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Victor Scott II
The Cardinals' current plan now that Michael Siani is back from injury is to give him the starting center field job back and reduce Victor Scott II's role down to a bench player and speedster/defensive replacement. I strongly disagree with this idea.
Look, I was singing Michael Siani's praises before he hit the injured list, so I'm not going to act like I do not like him as a player, but we know what Siani is. He has a nice floor due to his Gold Glove defense and the bat was passable as the season went along. But back to my original point - the Cardinals need to see what they have for 2025 - and the ceiling with Scott is much higher than Siani.
During Scott's first stint in St. Louis, things went really bad at the plate, and he spent most of this season in Memphis working on his issues and getting himself ready to face big-league pitching once again. Both sample sizes are small, but it is easy to see how much better Scott has been this time around.
Victor Scott II | AVG | SLG | wRC+ | K% | BB% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
3/28-4/19 (65 PA) | .085 | .136 | -23 | 23.1% | 3.1% |
8/5-8/31 (77 PA) | .233 | .384 | 82 | 31.2% | 5.2% |
Scott is not lighting the world on fire offensively, but he's gone from a negative wRC+ player (which I had literally never seen before) to a below-league-average bat who has room in his profile to grow at the plate. We all know what Scott is capable of doing on the base paths as well, so the closer he gets to being league-average offensively, the more havoc he can cause.
No, his defense is not at Siani's level, but it's not miles off either. The more Scott gets comfortable out there, the smaller the gap will become. And if Siani's true calling card is his defense, and Scott is able to get close to his level, then it is not even a comparison between the two players. Scott's offensive profile and speed win the day.
Let Scott finish the season as the everyday starter in center field. You'll probably need to find a right-handed platoon partner for him next year, but allow him the opportunity to grow as a player down the stretch so he may be ready to take on the primary center fielder role next season.