the offseason, and he has torn the cover off the ball in spring, with 11 hits in 29 at-bats. Amazingly, he has only struck out once.

Yepez wasn't projected to begin the year in the major leagues, but he might force the Nationals to think twice. Complicating matters are Yepez's fielding concerns, and with the presence of Joey Meneses as the Nationals' primary designated hitter, Yepez might be on the outside looking in yet again.

Yepez appeared to be Pujols' most enthusiastic pupil in 2022, and Pujols praised Yepez, expecting him to do big things in the future. That future might be imminent given his spring performance; unfortunately, it won't be while Yepez wears the birds on the bat.

Paul DeJong

Woe to those Cardinals fans who believed in Paul DeJong after he started off multiple seasons coming out like gangbusters, only to collapse spectacularly after the first month or so of the season. DeJong appears to be up to his old spring tricks with the Chicago White Sox, as he's hit .295 with three home runs for the South Siders across 50 plate appearances.

After fizzling out with the Toronto Blue Jays and the San Francisco Giants following his departure from St. Louis via trade, DeJong will look to resuscitate his career with the White Sox and will likely start the season as the top shortstop option for the team, although top prospect Colson Montgomery is knocking on the door to the major leagues.

Now 30, DeJong is unlikely to find another gear, and it would be a major surprise if his hot hitting carries over deep into the regular season. Maybe the White Sox have unlocked something there, but DeJong has a history of hot starts like these, so a large heap of skepticism is warranted.

Jack Flaherty

Jack Flaherty was a big part of the Cardinals' hopes in 2023, but he was plagued by ineffectiveness before a trade to the Baltimore Orioles that netted the Cardinals Cesar Prieto, Zack Showalter and Drew Rom. Flaherty imploded with the Orioles, pitching his way out of their rotation for the postseason, and he wasn't retained after the offseason, leading the Detroit Tigers to snap him up in free agency.

Flaherty is showing nasty stuff this spring, with 18 strikeouts and only four walks in 13.2 innings, in which he has allowed five runs. He is likely to slot into the Tigers' rotation as he looks for a bounce-back year. Injuries have derailed the career of the former highly touted prospect, who never lived up to his ace projections outside of the second half of 2019, but if Flaherty is finally fully healthy, the Tigers might have hit the jackpot on a cheap one-year, $14 million contract.

Many Cardinals fans never fully embraced Flaherty because of his inconsistency and frequent injuries, along with his decisions to speak out on issues regarding social justice, and some of his comments after the trade fanned the flames. It will be interesting to see the response to Flaherty if he pitches in Busch Stadium anytime soon, especially if he finds the success in Detroit that eluded him for most of his tenure in St. Louis.