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Counting down the 20 most important Cardinals in 2023: #20 Juan Yepez
The 20 most important St. Louis Cardinals in 2023: #20 Juan Yepez
The St. Louis Cardinals are just a few weeks away from Opening Day of the 2023 Major League season, and there are so many different players that could play a huge role in the success, or failure, of the club this coming season.
The position player group is as deep as I can ever remember. Gone are the days of wondering if the Cardinals can start more than four quality hitters in their lineup. Now the club has to weigh which high-performing players have to be sent down to Triple-A, even if their performance warrants starting on a big league club.
The pitching staff has so many different wild cards, both in the rotation and in the bullpen. Although the offense looks locked in and ready to be one of the best in baseball, the club's pitching is a different story. There are a lot of quality arms, but whether it's age or injury risk, there are so many variables at play that will influence the success of this team. No matter how good the offense is, the club will need quality pitching to compete.
Some of the Redbird Rants team and I took time this last week to rank our most important Cardinals heading into the 2023 season, and we averaged our rankings out to create a comprehensive ranking amongst our team. While there are way more than 20 players who could have a major impact on this club's fortunes this year, we felt like these 20 will play the biggest roles this coming season.
Each day, for the next 20 days, we will be counting down the 20 most important Cardinals of the 2023 season. This ranking is not simply a list of the best players on this team. Instead, we sought to figure out whose performance may be most directly linked to this team reaching its ceiling, or falling all the way to its floor. Let's take a look at our number 20 player on this list: Juan Yepez.
Why Juan Yepez is important for St. Louis in 2023
After being named the Cardinals' 2021 Co-Player of the Year for their Minor League system with Jordan Walker, big expectations were placed on the shoulders of Juan Yepez entering Spring Training. Given the opportunity to win the designated hitter job out of camp, Yepez struggled during camp and was sent to Triple-A after the club signed Albert Pujols for one last run in St. Louis.
Little did anyone know, Pujols' presence would have a huge impact on Yepez directly, as the then 24-year-old followed Pujols around everywhere, learning from the future Hall of Famer and making a major impact of his own throughout the year. In 76 games played, Yepez slashed .253/.296/.447 with 12 HR and 30 RBI. In the postseason, Yepez drove in their only two runs of the series with a huge pinch-hit home run in Game 1.
In 2023, the Cardinals are hoping Yepez can be a primary DH option for the club, improving upon the power he tapped into last season and replacing a lot of Pujols' production from the year before. With so many quality position players seeking at-bats though, Yepez will have to perform at a very high level for consistent playing time.
ZiPS currently projects Yepez to slash .263/.315/.476 with 24 HR and 74 RBI and a 118 OPS+ in 480 plate appearances in 2023. The Cardinals would love that kind of production from Yepez this year, and he would surely find at-bats at DH and in the corners if that happens. What's really interesting about Yepez is the large variations in his projections. ZiPS has his 80th percentile outcome as a 40% above league average hitter, while his 20th percentile outcome is slightly below league average.
This makes Yepez one of the more important Cardinals on this roster, as if his bat plays up to its potential, he's another slugger that the club can insert into their order as often as possible. If Yepez struggles, the club has other options, but they lose out on having another powerful right-handed hitter in their lineup.
Would you have Yepez higher on this list? Should he have even made it? Check in each day as we rank the 20 most important Cardinals for 2023.
Next. Cardinals Opening Day Roster Predictions 2.0. dark