5 players to receive considerable playing time in September

Juan Yepez

The Cardinals are almost spoiled with depth in regards to their infield. Arenado will finish his career in STL, Winn will be the SS for years to come, Gorman and Donovan will handle 2B, and Walker or Baker will take 1B after Goldy retires. So where can Juan Yepez play? He has shown that he is terrible in the outfield. So that leaves him the corner infield or DH. With flashes of clutch hitting, he can be useful in the lineup.

His issue is being able to provide any value outside of his bat. And with his 2023 performance in AAA and in STL, he is not providing much of anything. If Yepez can have a hot September, he might be back next year. Or that can be trade bait going into the off-season. Either way, the FO will want to see Yepez facing major league arms to get a final evaluation of what they have with Yepez.

Guillermo Zuniga

The flame thrower from the WBC back in March. Who can forget that performance? This guy rode the exhilarating moments of the global tournament and got Cardinals fans excited at the same time. This looked like a sneaky pickup from the FO to use in the later stages of games to add more ammo with Gallegos, Caberea, and Helsley. Well, that did not go according to plan. Zuniga has not been given very many opportunities in STL this season.

He has only pitched 2 innings where he allowed 2 hits and 1 ER. The call-ups to STL were very brief and unforgettable. Where this gets upsetting is his performance in AAA. He has pitched 28.2 IP with an alarming ERA of 7.85 and a WHIP of 1.779. His strikeouts are high at 11.3 SO/9, but his walks are also high at 6.3 BB/9. That looks like demotion or DFA potential. But with September almost here and a new revamp to the entire pitching staff next year, the FO has to find out if Zuniga will be a part of that plan or not.